My Vader review

[screamingmetal]

I strongly disagree with your review Michael. I think this time you're being overly critical.
The only flaw I can find is that the flared portion of the helmet could be made a little larger/longer, but that's not a big enough issue for me to make this figure any less then perfect.

 

[coolkansaswind]

View attachment 17370

i love this pic ... great review

 

[icruise]

After seeing the figure in hand, I'm going to agree that the black tusk seems distracting, even though I knew about it and understand the reasoning behind it. I may even paint it silver myself.

However, I don't think it's worth reducing the score, since after all it is not a factory error but rather an intentional decision.

 

[Billy]

Reamber this is sideshow's take on vader he NEVER looked like this in ANY of the films.So he's not from any of the three movies they did what kenner and hasbro did.I dont understand why sideshow cant make a vader from each film insted of makeing a combo of the three ?

 

[Coorectghosting]

Nah... all in all it's obviously the ANH version.

 

[pixletwin]

Reamber this is sideshow's take on vader he NEVER looked like this in ANY of the films.So he's not from any of the three movies they did what kenner and hasbro did.I dont understand why sideshow cant make a vader from each film insted of makeing a combo of the three ?

What gave you that impression? The product is clearly labeled "Star Wars 12-inch Figures Darth Vader - Episode IV 12-inch Figure - Sideshow Exclusive"

 

[FLOSI]

FOUR STAR


Nice review.

 

[FLOSI]

Reamber this is sideshow's take on vader he NEVER looked like this in ANY of the films.So he's not from any of the three movies they did what kenner and hasbro did.I dont understand why sideshow cant make a vader from each film insted of makeing a combo of the three ?

I'm pretty sure this Vader is from ANH. Just a hunch.



Sorry for not multi-quoting.

 

[Billy]

Im very picky on vader any vader expert will notice in a heartbeat.At least they dident do the paint job like on the replica masks.

Heres the giveaways.

the paint job on the mask and dome is esb except the black tusk the black tusk is the only thing anh on the paint job.Theirs barely a widow's peak on the dome and no Y.

The mesh color is not anh.

The lenses look esb,rotj.

The facemask and dome are shinny.

Theirs no paint damadge anywhere on the figure he's too clean.

Thats pretty much it.

 

[jake26]

I have to agree with scruff, I love your reviews but this one was just a stinker to me when it comes to the scoring and some of the critiques. You simply cannot penalize a prop or collectible for being screen accurate unless the accuracy makes the product somehow defective. I mean, if a limb kept falling off, that'd be different... this tusk is absolutely screen accurate - penalize George Lucas, not Sideshow Collectibles. The dome is undersized, but I don't remember you even mentioning that. As I was reading I just got the vibe that you weren't really using screen references to score the sculpting and whatnot, you were just going by memory. This is what Vader should look like.

I hate to say this, but I'm also sort of tired of your star ratings anyway because they're no longer in scale with anything and normally don't match up to the critiques, anyway. Your standards are higher, which is fine since the pricetag is, but what you write and what you score are often times inconsistent and that bugs me. Great example - You have always, as long as I can remember, given the SSC 12" line 4 stars for packaging... now you've given it 3.5? What has changed?

Anyway, I'm only dropping some criticisms because it's worth it - you've got a great product and I enjoy it. If it was crap, I wouldn't even bother. I enjoy your reviews even when I don't agree with them. You usually do a great job of breaking down these collectibles. You're a good enough writer to where you could ditch the stupid star rankings altogether, if you wanted to. And the photography is always excellent.

I was wondering the same thing about the box. Why should this box be any less unless it is because of the recent Hot Toys boxes trumping them out of the perfect 4 score.

But if that logic is applied, the score for sculpt should be much lower. My friend has the PF and the 1:6 scale Vaders from Sideshow and although I have not been able to hold and inspect them, the 1:6 helmet is clearly wrong in the helmet and the mask. It seems almost that both have been compressed inward making it uncomfortable to look at it from a straight angle making the best poses side shots. The size too seems as out of scale as if you posed Medicom Han and SS Luke together. My score for the sculpt would be ***.

