SKU:  400007217102

For most of the Star Wars crossovers you can identify at least a hint of character parallel.  With Mater as Darth Vader, it seems the commonality of the letters of the names was the deciding factor when choosing the Cars template for Darth Vader.  As Mater serves as the faithful sidekick to Lightning McQueen, you could argue his character is more analogous to Chewbacca (though that is admittedly the only parallel).  Chick Hicks would be the most relatable to Darth Vader from the Cars world.  But even that association is weak.  Nevertheless, Mater was selected as the wheeled Sith and due to the size of the vehicle, it serves as a nice basis.

Mater as Darth Vader isn’t simply a Mater vehicle painted black.  The most obvious addition is the red lightsaber affixed to the side of the vehicle.  A facsimile of Darth Vader’s distinctive helmet graces Mater’s roof and a flowing cape trails behind the cab of the tow truck.  Instead of the innocent happy-go-lucky expression, Mater as Darth Vader strikes a sinister scowl and the buck toothed grin is replaced with the iconic breath mask.  What most impresses me are the smaller details that could have easily been done with tampos, but are actually sculpted and painted elements.  Vader’s chest box appears on Mater’s hood in the Episode IV configuration.  The belt boxes are sculpted onto the side of the vehicle.  This type of subtle attention to detail is sure to please any collector interested in the intersection of Star Wars and Disney Pixar Cars.