I’m new to Sideshow products and the early result is a love/hate relationship.  The preface to this is that my first Sideshow product I’ve ever owned is the Premium Format Punisher that just recently shipped.  I was immediately blown away by the attention to detail and the quality.  Then while trying to force the metal peg of the statue into the base, the heel shattered.  Sideshow made everything right and did so painlessly, but the experience of thinking I destroyed a $350 item was trying.

This Deluxe Darth Vader is instantly my favorite thing in my collection.  So much so that I can see why Sideshow has urged so many Hasbro collectors into retirement.  Were it not for almost two decades on investment in the scale, I could easily be convinced of abandoning the 3.75” Hasbro line all together. Those things are toys no matter how many points of articulation they incorporate.  The Sideshow product is definitely a collectible, but can never be considered a toy, and that has my nerves on edge a bit when working with these items.  The fragility of the product is going to put me in mental hospital quicker than the time my dad convinced me I was imagining the blue Snaggletooth my friend Jay brought to show-and-tell. 

In the course of posing this figure, it fell over forward and the mere act of falling from its own height caused the neck post to snap off cleanly where it met the body.  I was able to reattach it with some Gorilla Glue.  Once repaired, I resumed the photography (a process that has been two weeks in the making) and the figure once again fell over this time backwards.  My repair gave way and the head broke loose again, and this time the top of the ankle post broke off.  Due to the weight of these items, falling over when not supported by the stand seems like an ever present threat, but the items lack the sturdiness to survive the fall.  At least this one does.  A lighter and shorter figure might fare better.  There are other items like the dainty plastic chain clasp of the cape that look brilliant, but probably cannot stand much wear. 

So back to the main point of this review.  This is instantly my favorite thing in my collection and has me scouring Ebay for companion pieces to display with it (see the last pic).  The articulation is a dream.  The shoulder articulation alone is a feat of engineering.  It seems Sideshow has managed to capture all of the movement along every plane of the human shoulder.  Though my brief erudition was in biology, I have forgotten all the anatomical terms for types of articulation, so I will describe them in layman’s terms.  The shoulders can rotate backwards and toward each other as you would do in the “I love you this much” gesture.  This facilitates such poses as Vader placing his hands on his belt.  It can be achieved with little effort.  The double hinged elbows allow the arm to fully collapse so the emotive interchangeable hands can be drawn closely to Vader’s face.  Posting the arms was a pleasure to work with.

The legs have great range of motion as well.  While I would not describe them as loose, I would not feel comfortable leaving the figure in a pose that didn’t distribute the considerable weight evenly.  In some of the more exaggerated combat stances I tried to achieve, the knees started to fold on their own.  For that reason combined with the item’s delicate constitution described above, I will probably display it on the stand which does take away a bit of the punch that could be achieved.  The item is so lifelike that on its own, you could think you are looking at a cell of the film.  Having to display it with stand will pull you out of that illusion.

The figure includes two heads.  One is the two piece removable helmet head with the Sebastian Shaw likeness underneath.  The dome of the helmet sites loosely on top of the head and is not a viable long term display option.  Getting it to sit correctly is more a balancing act with nothing engineered into the construction to hold it in the appropriate place.  The details on both the mask portion and the head are impressive to say the least.  Fortunately, Sideshow also included a non-removable helmet head for a safe and secure display.  What is amazing is that it appears to be the three piece construction glued together and even has the flesh of the head painted. 

There is a lot of doodadery included that I could have easily sacrificed in order to save a few greenbacks.  The chest box and belt boxes feature led lights.  I don’t need these.  First, the wires coming out of the battery compartment seem like yet another thing that could be easily broken.  Plus, batteries eventually corrode and will cause irreparable damage to your item.  So the batteries are something I’m going to remove when displaying the items.  An unused feature is a useless feature.  There is a lighted display stand for the disarticulated mask and dome of the removable helmet.  This is going to go directly back in the packaging for storage in my case.  The figure’s display stand is also lighted.  It is a very cool effect, but it’s a bit like a firework.  Once it goes off, it’s done.  Due to the battery corrosion issue, I’m not going to display the base with batteries and I’m never going to disassemble my display just to insert batteries to check out the feature again.  So I looked at it once for the photos, and that’s likely the last time it will ever be used.  I would have gladly dropped these items for a lower MSRP.  The exclusive accessory is the two piece severed hand from the climatic battle in Return of the Jedi. I don’t feel this accessory is worth paying the secondary market premium it now commands.

I’m not sure how much of a drop in the MSRP could be achieved by omitting these ancillary items and features, because it seems a lot of the cost of this item is in the costume. It is so lifelike that with proper lighting and a green screen, it could be substituted for a movie shot and only an expert photo analyst could detect the ruse.  Did I mention this is my most favoritest thing in my collection?  Despite that, I do have to deduct one point for the fragility. 9 out of 10.

I’m not providing this link as a way to generate income from a sponsor.  We receive no commission on the 1:6 product from Sideshow.  The non-exclusive version of this figure is still available at the time of this review.  It you’re at all interested, I highly recommend securing one for your collection before they sell out:

Deluxe Darth Vader Sixth Scale Figure by Sideshow Collectibles

9/10 Bantha Skulls