Packaging--5/5
These Evolutions figures are amazing, but not only are the figures amazing, so is their packaging. Each set comes in a long, slim box that has four windows to show off each figure and the accessories contained within. A panel covering half of the front of the box can be lifted up to reveal a brief overview of the characters and their importance in the Star Wars universe. This panel also reveals the window that shows off the accessories. The three windows that show the figures are slightly raised and have a capsule-like appearance. The back of the box has some slick photos of the figures and the other sets in the Evolutions line. The box itself is actually a slipcase and once some tape and two foil stickers are cut, you can slide out the inner tray. The packages are pretty collector friendly, allowing you to put the figure back in if you so desire. I really like the design of the package and also the use of photos and graphics. The large close up of Anakin is particularly striking and eye-catching. Excellent job, Hasbro!

Sculpt/Outfit--4.5/5
To be honest, I wasn't sure that this figure would be all that great. When I first saw photos of it with its pleather surcoat I had horrible flashbacks of the Saga Deluxe Anakin Skywalker with Slashing Attack figure. Ugh. Well, I am pleased to say that my fears have been abated and that the pleather surcoat was done well. It's cut well and doesn't hang too far off of Anakin's shoulders. The material is also very thin and flexible, and since it's not glued down it doesn't hinder the articulation at all. It's also got a nice leathery texture which adds to the detailing of the figure. The separately molded belt which holds the surcoat down is also much improved over the one on the Saga Deluxe Anakin. Its bulkiness is minimal and it doesn't look like some huge harness around his waist. The rest of Anakin's outfit is detailed excellently with all the great little textures and wrinkles that we've come to expect in our Star Wars figures. I'm pleased to say that they didn't go overboard with the wrinkles in his pants or sleeves, nor did they make them too simple.

Anakin's headsculpt is perhaps the only thing I have an issue with. It's not a bad headsculpt; it's probably one of the better Episode II Anakin headsculpts made yet. It's just that it doesn't look like Hayden Christensen. It's possible that it could just be the paintjob that makes it look un-Christensen-like, but I also think it might be that the mouth, chin, and nose areas are slightly off. Anakin's Episode II hairstyle is also a bit hard to capture in figure form but I think Hasbro has done their best job of it on this figure. Still looks a bit afro-like but I don't think it can be helped.

Articulation--4.5/5
Episode II Anakin has 12 points of articulation: ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, wrists, waist, hips, and ball-jointed knees. This figure is so close to being perfectly articulated! It's a crime that they didn't go all the way and include ball-jointed ankles! I'm not sure why they decided not to include them, but I'm guessing it was a cost issue. As is, the figure is still nicely articulated and is capable of some really great poses. It would have been nice if this figure had ball-jointed hips, since this cloth "skirt" would have hid the joints quite nicely. I also would have liked to see a bit more room for arm motion. As it is, the sculpted robes underneath the pleather surcoat restrict the arms a bit; it would have been cool to pose Anakin holding his lightsaber with both hands, straight out in front of him.

Accessories--4.5/5
Episode II Anakin comes with a removable robotic right hand, chain and handcuffs from the Geonosian arena, his lightsaber hilt and removable blue blade. The lightsaber hilt looks like it might have come from an older figure; I'm not sure, but it might be a variation of the one that came with the Saga Hangar Duel Anakin. If so, a peg has been added so that the hilt can be stored on Anakin's belt. The removable blade is standard fare and fits into the hilt snuggly. Both Episode II and Episode III Anakins must share this one blade even though the set comes with two identical hilts. The handcuffs and chain are a nice addition. You can't quite have Anakin handcuffed with his arms above his head like in the movie, but you can get pretty close. It would have been cool if the chain was real metal, but I still think this accessory came out all right. If you think about it, this is a pretty necessary accessory since Anakin was in his handcuffs for quite some time when he is fighting in the Geonosian arena. Finally, you get an extra right robotic hand. Just pop out the normal hand and insert the robotic hand for a post-Dooku-duel Anakin. This was a genius yet simple idea and I'm so glad Hasbro included it. An Anakin for all occasions! Erm, well, come to think of it, an Episode II cloak would have been great to include too.

Paint--4.5/5
Great job on the paint. Lots of clean work here with little to no slop. Anakin's belt is painted perfectly and his boots have a nice wash applied to them. Anakin's face is painted very well, with clean eyes and eyebrows and a nice subtle pink applied to the lips which really help give the figure a more lifelike appearance.

