30th Anniversary Collection

TACBASIC

Mace Windu

Info and Stats
Number:  
30-06
Year:  
2007
MSRP:  
$6.99
Definitive Status:  
Other Value
 
A better figure has been produced, but this release still presents value to a collector for an accessory or other worthwhile feature.
Grade:  
5/10 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: Bret&Chris
Review date: 09/02/2019

Original Review by Chris 10/3/14

In the vintage Kenner days we were pretty forgiving.  As long as the skin tone and hair color were within 50 shades of the actual character and it had the correct types of facial hair, we considered it passable.  The only thing that the vintage Kenner Luke X-Wing figure has in common with Mark Hamill is that they both have eyes.  But we became spoiled over time and expected Hasbro to deliver a somewhat accurate likeness, so when this Mace Windu figure was delivered that bears zero resemblance to Samuel Jackson, fans immediately mocked it.  The head looks more like Rerun when he shaved his head and joined the lettuce worshiping cult.  There.  Try to come up with a more obscure reference than that!  I dare you.

What makes this terrible head sculpt even more frustrating is that Hasbro had already come close to perfecting a 3.75” Sam Jackson likeness.  2006’s Mace Windu’s Atttack Battalion battle pack utilized a slightly retooled head that is as accurate as you can get at this scale for my money.  Yet Hasbro took something that wasn’t broke and decided to fix it until it was.  Why is that Hasbro would constantly kvetch about tooling costs when explaining why some oft requested item would not see production, yet they invest in totally unnecessary tooling in this case (and others)?

The head sculpt is not the only problem with this figure.  The inflexible plastic lower tabbard and tunic extend to the figure’s knees and completely encircle the upper legs.  There isn’t even a slit in the side as we often see with such constructions.  This means the posing capabilities of the lower body are almost entirely eliminated.  You can engage the knee articulation, but without being able to also swivel the hips, the effectiveness of the posing is hampered.  You can bend one leg back at the knee and have it balance on the tip of the foot, but that’s about it. The sculpted hanging plastic sleeves also have a habit of interfering with saber placement, but not to the point that it’s overly detrimental like the other problems with the figure.

This 2007 Mace Windu was thoroughly beaten into obscurity by 2011’s Vintage Collection Mace Windu. That figure solves the lower body issues by incorporating a soft goods lower tunic and the head sculpt is much better (but still not as good as the 2006 rendition mentioned above).  The only reason to buy the 30th Anniversary incarnation of Mace Windu is for the coin and the included lighting affect which does snap onto the saber blade quite neatly.  Or you could buy it for comedy reasons.

Original Review by Bret 9/2/19

A 5/10 is a score that is dangerously close to the baseline 4/10 for a 5POA figure.  But this one was so chunky and the execution of the articulation so frustrating, it’s almost impossible to give it a better score.  Take into account, as Chris mentioned, the existence of VC35, and we are left only with the accessories as a reason to own this figure.  The lightning effect that clips to the lightsaber blade is pretty neat, and does work well for the Palpatine scene.  This figure is worth adding to your collection only for that accessory and the coin.  Otherwise, stick with VC35.

* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
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