Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 525: Anakin Skywalker

ANAKIN SKYWALKER Jedi Knight
30th Anniversary Collection Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. 87500 No. 87335
Number: #3033
Includes: Lightsaber, robot hand, robot hand stump, coin
Action Feature: Swap robot hand for battle-damaged stump
Retail: $6.99
Availability: September 2007+
Appearances: Clone Wars

Bio: Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to the planet Nelvaan to find General Grievous. While there, Anakin is sent on a quest by a village shaman. In a cave decorated with primitive drawings, Anakin sees powerful visions of his future. To carry the memory of this experience with him, he has the drawings tattooed on his body. (Taken from the figure's bio.)

Image: Adam's TV tray.

Commentary: While based on his appearance on Nelvaan, the figure is merely named "Anakin Skywalker" on his packaging. And it's a good one. For whatever reason, Hasbro has never made a truly super-articulated Anakin Skywalker action figure, and this is no exception-- it's very good, but some of you are bound to be upset. You get an articulated right wrist, ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, neck, and knees, cut joints at the waist and hips, and that's about it. Only one hand has a joint, and neither ankle does. So it's very good, but as many fans grow wary of figures where Hasbro doesn't go all-out the first time, well, it might be worth waiting around to see if it happens again, I guess. I wouldn't-- after all, the Expanded Universe doesn't get retreads very often.

The sculpt is one of Hasbro's best, and the deco is mostly great. Actually, personally, I think this is one of the better figures of 2007, as the articulation is more or less good enough. Anakin's hair seems to be the right color, as does everything about his person-- except his pants. Yellowish tan pants? Really? In the cartoon, they're dark brown. The color certainly looks good on the figure, but it doesn't exactly work for authenticity's sake. Still, it's not like you have a pants variant you could get instead, so it's pretty good. The figure looks muscular, but not too muscular, and the robot hand more or less fits in with the figure's design quite well. The one real problem is that I've had a few reports of the hand peg literally snapping off when fans try to switch the hands. As such, be very careful when you do this-- mine felt like it almost tore off the first time I tried to switch them, so I don't plan on doing that any more. I suggest you also not do that. It's a good design, and a new take on a core character. As it doesn't suck, you should probably buy it. Oh, and that thing on his belt that looks like you can plug a lightsaber into it? You can't. So don't bother trying. So, to review: good figure with oddly colored pants, close-but-not super articulation, and a hand peg which suffers from a fragile design. I loved the cartoons, so I totally dig this figure.

Collector's Notes: As an entirely new sculpt, this figure hasn't been released in any other configurations yet. So you can buy this one knowing that, as of today, there's no known gift set coming out in a month with the same figure again.

Day 525: October 13, 2007