Anakin Skywalker - ROTS - Basic (III 28)

Anakin falls deeper into the dark side of the Force and betrays his Jedi comrades to the evil Sith. On the volcanic planet Mustafar, he meets his destiny in a fierce battle with his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Toy makers are typically at a disadvantage when there is a huge multimedia event like a brand new film that their own products must support, but Hasbro did a fine job for most of the Revenge Of The Sith line, arguably the biggest Star Wars event in years. Not given enough “inside scoop” or free reign of the reference materials will only effect the accuracy of the toy line and its obvious that Hasbro wasn’t privy to all of Episode III’s secrets. And if they were, they had to “dumb down” the spoilers that the action figures might give away. case in point is the Anakin Skywalker III 28 figure. It’s one of the better Anakin Skywalker figures of the line, but he isn’t even “Anakin Skywalker” at this point in the film. But calling and action figure that looks like Anakin Skywalker “Darth Vader” would only reveal some secrets that should be saved for a first time viewing of the film. So whether intentional or not, Hasbro has called this version of Darth Vader “Anakin Skywalker” which subsequently helped to contain the secrets of Episode III as well as the development of the character.

The 2005 Revenge Of The Sith was met with mixed reviews. Hasbro certainly considered collectors with many action figures, but so many others (usually the Collection 1 variety) were geared with kids’ interests first. Anakin Skywalker III 28 fits somewhere in between collector and kid interest. He does come with an action feature, but for the most part its discreet and fits in well with the rest of the natural aesthetics of the figure. All you need to do is squeeze his legs together to recreate a swinging lightsaber “Slashing Attack!” action feature. Anakin Skywalker comes with a full separate lightsaber accessory, an interchangeable cybernetic forearm and a removable outer cloak. The figure doesn’t have the best center of gravity, so it takes some precarious positioning to prevent the figure from falling over to the ground. The head sculpt and its paint job are fair to good and the resemblance to Hayden Christiansen is alright. Clearly, this isn’t a definitive interpretation of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader for collectors, so you’ll have to wait longer for that. The Revenge Of The Sith line sadly isn’t going to bring us one.

In the middle of the figure’s run, Hasbro decided to change the figure’s eye makeup from dark circles around his eyes to the traditional (and very cool we might add) “Sith” eyes. These evil-looking eyes, first made aware to us by Darth Maul and symbolically purposed the aim of Sith’s evil ways. The running change version of Anakin Skywalker was a bit harder to locate at retail. In fact, it didn’t start hitting retail until the other running change figures did including Clone Commander [Green] (III 33), Clone Pilot [Shadow] (III 34) and the Clone Trooper [Shock Trooper] (III 6) figures. Ultimately each figure is very scene-specific and if you collect one of everything, then you need both of course. But if you’re looking for the ideal super-articulated Anakin Skywalker figure, then you’ll have to move along until Hasbro brings us one. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro released 2010’s TVC Darth Vader [Anakin Skywalker] (VC13) figure and it’s the definitive version of this particular iteration of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.) Action features aside, Hasbro can and will do better. This figure serves a purpose more the kids we feel, but it’s a figure that will age exponentially through the years. The Revenge Of The Sith brought us some fantastic action figures, but this isn’t one of them.