Anakin Skywalker - CW - Basic (’03 #42)

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.

Though still only a Padawan during the Clone Wars, Anakin continues to grow stronger in the Force in his role as both a great warrior and natural leader. He uses his power to command a battalion of Clone Troopers into battle against the Separatists droid armies on multiple planets. With the impressive combination of his Jedi abilities, lightsaber, and enhanced mission gear, Anakin battles fiercely to save the galaxy in ground assaults. He also uses his exceptional piloting skills to gain victories in space battles, flying a new Starfighter upon which he made significant modifications to enhance its performance.

In Attack Of The Clones, we see a burgeoning Anakin Skywalker develop emotionally and spiritually as he develops a love for Padme Amidala as well as hone in on his skills in Force, respectively. That is all interrupted by the events that immediately transpire after the Battle of Geonosis as he quickly becomes involved in the tumultuous Clone Wars battles. He takes on a quasi-lead role but doesn’t fully become a general until later in the war. Like so many of the other lead characters involved in the Clone Wars, Hasbro needed to develop a slightly different take on these said characters to make them specific to the Clone Wars multimedia event. They did a pretty good job on Anakin Skywalker, with a focus on him as a Jedi starfighter pilot. The action figure is interesting, but it’s a bit too far from perfect because the articulation and the wonky pose inhibit the aesthetics of the character. You're going to want more from this ction figure. Still, with a healthy dose of accessories including well fitting parts, Anakin Skywalker is an action figure in the Clone Wars line that makes sense, even if it’s not the best-looking action figure Hasbro has ever produced.

Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars line make us noncommittal. He has an average likeness, a decent amount of articulation and high levels of play value. With eight points of articulation, you would think that this figure has a fair amount of mobilitvibranty, but unfortunately, he really does not. The swivel head joint is disappointing at best. When you turn it to give the figure a new direction to face, the angles his head sits at are weird. The head faces up and down depending where you situate it. It’s a very odd feature. The ball-jointed shoulders offer a little more mobility to this action figure, but then they are set back by swivel elbows. With very little lower body articulation, Anakin Skywalker needs some major updates before we can say we would be satisfied with this sculpt. Thankfully, he has a great center of gravity and can be posed very easily despite not having a full range of motion. When an action figure can stand unassisted, it’s a very beautiful thing. After all, is it too much to ask Hasbro to ensure that their action figures can stand without falling down?

Clearly, this stage of Anakin Skywalker is meant to recreate his Padawan status. That much is true. But he is a bit more advanced than the typical Padawan and his training has been anything but conventional. Based on his appearance in the very first chapter of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars Volume 1, he comes with a headset (and a separate corresponding Jedi starfighter) to recreate that sequence in the micro-series. Anakin can stand up, wield a lightsaber, “use” the headset communications device. There really isn’t a lot to complain about here other than the limited articulation. You may not be crazy about his likeness, but like Obi-Wan Kenobi (General Of The Republic Army) (’03 #45), this is the best “Episode II-based” likeness of Anakin Skywalker. The Clone Wars multimedia event is helping to connect the dots of the very rich history that is the Clone Wars. We heard an older Ben Kenobi briefly mention them to passing to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but now we’re starting to see what actually transpired during them thanks to the multimedia event. Anakin Skywalker helps to tell a part of that story.