Mace Windu (General Of The Republic Army) - CW - Basic (’03 #48)

Begun the Clone Wars has!" – Jedi Master Yoda
On the remote planet of Geonosis, the growing conflict between the Republic and its foes explodes into all-out war. The Republic's Jedi Knights lead a massive Clone Army into battle on hundreds of planets. The Separatists, led by the powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, fight back with their own formidable droid armies. As this terrible conflict rips across the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi are swept into the turmoil of war and the rising shadow of the dark side.

Forced by the sweeping tide of events to put aside the art of diplomacy that he favors over art of war, Mace Windu reluctantly wields his lightsaber to repel the dark forces that are undermining peace. A man of great wisdom and experience, Mace in nonetheless a skilled and formidable opponent as he is one of the best lightsaber fighters in the Jedi Order. As a General, Mace leads Clone Troopers in ground battles across the galaxy. Also an accomplished pilot, Mace takes part in space battles during the Clone Wars, piloting a Jedi Starfighter in skirmishes against the Separatist forces.

The Clone Wars multimedia event reinvents some of our most favorite characters from the Star Wars universe. In order to make them more interesting, little things have been tweaked and additional items have been added to make the characters unique from how they appear in the Star Wars films. It’s a dangerous tightrope to walk because changing the way fans and collectors see some of their favorite characters could potentially work against Hasbro if the newly added features (and changes) go against what the collecting community might be expecting. For the most part, and with very, very few exceptions, Hasbro has been extremely respectful in “recreating” our most beloved Star Wars characters and applying some fun “enhancements” that allow them to feel right at home in the Clone Wars multimedia event. Done in a realistic style, Hasbro has been most inspired by the scenes shown in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series. in the case of Mace Windu, he’s been done generically enough that he can be sourced to any Clone Wars source. And that works equally as well too.

We believe that you’ll be fond of the Mace Windu (General Of The Republic Army) action figure. Hasbro has genuinely done a fine job on this powerful Jedi Master. And the best part is that Hasbro included some premium points of articulation that they didn’t include with some of the other characters from the Clone Wars line. We have quickly become fond of this version of Mace Windu. He definitely appears not to differ that much from his Episode II/Attack Of The Clones look, but Hasbro has added and interesting feature that gives him a uniqueness you may have not expected. The Jedi tunic is removable and you an see his light-colored pants underneath. Admittedly it is an odd feature to add, but the interaction between the figure an the tunic is flawless and we are impressed with how well it works. Mace Windu also comes with two removable gauntlets as well. These additions add extra play value and give him that “off screen” look necessary to source him to a part of the Expanded Universe like the Clone Wars section of the Star Wars saga.

Mace Windu comes with a remarkable ten points of articulation. His striking head sculpt contains a ball-socket articulation point. But more importantly, he also comes with ball-jointed shoulders and elbows. These are only then enhanced by swivel wrists. The rest of the figure, including the waist and hips contain swivel articulation. The points function well with each other and give Mace Windu (General Of The Republic Army) an excellent range of motion that you might not suspect. The figure is then finished off with his signature purple lightsaber. It can be held by Mace without any issues and he looks rather fantastic wielding it in multiple ways in a diorama setting, or simply on a shelf. We have heard complaints about the head sculpt, but we will stand firmly in our stance that Hasbro developed an excellent likeness of actor Samuel L. Jackson. Collectors in general have commented that they’re tired of seeing him smiling, but we would say that the expression Hasbro etched into the head sculpt shows a little concern and/or reservation as well. Altogether, we feel that Hasbro really did a fine job on this action figure.