Sculpt/Outfit--5/5
I didn't think they could do it, but they did. After countless tries at sculpting Hayden Christensen's likeness, Hasbro finally got it right with this figure. Yes, it's true, my friends--this headsculpt rocks! Not only did Hasbro nail the likeness, they even got the hair perfectly sculpted! From all angles, this is Episode III Anakin as he should look in action figure form, and it's awesome. Anakin's body and outfit is done equally well, with a slightly more bulky appearance over the Episode II version. This figure features a soft-goods "skirt" which leaves the hip articulation unrestricted. The belt and bottom parts of Anakin's sculpted surcoat are done well though I wish it were made of a slightly softer plastic--sitting poses are a bit difficult. Details overall are, of course, excellent and are much improved and more accurate than those found on ROTS Anakin #2. For instance, the buckles on the belt and Anakin's right glove have a more accurate shape to the movie.

Articulation--4/5
Episode III Anakin has 14 points of articulation: ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, angle-cut elbows, wrists, waist, hips, ball-jointed knees, and ball-jointed ankles. Yea! Ball-jointed ankles! But ho, what's this? Angle-cut elbows?? Arrgh! So close to perfect once again. Sure, the articulation is more hidden with cut elbows but I'd rather have the posability of ball-joints over this any day of the week. I understand that the right arm needs a cut joint to make use of the extra ungloved arm, but they could have at least given the left arm a ball-jointed elbow. I guess it would look kind of weird if one arm had a ball-jointed elbow and the other didn't, but I wouldn't have minded. As is, the cut elbow joints do a decent job. You can have Anakin hold his lightsaber with two hands, and plenty of other poses are possible. My second gripe is the ball-jointed neck. It's not made quite right--the adam's apple part of the neck goes up too high, right up into the ball-joint and in doing so it restricts the motion of the head. In other words, you can't have Anakin looking down when he is looking straight ahead. However, when you turn Anakin's head to the side it gains a bit more motion and posability.

Accessories--4/5
Episode III Anakin comes with an extra right forearm, lightsaber hilt, and cloth Jedi cloak. The Jedi cloak is an all new cloth version. The cut and pattern is decent, with an extra large hood. The hood doesn't quite look right in the up position, but with some work it can look pretty good. I fold the edge of the hood in a bit to make it look more like the way it does in the movie. The material of this cloak is perhaps the worst thing about it. It's thin, which is good, but it's shiny which isn't good. What happened to the material they used on Ki-Adi-Mundi's robes? That was some nice, thin, non-shiny material, and it's what they should have used here. The lightsaber hilt is exactly the same as the one mentioned earlier for the Episode II Anakin. The two figures have to share one blade between them though. The extra forearm is a nice touch. The figure comes with his ungloved forearm attached, but I prefer having the gloved forearm attached since that's pretty much all we saw in Episode III.

Paint--4.5/5
Again, excellent paint job. The headsculpt looks impressive with its nicely defined eyes and eyebrows, and subtle lip color. The hair also looks great with slight highlights here and there. For the most part Anakin's outfit is cleanly painted, but there is a bit of slop on one of the pouches on my figure.

Sculpt/Outfit--4.5/5
At the time, Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Darth Vader was the ultimate Darth Vader figure, with its highly detailed sculpt and great articulation. Evolutions Darth Vader is the next evolutionary step, incorporating the excellent sculpt of 500th Vader with a few new surprises. Yes, this figure shares some sculpting details with 500th Vader, and Hasbro simply took the arms and legs of 500th Vader and reworked the articulation. This is only a good thing though, since the sculpting details on 500th Vader were excellent. On the flip side, Hasbro also reused the open right hand from 500th Vader, and this means Evolutions Vader can’t hold his lightsaber with his right hand. Bummer.

The crotch section is all new, with the codpiece no longer separately sculpted. I think this was a good choice since the separately sculpted codpiece can get in the way of the articulation a bit. The separately sculpted belt is all new as well, with a very sharply detailed buckle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a hole for a lightsaber hilt. The torso is also all new and sports separately sculpted chest armor which is glued down at the center. Why make the chest armor separately sculpted? For the first fully cloth inner cape, of course! For the first time ever, a 3.75” Darth Vader figure has a fully cloth inner cape which goes on like the real thing, under the chest armor and down under the belt. It is not glued down so adjusting it to your tastes is possible. This cloth inner cape is innovative, but on the other hand, you simply can’t get the same level of detail that you can with a sculpted inner cape. I’m not saying I don’t like the cloth version, as I certainly do, I’m just not sure that I would want to see every Vader figure from now on sporting the fully cloth inner cape.

