It Came from the Toy Chest: Asthma Sucks especially IN SPACE!!

My father has decided to come and visit for this It Came From the Toy Chest. Like Evil Lyn, Ranma Saotome, and Solid Snake, I too have "Daddy Issues". Therefore, the perfect figure to represent my father, is none other than Darth Vader. And yes, on my phone My Father is saved as Darth Vader (with Imperial March ringtone) and his Residential line is The Death Star... But enough about me, let's talk about the Asthmatic Cyborg who used to be a whiny kid.

Do I really need to explain who is Darth Vader? If not just watch Star Wars (Episodes IV: a New Hope, V: The Empire Strikes Back, and VI: Return of the Jedi. Preferably the Original versions before George Lucas decided to alter them multiple times.) Avoid Episodes I-III.


Articulation:
This picture shows all of Darth Vader's Articulation.
In paper the Articulation is Impressive.
On the figure itself...Well, Getting Vader to stand on a basic Sword Stance is very cumbersome. (He is slightly more Stable than Hasbro's Marvel Legends Black Cat) The Shoulders are a bit hindered and the legs won't allow for kickass wide stances. This stems from the way Hasbro does the hips on certain figures. (Just like the 3 3/4" but bigger)

 3.0 It's functional, but it could have worked better.

Paint and Sculpt:

I wanted to use You're Tearing me apart,
Padme, but NOOOO is more Iconic.

WARNING: CLOTH PARTS DETECTED!
Yes, it's true. Darth Vader has Cloth Parts. Now before you go all Darth Vader on me, hear me out! I LOATHE, DESPISE, HATE, DETEST Cloth items on figures less than 12 inches tall.

This time Hasbro did something cool and simple to fix the draping issues on the cape. It's not a PERFECT solution, but it's a bit cool, so I have to point it out. The cape is heavier at the tips, so it drapes a bit more naturally.

The bad part is that Vader's Torso is also wrapped in Cloth, because of his tunic. Normally, I'd bitch and moan about this, but there's a SLIGHT chance that Hasbro is doing this Vader with Cloth items, BECAUSE he'd need to sit on something. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!

The plastic sculpted parts look good and Vader-like. I have a small issue with the head. Something looks slightly OFF. (Aside the Helmet not being Glossy enough). The Vader under the mask looks off. Kinda like a Hybrid of the Traditional Unmasked DV and a cross of the Special Edition Altered DV under the mask. (to look more like Hayden Christensen's Mannequin Skywalker.)
The Hands are another problematic point. Vader can only hold the Lightsaber on his right hand. His left hand is kinda opened like in the Join Me scene from ESB.

The Paint is a bit of a mixed bag. SOME of The Tampos are applied nicely on mine, BUT the other half is VERY messed up. (My Vader without helmet looks a bit Derpy) but what bugs me the most are the super obvious brushstrokes on DV's head. I'd understand seeing brushstrokes on a DV Custom, but not on the official release!

3.0 A Noble Effort by Hasbro, but not enough, especially since we're talking about DARTH FREAKING VADER here.

Accessories:

 
 He only comes with the Lightsaber. I like that I can pop off the blade to make it be in the off position. Sadly, I've seen other figures of this line (even if I haven't bought any yet.) and they have tons of accessories. Spare hands would have been welcome here. I would have preferred two heads for DV. The Normal Helmet and the ROTJ Helmetless head.

1.0 *DV-like wheezing/Breathing* I find your lack of accessories disturbing! Yes, I have been waiting for years to use a reference to that phrase. Using it on a Darth Vader Figure makes it even sweeter!

Overall:
Darth Vader gets a 2.33 as his final score. It's a shame. I've skipped Leia, because I want a Leia from a New Hope. Also, Slave Leia looks very off. Getting her would mean also getting Jabba and I don't want to spend nearly $100 for the more Accurate Jabba. (The barebones $50-ish Jabba at retail is a bit underwhelming since he has NOTHING) I've skipped Han, because the few I've seen were either broken in package or had pieces missing. Hell! I saw a Han with a Greedo Head at a Wal*Mart! So far I've not seen the ROTJ Luke yet. I've only seen X-Wing Luke and I don't want that version of him. (I truly want the A New Hope Luke, but I'll take ROTJ as a substitute figure) Also, I've not seen Chewie. Add R2-D2 and C-3PO and you get the Entire Characters that I want. No Boba Fett, No Lando, No Ackbar and most definitely no Jar Jar!! Toss in an Alec Guiness Obi Wan and we'd be cool... OK I want a Bea Arthur too! but that's about it.

Back to Darth Vader. This is THE ONE CHARACTER that Hasbro had to make sure was ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS, but they fell short. I mean he's not a QC Disaster like Funko's Game of Thrones wave 1 Figures, but the bad paintjob, the lack of accessories and limited articulation hurt this figure a lot. So far I think I'll only get a Return of the Jedi Luke and call it quits with SW: Black. Maybe an Emperor to have the ROTJ Final Battle display as my only SW figures since the mid eighties.