Sculpt--3.5/5
Of the two basic Anakin Skywalker figures released on April 2nd, I found this one to be...less objectionable. The sculpting on this figure is actually pretty good. There are well done textures that do a great job of representing cloth and leather and there are plenty of realistic folds in his pants and robes. Even the headsculpt isn't half bad and I think that this is the best Anakin headsculpt so far (but that may change once the Anakin Evolution figures come out). If they didn't make his forehead so large I think this could have been one of their better human headsculpts.

So what brings down the sculpt of an otherwise well-sculpted figure? As you may have guessed, it's the action feature. The arms are the greatest casualty. The elbows look absolutely horrid, with some of the worst looking elbow articulation I've ever seen. There are huge gaps at the elbows so that his forearms can swing freely. Actually only his right arm swings freely, but his left elbow has the same ugly look as the right arm. The robes at Anakin's right shoulder are sculpted to give the right arm a wider range of motion. It's done well but looks a tad strange in neutral poses. This figure also features three different removable right hands; one holds nothing, one permanently holds Anakin's blue lightsaber, and the third permanently holds Anakin's lightsaber with a red blade. I think this was a good idea but these hands seem slightly smaller than they should be and the detail on the permanently held lightsaber hilts isn't all that great. I also wish they sculpted the empty hand with the ability to hold the included lightsaber hilt, but unfortunately they've sculpted it open-palmed. The left hand looks too featureless but that could simply be an affect of a thick layer of paint. The crotch isn't really sculpted at all since it houses the action-feature mechanism. I don't really mind since it's hidden but it does affect the hip articulation a bit...

Articulation--2/5
Anakin has nine points of articulation: standard neck, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, right wrist, waist, and hips. As mentioned earlier, the hips are a bit weird since they bend a little lower than where they should. This is due to his...elongated crotch which houses the action-feature mechanism. In short, sitting poses look strange. The arms have some of the worst elbow articulation ever made. They not only look ugly but their usefulness is also hampered. The loose joints of the right elbow and shoulder make creating poses a chore, and straightening out the left arm tends to make his arm look broken at the elbow. I would have preferred to see proper ball-joints at the elbows and articulation on both wrists. The waist joint is clicky and can only be stopped at certain intervals due to the action feature. A ball-jointed head would have been nice though I can see how that could have been hard with Anakin's long hair.

Features--3/5
By now you probably know that I loathe most action-features and if I were in charge, we'd never see a figure with a built-in action feature again. But I'm not in charge, and I've got to at least try and see the good in these one-trick ponies. Squeeze Anakin's legs together and his upper body turn counter-clockwise, causing his floppy right arm to swing as well. Releasing the legs brings the upper body back to its original position, creating another mad swing of the lightsaber. I have to admit that it works well and it does exactly what the package says it will do. The new hands that permanently hold the lightsabers insures that you won't have little lightsaber flying across the room and landing under a dust bunny infested couch. It's also nice that Hasbro has eliminated the huge-button-sticking-out-of-the-back syndrome that plagued the SAGA line, but I still feel that action features negatively affect the action figure as a whole.

Accessories--4/5
You get three different versions of Anakin's right hand: open-palmed, holding a blue lightsaber, and holding a red lightsaber. You also get an unignited lightsaber hilt that can attach to Anakin's belt. This hilt is extremely well-sculpted and has phenomenal detail. It's almost worth it to buy this figure just for this piece alone. The hands leave a little to be desired but they do their job well. The hands holding the lightsabers are exactly the same except that one has a red blade and the other has a blue blade. If you've seen the movie, you may have noticed that the red lightsaber is totally inaccurate. Hasbro seems to have noticed this as well and has made a running change to this figure. Later shipments of this figure includes Count Dooku's lightsaber instead of the red lightsaber and hand seen here. Including Dooku's saber makes more sense and is accurate to the movie, it's only too bad that Anakin's left hand has an extremely weak grip and can barely hold anything.

Paint--4/5
Paint is actually pretty solid on this figure. From Anakin's facial scars to the details on his belt, the paint job is looking good. My biggest complaint is the paint application on the accessories. The paint job on the permanently held lightsaber hilts are a bit messy with either silver paint over painted onto the hand or not enough silver paint. Some of the paint on the separately sculpted lightsaber hilt looks a bit rushed as well with messy-looking hand grips and a poorly painted activation button.

Packaging--4/5
I'm really digging the ROTS packaging. I love the color palettes that Lucasfilm's marketing department chose, and I think that the orange Star Wars logo is a nice change of pace from the silver and gold iterations of the past. The shape of the cards also takes a dramatic step away from the rectangular cards we've gotten in the past. A large Vader helmet looms at the top of the card, looking down at the raging lava below. In the dome of Vader's helmet you can see an image of Obi-Wan and Anakin dueling it out and crossing lightsabers. The bubble covers most of the card and goes right up to the bottom edges of the card. The sides of the bubble are taped to the back of the card which makes it slightly hard to get the figure out of the package in a hurry, but MOC'ers will have nothing to worry about. After opening a couple of figures, I was beginning to miss the old packages that I could just tear into without having to worry about sticky tape. There's also a nice layered effect with the use of two cardboard inserts within the bubble featuring the Star Wars logo and a photo of the character. The cardbacks are likewise well designed with perhaps the best cardback layout design I've seen in years. There a nice photo of the character from the movie, a short description of the character, a photo of the actual toy, and nice cross-sell imagery to get you excited for the other toys in the line. Considering how much less space there is on these cards makes the design all the more successful.

Overall--3/5
This certainly isn't the best Anakin figure ever made, but it's not all that bad. The action feature again ruins what could have potentially been an above average figure, but as it is there are too many compromises to the articulation and sculpting to raise the figure to a better score. If you like action features, then I recommend this figure; if you don't like action features, then pass on this figure and wait for the Anakin to Darth Vader Evolution 3-pack.

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