DARTH VADER — DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“Taking the form of Darth Vader , the Dark Lord of the Sith, this spirit is the embodiment of the dark side of the Force. It dwells in a cave on the swamp-covered planet of Dagobah. Although defeated by Luke Skywalker in combat, its unmasked face revealed that Luke has yet to master the ways of the Force and become a Jedi.”

One of the aims of Power of the Jedi was to reintegrate the Original Trilogy characters into the main Star Wars line, to assuage retailers after the concerns surrounding the unsold Episode I product.  In some ways, it feels like a continuation of Power of the Force, but it also leans into a concept not quite as explored in PotF: scene specific variants.  They went to the scene specific well twice for franchise icon Darth Vader, and I’m looking at the first of those two instances today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader — Dagobah was released in 2000 as part of the first year of Star Wars: Power of the Jedi.  Though listed as a Vader variant, he’s not technically one, since he’s a figure of the spirit Luke sees in the cave on Dahobah, and is therefore not the actual guy.  But, he’s good enough for the toy company to count him.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Though he he feels quite similar to the later run PotF Vader figures, this one had an all-new sculpt, which, as far as I know, remained unique to this release.  It’s slightly more on the pre-posed side, dialing more into the specific shots we see of the spirit in its one scene.  He’s made for holding his lightsaber and standing there with a bit of menace, which he does rather well.  He’s still got a bit of residual bulk from Power of the Force, but nothing crazy.  The actual detailing is all pretty sharp, and they do a good job with his costume details, and the elements specific to the Empire design.  To fully replicate the scene, the figure’s faceplate is removable (a feature that’s surprisingly well hidden), showing Luke’s face beneath.  You can also remove the figure’s head, through use of a kind of rudimentary peg.  He was originally supposed to use a magnet to attach the head, but that was deemed too involved for the line, and delayed until Saga came along.  The figure’s color work aids in the “spirit” vibe, with a slight translucent feature to it, most visible on the cape and cloak.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber, which notably gets actual detailing on the hilt, in contrast to the Power of the Force figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing pictures of this figure when the line was running, and I was always fascinated by the look with the Luke face.  But, because he was packaged with the faceplate on, I didn’t ever realize which Vader he actually was.  It wouldn’t be until much later on that I realized how it worked, at which point I reaffirmed my search, tracking one down a few years back through Yesterday’s Fun, during one of my many family vacations in the area.  He’s a nifty little variant, and really the best way to recreate a rather memorable scene from the movies.