Love the reviews Micheal

 

[MaulFan]

Reamber this is sideshow's take on vader he NEVER looked like this in ANY of the films.So he's not from any of the three movies they did what kenner and hasbro did.I dont understand why sideshow cant make a vader from each film insted of makeing a combo of the three ?

Whether you think it accurrate or not, this is Sideshow's effort at an ANH specific Vader figure, they are likely to make one from each film, certainly at least a ROTJ version with the reveal, probably ESB and ROTS as well. Inaccurracies are just that, but not intentional things to make a summary Vader to represent every film in one figure, especially since the chest armor isn't full painted, only the 2 black strips seen between his tunic over the shoulders, were it meant to be a summary, the chest armor would be fully painted so you could stick the tunic under it and have it be ESB/ROTJ. More Vader's will be coming.

 

[Batty]

I mentioned in another thread how I wish Sideshow could go back to the old box graphics. The box design is great, but Vader really blends in with the black and gray. It'd be nice if LFL would allow them to update the look.

 

[MaulFan]

I think it would be cool if SSC did vintage Kenner homage style packaging, but not likely.

To date, I still think LOTR has been the best graphical Sideshow box art, GI Joe probably 2nd best and pre-30th Anniversary Star Wars number 3.

 

[galactiboy]

I mentioned in another thread how I wish Sideshow could go back to the old box graphics. The box design is great, but Vader really blends in with the black and gray. It'd be nice if LFL would allow them to update the look.

I prefer the original graphics as well.

 

[Shai]

I still prefer the pf over this figure....

 

[toshichris]

That shot of Darth with his troopers is incredible. The height on this guy is tremendous. Droid torture ball would've made for a more interesting exclusive, though the extra hand is a pose you really must have.

 

[bmarz1000]

Whether you think it accurrate or not, this is Sideshow's effort at an ANH specific Vader figure, they are likely to make one from each film, certainly at least a ROTJ version with the reveal, probably ESB and ROTS as well. Inaccurracies are just that, but not intentional things to make a summary Vader to represent every film in one figure, especially since the chest armor isn't full painted, only the 2 black strips seen between his tunic over the shoulders, were it meant to be a summary, the chest armor would be fully painted so you could stick the tunic under it and have it be ESB/ROTJ. More Vader's will be coming.

Sideshow did the same thing with Indiana Jones. It was labeled as Indiana Jones from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" but had a "Last Crusade" jacket and a few other inaccuracies. It was more of an amalgam of Indys from the various movies. In fact all the Indy merchandise from last year had costume elements from all four Indy movies. Perhaps Lucusfilm's marketing department has style sheets of what Indy is SUPPOSED to look like. Perhaps the same goes for Vader. I'll get flamed for saying this but to me, this helmet (at least the dome/flare portion) looks like ROTS.

Darth Vader's helmet from ANH was flat black and MASSIVE! It had a widows peak and practically extended down to his shoulders. That's evident in the film. It's still a great figure and I'm going to buy one for sure. It's just interesting that SS strives for excellence in detailing (like one painted tusk) but falls short on the actual size and appearance of the helmet dome. It looked perfect at Comic Con last year. Why'd they change it? Perhaps for the same reason they added Last Crusade jacket snaps to a Raiders jacket after the prototype and right before the item went into production.

 

[DarthNeil]

As always Michael great review! Fun for those of us who haven't gotten ours yet.

 

[icruise]

It looked perfect at Comic Con last year.

It did? I remember thinking the helmet looked off right after they announced it. I don't think it looks that different now. As for why it's off, I can't say. The apologists like to blame everything on Lucasfilm, and to be sure there are cases where they have made changes for the worse. But I have trouble believing that they would dictate that the helmet look wrong on purpose.

 

[galactiboy]

It really seems that froma level straight-on angle the helmet looks its worst... but from other angles it looks very good. The SDCC images usually seemed to highlight the strengths of the figure, but even the prototype (order page) images had the pin-head look to them.