Here he is on my table, and I like this figure for the most part. The sculpted textures of the suit look well-made, and the paint looks sharp around the armor for the bust. The buttons on his chest look alright from far away though the applications onto the piece look slightly rough when viewed up close. The cape being mare from cloth is mixed to me. While the cloth goods here are way nicer than that of the DC Multiverse Justice League Batman and Superman figures, it looks a bit too thick on a 6 inch figure. It covers up the figure a bit too much than it needs to, and it makes looking for the right pose a bit hard. Also, it attracts dust a bit too much.
The helmet captures the proportions from the films, though I feel Darth Vader's helmet tended to look "angry" at times. This one is close enough to me, and moreso than the original Black Series version. Now take a look at this helmet compared to the stock version. I painted my copy's head in black with a Sharpie on most of the helmet and then used a thinner Sharpie for the lenses. Even added a bit of silver on the nose and bolts for the mouth grill of the helmet. Compare that to the initial version with a clear purple head and a skull underneath the helmet. Looks cool, but I prefer it in black.
The accessories are small in quantity but here are the lightsaber blade and handle as well as a right hand that can come off the figure.
For articulation, the head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back, in and out (al beit in a specific position for the shoulder pads to not be in the way), and the forearms have what was called the Hasblow joint by Marvel Legends collectors, which combined a bicep swivel and elbow joint while removing the double-jointed range. The right hand can only swivel because of how it connects while the left hand can swivel but hinge in and out. There is a diaphragm joint of sorts (hard to tell because of the cloth pieces). Hips move fronr and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees on double-joints (which is odd for this figure), and the ankles pivot sideways as well as hinge front and back.
He can hold the lightsaber on his right hand, and it looks pretty good despite me feeling the blade should be a bit more red. As for the left hand, it's a relaxed hand that could look like it's him blocking a blast with his hand or pushing someone, though I wish there were more options for displaying him.
You can display him with the right hand removed if you want, and the part that has been cut off looks nicely painted with the three colors for the wires.
I wish I had a ROTJ Luke and an Emperor to display them with this Vader...
This wasn't the first time the Black Series had Darth Vader in the line. Back when the line began, Darth Vader had a part of his helmet be removeable to reveal the face of Anakin Skywalker. Neat feature, but it made the helmet slightly oversized, and the helmet's eyes look off with the paint on them.
Then for the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, the figure had new cloth goods to reflect hia appearance in A New Hope as well as his old toy in a way. It was overpriced at 40 dollars since it had a display piece to homage the old Kenner toys, but it was prpbably more fun to do that than watch that 2017's Star Wars movie.
Collecting the Black Series is hard foe me to do. I want to get select options yet they've showed up a bit too late as well as remain hard to find. Maybe I will get them to go along with this Darth Vader, but I'm happy with this guy despite its issues. If you don't want to get the 6 inch figure but want a toy similar to Hot Toys, Hasbro made the Hyperreal line, which has Vader with a metal skeleton underneath a pliable suit that hides the articulation points and makes the suit look more authentic. Otherwise, you better get some black paint for an Emperor's Wrath Darth Vader.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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