Darth Vader Unleashed (ROTJ version)

The Hasbro's Darth Vader Unleashed 8" vinyl figure (more like a statue) was the first Hasbro item I purchased when I started collecting. I bought it from the "Star Wars Magic of the Myth" exhibit held in Science Centre, Singapore while on a holiday around Jan 2005.

Back then it cost SGD60 (roughly USD49). I really wasn't sure of the market price and was attracted by the nice plastic tube packaging. I still remember how clumsy it was to luge it around the Singapore MRT and public buses while going back to Malaysia.

 (Photo credit : Action HQ)

I believe in the US this was a Best Buy store exclusive, hence the big plastic tube packaging. There was another version which was sold with the figure dissembled on a cardback and plastic bubble. The great thing about buying the tube version is getting the packaging cardboard artwork. Cut it down to size to fit a 11" x 11' picture frame and display it as wall decoration.

 (Photo credit : Entertainment Earth)

Although the figure itself was black, it has a beautiful subtle blue and red highlights which would slightly reflect. The effect is quite faint by you can see the blue highlights on the left while red on the right side below.

This version came assembled with the figure perched onto a staircase; lightsaber waving, cloak billowing while lunging forward.

It should be depicting an off-screen scene of Vader attacking Luke in the emperor's throne room, but the body armors are covered by the black robes ,which represents the ANH look.

IMHO, Star Wars Unleashed figures themselves were an experiment by Hasbro to produce static figures which was more detailed than the average 3 3/4" figure. The selling point was the characters in action-oriented poses never seen before compared to the movies. There were some hits and misses in this line. Example of hits would be the 2 Vader version, Slave Leai and ROTJ Boba Fett while misses are Chewbacca and the short-necked red shocktrooper. This line was discontinued around 2007 or 2008 at the same time when the quality and articulation of the smaller figures was getting better and better.

My overall score for Darth Vader Unleashed (tube version) are as follow.

Articulation - 1 ocd

Accessories - 3 ocd

Paint Job - 5 ocd

Sculpting - 4 ocd

Value for money - 3 ocd

OVERALL - 4 ocd (out of 5 ocd)