Semester’s over! As of yesterday, all that remains is a bit
of paper grading and it’ll officially be that wonderful break between Spring
and Summer classes, a couple weeks of sleeping (relatively) late and having fun
and feeling like a real human again. I am still working my way through a whole
lot of figures that need to be photographed, and have almost exhausted my
stockpile of pictures taken at our old apartment, so these new photo sessions
are becoming more and more necessary. It occurred to me that out of the 36
articles posted to the Coffin thus far in 2018, only 6 of them (6!) have been about Star Wars figures, and there have been a number of Star Wars figures acquired since 2018
began. Gotta do something about that, man.
So, here is another Black
Series Darth Vader, this one obtained as part of the The Last Jedi toy line, intended to represent the Vader of Rogue One and A New Hope, and originally appearing as part of the Legacy Collection of throwback-carded
figures. That’s a pretty complicated lineage for such an uncomplicated figure.
This Vader is a Vader to be sure, the only real difference
that separates this from previous iterations being the cloth cape parts that
fall over the shoulders, making the cape more of a robe and probably, in
retrospect and armed with the knowledge that we gain in a crucial Empire Strikes Back moment, intending to
be a Jedi robe. It is easy to forget that Vader was once a Jedi, given the out
of chronological order that the movies were made in, as we tend to always think
of him as the Emperor’s man either in the armor or as Hayden Christensen, but
things like incorporating a robe element to the cape gives a nice nod to the
more heroic past of the character, before he grew so twisted and evil.
Figure wise, this Darth Vader sure is a Darth Vader, not
differing much at all from the line’s previous two Vaders. It does not feel as
heavy as the Return of the Jedi Darth
Vader, the original Black Series Vader,
but it is still a large and imposing figure. It has the oh-so-important “I find
your lack of faith disturbing” hand, always a very critical Vader accessory. Also
included is a lightsaber, this time with a small plastic loop on the end,
designed to allow the saber hilt to hang on a small plastic hook on Vader’s
belt. Oh, what a great idea! Why weren’t they doing this the entire time? If nothing
else, this admittedly very small thing makes for additional display options for
the figure. Sure, you could have always displayed your Darth Vader without his
weapon in hand, but now, you can display him not only without the weapon in
hand, but with the weapon visible on his belt. Who cares about a new hat? This is
a new detail that is really only visible if you look for it specifically!
That wasn’t supposed to sound as sarcastic as it likely did.
This little belt hook is a great change to the figure, as small as it may be,
and it has already begun to proliferate across the line to other lightsaber wielding
characters. The latest Kylo Ren has this, as does Jaina Solo. It’s a thing so
small, but really, really valuable; one of those “why wouldn’t they do this?”
type affairs. I’d like it if more lightsaber-wielding figures had this little hook
and loop, or some way to attach the weapon to the figure.
Articulation wise, this Vader is Black Series standard. The cloth cape doesn’t get in the way of any
movement, and the figure stands pretty well. After moving and trying to reestablish
my Black Series displays I was
reminded of the difficulties some of the figures present in terms of getting
them to stand and hold their own weight, and some stands I purchased from an
Etsy seller have revealed themselves to be mostly garbage, so a good,
self-supporting figure is a real positive thing to me right now. The original ROTJ Vader has some occasional
difficulties in balancing its weight, but this one seems to be just fine.
 |
| Just because. |
This may be the most superfluous Darth Vader that the Black Series can offer, but there is
always room for another one on my shelves. I don’t ever think that one has
enough Vaders, but if you don’t share that view, this one is totally skippable.
In the long run, its big difference is the lightsaber loop, and I don’t think
that’s enough of a selling point, even for a figure as cheap as $20. It’s one
of those things that, since this figure was coming home with me anyway, is a
nice upgrade for the base toy, but I can’t really say that it’s worth $20. If your
Black Series collection is missing a
Darth Vader, this one is as good as any to fill that need, or if you’re a
completionist or a Vader fan. But otherwise, really, this is kinda just another
Vader, and whether you want or need that is a personal decision.
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