DARTH VADER Board Game Edition Power of the Force Escape the Death Star Game
Item No.: No. 40905
Manufacturer: Kenner
Number: n/a
Includes: 3 Blasters, 3 Lightsaber
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $24.99
Availability: 1998
Appearances: The Empire Strikes Back
Bio: As a master of the dark side, Vader became the scourge of the Jedi, continuing the Great Jedi Purge. An extension of the Emperor's will, the Dark Lord was constantly on the move, traveling throughout the galaxy to defeat rebel uprisings or arrest corrupt Imperials. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)
Image: Adam Pawlus' couch.
Commentary: One of Kenner's first "let's-do-a-head-swap" figures, this Darth Vader takes the then-best Vader body and combined it with a merely OK head. The body is from the 1998 Removable Helmet Darth Vader, which was notable for its swivel right arm and swivel right wrist in addition to having one of the least muscular builds the line would see until late 1999. The head is taken from another 1998 figure, the Complete Galaxy Death Star Darth Vader. This release has a removable dome, exposing the back of the skull as seen in The Empire Strikes Back.
While an OK figure in its day, it's not really anything special by modern standards. It looks nice, and the plastic cape looks excellent to this day, but it isn't super-articulated and its lower cloak pieces prevent him from being able to sit even if you remove his cape. As such, this is a great oddity for collectors or an acceptable display piece. As you no doubt have multiple Vader figures by now, there's really no reason for you to shell out the scratch for this one.
This figure has been rendered junk drawer fodder due to later, super-articulated releases, but it's still decent. It has jointed elbows and swivel biceps, plus ball-ish jointed shoulders. Aside from that it's a pretty stiff figure, but it's certainly good enough to man stations in a playset or a large vehicle or act "dead." (Especially the latter.)
Collector's Notes: The board game is notable for having a post-trash-compactor Luke Skywalker figure, but it didn't look all that great according to many fans. As such, this is a set you can probably forget, as history certainly has done so.
Day 1,004: April 20, 2009
1 comment:
This was a fun variant for the period, but certainly superseded by later releases. The wet-head Luke was kind of cool, and I don't this they've done another like that since, that doesn't have a weird facial expression (Saga1 cinema scene).
(Also, the paragraph starting "This figure has been rendered junk drawer fodder..." is accidentally copied from yesterday's multipack Stormtrooper review.)
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