Anakin Skywalker - TSC - The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection (2 of 12)

Anakin is now a full Jedi Knight and his heroic feats have made him a hero throughout the Republic. He is lured to the dark side of the Force by promises of unlimited power.

When Hasbro has something in their heads, there is likely nothing collectors can do to assist them in changing it. Hasbro has believed for years that action features are necessary for their action figures during a movie year. Aside from the Episode I line, the various Star Wars collections (for Episode II and Episode III) featured a large portion of the collection of figures that included some sort of action feature in them. Sadly, these action features pretty much destroyed the aesthetics of what could have been pretty good action figures under “normal conditions”. It seems that a multimedia event as big as a new film cripples the action figure line in some respects. Hasbro gears a bulk of their products to appeal to kids. And quite frankly we’re on the fence about this. Why does Anakin Skywalker need to have a spring-loaded waist and loose arm joints to swing his lightsaber? Why can’t good articulation be put into its place instead and have the kid or collector mimic that action manually? Hasbro seems to disagree with this sentiment and all of the Anakin Skywalker figures (and most of the Obi-Wan Kenobi figures) from the Revenge Of The Sith line are anything but collector-friendly.

Originall released as 2005's ROTS Anakin Skywalker (III 2) figure, it has no been re-released in The Saga Collection's The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection. The figure may serve some purpose again, but we find it unnecessary. In all honesty, we find Anakin Skywalker to be wholly a train wreck. Between the inferior sculpt, the poor paint job, the interchangeability of permanently affixed to hand lightsabers and limited movement aside from the action feature, we can’t say that we’re happy with the final result of this figure. It certainly serves a purpose to younger fans and kids, but collectors may find it an annoyance. Perhaps the kids will enjoy its action feature. Who knows? But what we do know is that this Anakin Skywalker figure is probably one that would have been best never produced. Yeah, that sounds really harsh, but all of these parts could have been reserved for a super-articulated action figure that could be posed in any way possible instead. Clearly, we’re disappointed because not only did Hasbro release it as a basic figure, but they kept returning to it to produce more versions of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader even after the fact. Heck, this figure was even used in the 2005 NY Toy Fair exclusive promotional item that spun around to reveal Anakin Skywalker’s turn into Darth Vader to promote the Revenge Of The Sith line.

Thankfully this time around, there is only ONE version of this figure. If you recall, in the Revenge Of The Sith line Anakin Skywalker (III 2) came in three distinct variations. Those variations all center around the figure’s accessories. We will refer to them as Version 1, Version 2 and Version 3. Version 1 came with an interchangeable right hand holding a red lightsaber, an interchangeable right hand holding a blue lightsaber and a lightsaber hilt. It is urban legend that Hasbro didn’t know at the time of this figure’s initial production that Anakin would be confiscating Count Dooku’s lightsaber to behead him. As you can imagine this was quickly corrected and Hasbro released Version 2 and Version 3. These releases include an interchangeable right hand holding a blue lightsaber, Dooku’s lightsaber and Anakin’s lightsaber hilt. But the difference that separates Version 2 from Version 3 is that Version 2 comes with a pink-bladed Count Dooku lightsaber while Version 3 comes with a red-bladed Count Dooku lightsaber. No need to worry about these with this 2006 version. The Saga Collection's The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection is meant to get "popular" figures out into the market again in a quick and easy fashion. So chalk it up to that. This is an easy pass, unless you're a packaging variation hound. Then you have a new problem.