Anakin Skywalker/Droideka - LC - Geonosis Arena Showdown (2010 Edition) (3 of 6)

The Jedi Knights rush to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé from execution. The Jedi brandish their lightsabers against the Geonosian warriors and the massive army of battle droids, super battle droids and droidekas. All hope seems lost that any Jedi will survive this battle, then Yoda arrives with an army of clone troopers. Although many Jedi are lost that day, others survive this climactic battle that ushers in the Clone Wars.

The Anakin Skywalker/Droideka Geonosis Arena Showdown set gives collectors a surprise. Hasbro has updated the Evolutions Episode II Anakin Skywalker figure and have made him the definitive version of this character for our collections. That Evolutions figure (that was later released as 2008's TLC Anakin Skywalker (BD 50)) was a pretty fantastic figure. But Hasbro must have studied the references of the costume harder than ever and have perfected an already great figure and promoted it to super stardom. Anakin Skywalker still comes with all the great articulation of before and nothing has changed in that department. But Hasbro gave Anakin a beautiful and accurate new portrait which just brings this action figure to a whole new positive level. His eyes are now rounder (as they should be) and his eyebrows are resting higher from his eyes and really makes this figure look authentic to the onscreen character in Episode II. His Padawan braid rests down his right shoulder off to the side instead of hanging down and curving inward. We think even a small detail like this looks better. But perhaps the greatest enhancement isn’t in the head sculpt at all.

Hasbro has cleaned up all of the details of Anakin’s Jedi gear. The “leather” tabards that are designed from soft vinyl material have finally been adjusted and colored in black, the way they should have been since 2005. This enhancement in and of itself makes this the new definitive Anakin Skywalker, but an improved head sculpt just drives this point home further. We still think that they hang too long on him, but Hasbro isn’t designing outfit for Fashion Week in NYC, they do their best for very small action figures. And we applaud them for making soft-goods clothing look so amazing on these tiny-scaled action figures. Not only are the tabards updated, but Hasbro has precisely tweaked the brown color of his pants and shirt. We also think this is an enhancement that shouldn’t be overlooked. Instead of a brown with a reddish tone to it, Hasbro has cast Anakin in a rich chocolate brown. The results are fantastic! Anakin’s boot shave also been lightened up a few shade to look more faithful to the film. They have lost their sheen by a lot and we think this is a small setback for this figure. But with all of the other improved enhancements, we’ll let this one slide. He comes with the correct green lightsaber he used during the Battle of Geonosis. The blade doesn't stay on that well for us interestingly.

The Droideka is really nothing new at all. It is a slight repaint of the figure we saw in the 2009 set which is a repaint of the 2007 TAC Destroyer Droid (30 59) figure. It’s inevitable that the Geonosis Arena Showdown sets will contain repeat droids since there were a ton of them in the actual battle in the film. So while the reason to buy this site is not for the Droideka, it certainly will help pad your diorama to recreate this scene from Attack Of The Clones. We’re not recollecting a scene in Episode II where Anakin directly confronts a Droideka, but that really doesn’t mean much. These exclusive sets are just a pairing of two characters in the same relative widescreen scene. It’s interesting how well Hasbro improved the Episode II version of Anakin Skywalker. And while there is a basic figure of Anakin Skywalker (from Episode II) in The Vintage Collection lineup, it seems that there is now a missed opportunity to get him in the line in his main gear. But thank goodness we have this means to purchase him. The star in this set is Anakin Skywalker and if you think you already have enough Episode II versions of his already, you’re wrong. You definitely need this one too.