Along with the cloth inner cape is the now standard cloth outer cape. This one is pretty much exactly the same as all the cloth capes since VOTC Vader, so if you like those then you’ll like this one. Also returning is the hideous silver rope “chain” attached to the cape. I think that this is the worst detail about the whole figure. The so-called chain is utterly ridiculous in length, not to mention out of scale. If at least Hasbro could shorten the length to something more accurate I’d be able to accept it, but as is this thing is just an eyesore on one of the greatest Darth Vader figures ever made.

Above the chain is what is seemingly the same Vader helmet sculpt from that of 500th Vader, but there’s one difference—this one is fully removable to reveal Anakin Skywalker! The last Episode VI removable helmet Vader was the awful Throne Room Duel Vader, which actually had a decent sculpt of Anakin’s head. Evolutions Vader has an improved likeness and it resembles Sebastian Shaw’s look in the Vader costume excellently, complete with puffy cheeks! While the likeness is good, I’m a little disappointed in the sharpness of the sculpt. The details on Anakin’s head are a bit too smoothed out and lack definition. The various scars on his head are rather simplistic, and his ears are practically non-existent! Still, it’s a good likeness, and you’d have to look really close to notice the softness in the sculpt.

Articulation--5/5
Darth Vader has 14 points of articulation: standard neck, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, wrists, waist, hips, ball-jointed knees, and ball-jointed ankles. This is the articulation we’ve all been waiting for. VOTC Vader disappointed many with its angle-cut elbows, but now Evolutions Vader puts right what was once wrong not only in regards to the elbows, but also adding in ball-jointed ankles! Without a doubt, this is the most poseable Darth Vader figure in this scale. Never before have we been able to make the extreme leg stances that are possible with this figure. The ankles have a wide range of motion—even more than other figures that have ball-jointed ankles—and the result is a Darth Vader figure that can be posed in numerous fighting stances. The ball-jointed elbows are another fantastic improvement and allow the figure the movement we’ve always wanted. Once again, ball-jointed hips would have been nice since they would have been well hidden, but I guess Hasbro has to save something for later Vader figures. About the only thing VOTC Vader has over this figure is its ball-jointed neck, which is missing on Evolutions Vader. While not a totally necessary point, it did add a lot to the figure and I’m sad to see that it didn’t return in this figure.

Accessories--3/5
Darth Vader comes with his lightsaber and that’s it. The lightsaber does not have a removable blade. It’s not a new sculpt, but I can’t remember which Vader figure this lightsaber mold came with first. Anyway, it does the job and it looks good so no complaints. What I would have liked to see is the inclusion of a second right hand that is capable of holding a lightsaber. I’m still miffed about why Hasbro chose to use the open right hand instead of one that can hold a lightsaber. This figure excels at action poses, and not being able to hold a lightsaber in his right hand limits it a bit.

Paint--4/5
The paint job is decent, but it’s not as good as it was on 500th Vader. The silver used on the chest and shoulder armor isn’t as smooth and consistent as it was on 500th Vader, and here it looks a bit grainy. Accuracy-wise, they’ve painted two buttons on Vader main control box the wrong colors; in the upper right-hand corner, the top button is supposed to be blue and the bottom one red, but on this figure, the top is red and the bottom is silver. I guess Hasbro just didn’t want to spend a little bit more for some blue paint. They did however, decide to spend money on a blue-ish gray paint for the bottom row of switches on Vader’s main control box. While I believe it’s true that these switches were closer to gray than silver in the movie, I’d much rather they’d get the aforementioned blue and red buttons right and just paint these silver if there’s a cost issue preventing them from doing both. Anakin’s head is painted well, but it’s also unimpressive. A simple wash helps add a bit of depth to Anakin’s skin tone and features, but the scars are done a bit too simply for my tastes. Red paint fills his scars, and they look more like fresh wounds than something that has been there for years and years.

Overall--5/5; Anakin Skywalker (EpII)--4.5/5, Anakin Skywalker (EpII)--4.5/5, Darth Vader (EpVI)--4.5/5
Yeah, it doesn't quite add up to a perfect score, but this is simply one of the greatest Star Wars action figure sets in the history of Star Wars action figures, and I can't give anything less than a 5/5 for such a thing. All three figures look great and are fun to play with, and they come in a great looking package that will make MIB collectors happy. All three figures are also the best version of each character and pretty much blow other versions out of the water with their improved sculpting, excellent articulation, and great features like interchangeable hands and removable helmets. Sure, each figure has a few flaws, but overall they're all top-notch figures. Thankfully, these sets are starting to show up in greater numbers so if you haven’t found one yet, chances are you’ll see it sooner or later. These are some of the greatest Star Wars action figures ever made and they’re a definite must-buy. Highly recommended.

Be sure to check out the gallery to see all 77 photos!

--Photos and review by Garett Yoshimura
garett@carrotnetwork.com