DARTH VADER with Imperial Interrogation Droid
Power of the Force CommTech Figures
Item No.: Asst. 84185 No. 84203
Number: n/a
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Includes: Interrogation droid, CommTech Chip
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $6.99
Availability: Fall 1999
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: Inside the Death Star's detention corridor, Darth Vader is intent on snapping Princess Leia's defiance. Accompanied by an Imperial interrogation droid, the Sith Lord enters cell 2187, determined to learn the location of the hidden Rebel base from his royal prisoner. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam's shelves, droid not shown.

Commentary: As a toy, this Darth Vader is pretty good and fairly representative of the character throughout the entire saga. He's posed to stand around and gesture slightly, and that's exactly what he likes to do. With eight points of articulation, this isn't exactly a super-articulated figure, but he's considerably thinner than previous releases and has the ability to sit, plus he has cloth bits. Actually, this is the first modern Darth Vader to feature a cloth inner cape (skirt), which means this is an ideal choice to use as a pilot in any release of Darth Vader's TIE Fighter.

In terms of design, Hasbro designed this figure to mimic his appearance in the original Star Wars. He has robes over his shoulder armor, colored lenses in his helmet, and gloves with lines running perpendicular to his fingers. While not crazy articulated, this figure does nicely represent the character with a sculpt that certainly qualifies as modern. It isn't too bulky, it has a lot of detail, and, most important of all, it doesn't fall apart when you try to play with it. It even has a lightsaber sculpted to his leg, which is a unique detail that adds to this particular figure's appearance. Rarely does Hasbro integrate this sort of feature on a figure, so they score some points for creativity. The shoulder cape drapes somewhat awkwardly over his arms, but hey, nothing's perfect. It's a neat figure and one that is worth owning, but those looking for the perfect Vader won't find it here. This one is just merely very good.

Collector's Notes: While somewhat difficult to find when initially released, more of this figure showed up during the big clearances of 2000. The figure would be repackaged and rereleased in a 2007 Battle Pack featuring Stormtroopers and Rebel Troopers called the Capture of Tantive IV. Finally, a comic-inspired repaint of this figure was also produced with blue highlights. It got around. The two movie-deco releases are notable in that they do not include lightsabers. ( MORE IMAGES )

--Adam Pawlus

Day 745: May 20, 2008