Darth Vader - TROS - 12-Inch Figures

Once a hero Jedi Knight, Darth Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force and became a Sith Lord.

Are you kidding us, Hasbro? Did you have to release this Darth Vader 12-Inch Figure once again? Dating back to 2013, Hasbro feels that this same sculpt must get release upon release with each line of toys they make for the Star Wars brand. The tooling is so outdated that it’s time for them to design a new sculpt from the ground up to freshen the character up a bit. Hasbro incorrectly sources this iteration of Darth Vader to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (as evidenced by the packaging), when the paint job concludes this version of Darth Vader is based on the character’s appearance from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The differences between all of the Darth Vader costumes get exhausting to itemize over and over again. The colored details on the chest box are blue and red on this version of Darth Vader. And also, the robes go underneath the armor instead of over it.

The Darth Vader 12-Inch Figure is tired and should be put to bed for good now. As you know, Darth Vader was one of the first “shampoo bottles” Hasbro ever produced, and they didn’t have the template perfected. Darth Vader is much too lanky, comes with a poorly cut soft-goods cape, and has a lightsaber hilt permanently affixed to his right hand. The plastic used to cast the figure is much too shiny also. We all understand how important it is for Hasbro to keep Darth Vader in the toy line at all times, but this figure isn't one of those figures they should be reissuing. One would think that Hasbro would have tooled an all-new version of Darth Vader to make him more relevant to the modern era, especially since so many of the newer 12-Inch Figures look infinitely better by comparison. This 12-Inch Figure is no longer working for the Star Wars toy line. It’s time to tool an all-new figure from here on out. Please, Hasbro, don’t ever rerelease this figure.

Darth Vader comes with the same seven (7) points of articulation as he always has. Movement like this doesn’t do much to help you pose the figure meaningfully. We cannot stand that the hilt of the lightsaber is permanently affixed to his right hand. The blade, however, is removable, so you get options here. While Hasbro added swivel wrist movement to this sculpt, Darth Vader still only comes with a swivel head, two swivel shoulders, and two swivel hips, which again does very little for the kid or collector. Besides, the arms hang so close to the body that the range of movement of them is greatly inhibited. The good news is that the swivel wrists do help to allow you to pose the lightsaber in some optional ways, but it’s still not ideal by any means. Darth Vader disappointingly comes with an inferior quality cut soft-goods cape. A surprising choice for The Rise Of Skywalker toy line, it bewilders us why Hasbro feels they can keep releasing this figure.