Anakin Skywalker - SW [S - P2] - 12 Inch Figures

Ten years after the fight to save Naboo from invasion, the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of a renegade Jedi, thousands of solar systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. A courageous Jedi Knight, his impulsive and headstrong apprentice, and a queen-turned-senator are drawn into the heart of the conflict... and the beginning of war.

It has been ten years since young Anakin Skywalker left his desert home to begin training as a Jedi apprentice. Under the mentorship of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin has become a confident, headstrong 19-year-old with an impulsive nature and a flair for adventure. Anakin is thrust into the midst of galactic turmoil when he is assigned to protect the beautiful Senator Padmé Amidala from an unknown assassin. Amidst tracking bounty hunters and engaging in unsanctioned missions to save those closest to him, Anakin begins to experience feelings for Padme that challenge his Jedi vows. However, a darker side emerges within Anakin that the young apprentice finds difficult to control.

The Star Wars “Saga” line was unique in many ways, but it also followed similar patterns of previous Kenner and Hasbro line looks. As retail needed to refresh things at the brick and mortar level, so did Hasbro with the Star Wars “Saga” line. They tweaked the packaging a bit, while remaining faithful to the original design, and added new elements, new colors and slightly changed fonts to give the visuals a cleaner and brighter appearance. Loosely designated as the Star Wars “Saga” [Phase II] line look, Hasbro converted the red nameplate to orange, changed the gold border to narrow down to a point, and removed the starfield background design with a more streamlined starburst element. Not too noticeable to most collectors, it was as drastic enough as a design for many, and it felt like more of the same and not a refresh in the toy line. However, Hasbro did use the “Phase II” break to get out some repeat characters with refreshed features. The case in point of this is the Anakin Skywalker 12” figure, which is a significant departure from the first version released in the Star Wars “Saga” [Phase I] line look.

Instead of re-releasing the previous 2002 figure, Hasbro developed a significantly changed new version of Anakin Skywalker with action and play features, new clothing, and an all-new portrait. The latest release isn’t necessarily better, but its’ noticeably different and includes some new stuff to keep kids and collectors interested. Although similar, the designers at Hasbro developed a new outfit for Anakin Skywalker including new stiffer pants (to keep the pleating and wrinkles in place), a softer shirt (for improved mobility), and a closer-fitting set of tabards to give the figure as streamlined a look as possible. What’s more, Hasbro added a removable arm feature. As you recall, Anakin Skywalker loses his arm in his battle with Count Dooku during the climax of Attack Of The Clones. They implemented this feature nicely. The cybernetic arm attachment is molded in the plastic, of course, but so is the portion of the orange of the shirt also added to this interchangeable part. Hasbro did a fantastic job of tooling this removable part, and it looks authentic, even if they used plastic instead of cloth for the clothing portion.

To help keep the theme of this scene more poignant, Hasbro also included both lightsabers Anakin Skywalker utilized for his encounter with Count Dooku. Both his original blue-bladed lightsaber and the generic green-bladed lightsaber are both included here. Both lightsabers break down into hilt and blade. This two-part feature works beautifully in the 12 Inch Figures line, but not so well in the 3.75” range. Both lightsaber hilts fit into his belt so you can switch up what lightsaber you have him use. The packaging calls out “lightsaber slashing action,” but the action feature doesn’t work all that well. Much of the movement is dependent on the end-user, and the button created to help make this function a little easier to initiate doesn’t work all that well. But problems aside, Anakin Skywalker is a significant update from the original version released a year earlier. We would have wished that Hasbro took the head sculpt from the previous version and applied it to this version instead, but at the same time, it’s nice to see all the newness with this release. This figure is a pleasant update, but keep in mind that it isn’t perfect.