DARTH VADER — DUEL’S END

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0099: This is the 17th Darth Vader I’ve reviewed on the site.

In addition to the return of Ewan McGregor in the title role, Kenobi also brought back Hayden Christensen, now not just playing Anakin, but in fact playing a full-fledged Darth Vader. I never had the full-fledged hate-on for Hayden’s work in the prequels the way others did (though I’ll admit to getting in on some of the joking about it when the prequels hate was at its height), and it was super cool to see him get to do more work with the character. His Kenobi portrayal brought out a rawness to Vader that we hadn’t really seen in live action, and that was really impressive. I skipped the standard Kenobi Vader from Black Series, since he was very similar to other releases, but I couldn’t turn down a shot at a more obviously show-specific version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader (Duel’s End) is figure 15 in the Kenobi-sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series. Like the rest of the back portion of that set, he was an exclusive, specifically to Target, hitting at the end of last year.  As the figure’s name indicates, this guy is based on his appearance at the end of his climactic duel with Obi-Wan, after Ben’s given him quite a beating.  The figure stands a little over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  This figure is obviously using a good deal of parts from the standard Kenobi Vader, which itself was mostly re-use from the #43 Vader.  Once you’ve got a good base Vader sculpt, you just really need to move some details around, so I can get it.  He does get an all-new head and torso, though.  The torso gets some minor change-ups, with the slashes across his control box, as well as the one on his back (which is very easy to miss).  The head’s the real star piece, though, as the helmet is split open, revealing traces of the scarred Anakin beneath.  There’s a whole head sculpt under there, which is fun, even if you can’t see the whole thing.  The split helmet is great, because it’s got the proper updated look from the show on the undamaged parts, while also replicating the damage very nicely.  As with prior Vaders, he’s using soft goods for his cape and underlying robe.  The tailoring is a little better here than the prior ones I’ve messed with, and they even added extra damage to everything to match up with his sculpted damage.  The only issue I’ve got with it is that, at least on mine, the robe isn’t all the way under the shoulder armor the way it should be.  Vader’s paint work is standard Vader for the most part, but he does get some more exciting parts with the head under the helmet.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber and…well, that’s it.  It’s light, but it’s Vader, so we all kind of know what to expect, I guess.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t really play the exclusives game, so I wasn’t thrilled by this one being only at Target.  But, over a long enough period of time, pretty much everything seems to show up in front of me, so I was able to snag one that got traded into All Time.  I’m glad, because I didn’t need the basic Kenobi look, but after getting Jabiim Kenobi, I really wanted a Vader to pair off with him.  This one’s an impressive piece in his own right, and a great companion piece too!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.