30th Anniversary Collection

TACBASIC

Darth Vader
(Battle Damaged)

Info and Stats
Number:  
08-12
Year:  
2008
MSRP:  
$6.99
Definitive Status:  
Definitive
 
This is the only version of this item you will need.
Grade:  
9/10 Bantha Skulls
 
* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
Review by: Chris
Review date: 07/30/2019

Original Review by Chris: 11/7/2014

Regardless of which path you chose in The Force Unleashed, if you successfully completed the game, you gave Darth Vader a beating he won’t soon forget.  If you’re like me this was bittersweet.  You wanted to complete the game, but you didn’t like having to rough up the single greatest character in motion picture history.  I don’t even like to think that Vader was this vulnerable.  I prefer to think of him as near omnipotent, but you know what they say.  Sith happens.  Please direct all pun groans to:  Bantha Skull: c/o Bad Pun Department, P.O. Box 1138, Walla Walla, WA 99362.  The rule of two meant Vader was probably going to catch a beating at some point.

Hasbro seized upon this opportunity to give us a fresh take on a Darth Vader figure.  Aside from the differences in the costume between Episodes IV and V and highly scene specific renditions, there are not a lot of ways for Hasbro to give us “new” Darth Vader figures. Typically all they can do is give us improvements over the previous release, and they certainly have.  This Battle Damaged Darth Vader is as distinct as you can get for an armored version of the character and it makes for an exciting release.  Hasbro even managed to pack some great play value into the figure albeit a tad grotesque.  Right from the name on the card, this figure never pretends to be something other than a battle damaged Vader.  The “Battle Damaged” title is not a parenthetical sub reference.  It IS the character.  So despite the fact that some of the armor elements are removable, this does not let you take a regular Darth Vader to battle damage, it lets you take a somewhat battle damaged Vader to a Vader that looks like he went twelve rounds with Clubber Lang. 

Because this figure never pretends to be a “transforming” Darth Vader that goes from in-tact to ravaged, the fact that the armor pieces don’t fit together tightly is not a huge issue.  The armor on the left forearm barely secures to the figure and falls off easily.  The left shin armor is a little too bulky and does not look symmetrical to the right shin.  The helmet with a partial mask connects to the remainder of the mask on the head like a puzzle piece but does not snap together tightly like a puzzle.  This almost works to the figure’s aesthetic.  It’s as if fissures are forming in Vader’s protective encasement.  When the chest armor is removed, if reveals a hole in the torso that serves as the attachment point.  This is a little unfortunate, but if it is too bothersome, there’s no reason why the chest armor can’t be left in place.  There are other areas of battle damage integrated into the sculpt that cannot be obscured.  This drives home the point that this is never meant to represent an in-tact Vader.  While it may be a tad grotesque for a toy, I like the detailing on the areas where the cybernetic attachments clamp to Anakin’s few remaining organic body parts.  This isn’t a perfect figure, but it’s fun and unique and that goes a long way in a line with thousands of figures.  It becomes increasingly hard to stand out, and this figure does that which is especially amazing considering it’s one of the dozens of Darth Vader releases.  The net result is a 9 out of 10 figure.

Updated Review by Bret: 07/30/2019

There’s not much to add to Chris’s review from 2014, but I would like to at least point out that Mr. “You Pun, I Ban” Chris “Lunchbox” Swanski made a pun, so I think that opens the door for Jimmy to do his thing in the comments below. I would also be remiss not to give credit for Chris being so prescient as to have made a Ted 2 reference before the movie even came out.  Please join me in giving Chris a round of applause.

As for the figure, I completely agree with the review.  While the pieces don’t fit together seamlessly, they do add play value, but ultimately, you’ll want to display this figure with all the pieces removed (except, as mentioned, perhaps the chest piece which covers a hole).  I recently reviewed the TAC C-3PO with Salacious Crumb figure.  The eye-pull feature is pretty cool when engaged, but when the eye is in place, the face looks off because one eye is removable, and one eye is sculpted into the face.  They don’t match.  That’s the case with the helmet here.  Vader’s helmet doesn’t fully coalesce into a completely convincing undamaged form.  The eye lenses are off, and the breath mask doesn’t quite fit correctly. Again, you’ll likely not care because to appreciate the beauty of the figure, the pieces should be left off.

The tattered cape (both the plastic “skirt” and the main cloth robe) add additional distress to this figure. Anakin really took a beating from Starkiller.  As Chris pointed out, it can be a bit shocking to see Vader get smashed up and tossed around like a rag doll, but the whole premise of The Force Unleashed was to display some of the more powerful and dynamic combat Force abilities of Galen Marek.  So after he’s fully trained, he certainly would have the opportunity to gain the upper hand over Vader in a duel involving either lightsabers or the Jedi Arts. 

There are a few minor issues with the figure.  The mechanical foot is obviously oversized.  The upper armor is a bronze tone for some reason.  Today, this figure would have ball jointed hips to add to the posability.  But none of these hurt the figure measurably..

It is absolutely an awesome take on Vader.  While I might not give it the 9/10 that Chris did a few years back, I’m going to leave it, because this was a tremendous figure with some nice display options.  It may be the best of the TFU figures (and there were several excellent ones),  I’ll leave it at a very generous 9.

* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
comments powered by Disqus
Terms of Service