Vader Invasion!

Leon over at Open The Toy is hosting an event, Vader Invasion. He wants to see how many Vaders other collectors have in their collections, so here is a peak into mine. I should note that he specified only the classic, black suited Vader. I have a couple other figures that are technically Darth Vader, but before he donned his iconic suit. Also, I have even more Vaders back at my parents' house which aren't included, since they're not here.

Let the Vader Invasion begin!



I'm starting out with this toy lightsaber because I have had it the longest of all the items I'll be showing here, and I'm going in roughly chronological order. I think I got this some time in the late '90s. It's your basic toy lightsaber that extends, can light up, and makes sounds. It runs on C batteries, and I don't have any sitting around, so I wasn't able to check if it even still works. This toy is made for lightsaber duels, and the blade has a bunch of marks on it from duels past. As long as they make Star Wars toys, I'm sure they'll be making lightsabers.



I bought Lego keychain Vader with a Lego keychain pilot Luke (which I gave to my brother) from Ebay on a whim of some sort. I never used it as a keychain, for fear of it falling apart or breaking. I don't have very many Star Wars Lego sets, and this is the first one I got. Because it's just a keychain, it didn't come with a lightsaber.



This is the basic black suited Darth Vader figure from the Revenge of the Sith line. I really got back into collecting toys because of this line, so of course I wanted a modern, updated Darth Vader action figure. Unfortunately it is somewhat flawed. Due to an action feature (squeeze his legs and he swings his lightsaber) he is fairly limited in how he can be posed. Also, he can't stand up without assistance. It's not my favorite Vader figure, but it does have some sentimental value, so I'll be keeping it around.



This is one of the various deluxe versions of Darth Vader from the Revenge of the Sith line. Meant to represent Vader's resurrection as the black clad warrior we all know and love, this Vader comes with an operation table. Also, his helmet, right glove, left arm, and lower legs are all removable, so you can reassemble the Sith lord yourself. Although it is not a very well articulated figure, this is one case where I think the play value of the removable limbs make up for it. By the time this figure was released, Vaders had routinely been made with soft goods capes, but this one has a plastic removable cape that can't be worn when he's on the operating table.



The next Vader in my collection is from the 30th anniversary collection, and is meant to be Vader right after he strikes down Obi-Wan Kenobi. You can tell it is from that specific moment because of the included display base, which is Obi-Wan's robes and lightsaber in a pile. That is probably my favorite display base to be included in any of my Star Wars figures. I like this figure best as a general Vader figure since he is well articulated, and has a removable helmet. It's not as cool as the more recent one with a three part helmet, but it is good enough for me.



Taking a turn for the cute, here is the Mighty Muggs version of Darth Vader. This is a fun sub-line of figures that eventually spread to various other properties that Hasbro has the license for. They are all based on the same body and mainly differentiated through paint, and occasionally through accessories. Vader here gets a whopping three accessories: lightsaber, helmet, and cape. I didn't buy too many figures from this line, but I do really like this version of Vader.



Ralph McQuarrie played a large part in creating the look of classic Trilogy through his concept art. Hasbro released a few figures during the thirtieth anniversary collection based directly on his artworks. Vader is one of the few that I was lucky enough to find, and one of the two I actually bought. It's very recognizably Vader, but with enough differences to stand out. One of the differences that I really like is the Batman cape with serrated edges. As far as I know, this is the only Vader figure that has come with a blaster. He also has swappable heads. It's a really cool figure, and definitely worth picking up if you find one.



A tiny Vader! This one is even smaller than the Lego keychain version. There's not really too much to say about this little guy. He came with the next Vader:



Transformers Darth Vader! This version of Vader turns into the Death Star. It's definitely the largest Vader in my collection, and very cool. It lights up, makes sounds, and has a firing rocket. It also comes with some tiny Stormtroopers and TIE fighters. As far as Transformers go, it doesn't have the best robot mode, but it looks spot on as the Death Star.



Even when he died, Vader looked in better shape than this. Here is Vader from The Force Unleashed, a video game that came out a year or so ago. When you fight him at the end of the game, this is how he comes out of it. I think this is a very cool looking toy, since we've never really seen Vader in such bad shape. He has pieces of armor that can be attached to cover up the battle damage, but it looks better without them. Despite some oddities of the sculpt such as the eye of his mask not matching up with his actual eye, and the robotic foot being larger than the boot on the other foot, this is a really cool Vader figure. It definitely sticks out from all your other Vaders.



And now, the group shot! Unfortunately I forgot to bring out the battle damaged Vader, so he is missing here. So that wraps up my entry in the Vader Invasion. I had a few more Vaders than I realized when first thinking about them, so it was fun to take a look back at all of them.