Star Wars Darth Vader Death Star

 

Robot Mode: I don't think there is a bad guy in all of Hollywood that can hold a candle to Darth Vader in all his dark glory and this figure certainly does him justice. Vader is huge, dangerous, and looks ready to smash planets into powder with his bare hands. The robot mode certainly looks like Vader and thanks to great posability as well as a lightsaber for a weapon, he can do the moves as well. The robot is a shell former, no doubt about that, as you can clearly see parts of the Death Star hull on his arms and legs, as well as forming wing-like structures on his shoulders. They don't hinder him, though, they just make him look cooler. Vader also comes with his signature black cape, which just adds to the cool look. For extras Vader also carries a blaster and has compartments for storing his mini figures in his shoulders and legs. Sound effects, including original lines from the Movie, round out an excellent robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Vader transforms into the Death Star, the moon-sized battle station that can blow entire planets to bits with a single shot. As alternate modes go it's cool, but not terribly exciting. The Death Star is basically just a grey sphere with a lot of surface detailing to make it look appropriately large. The dish of the main gun is its sole outstanding characteristic. The dish can light up when a button on the back of the station is pressed. Additionally the Death Star has two compartments at its back, but unless I've totally lost my fine motor skills, they are too small to fit the TIE Fighters inside. So bottom line the Death Star is fun to look at, but offers little besides that.

Add-Ons / Extras: According to some Star Wars Sourcebooks the Death Star has a crew complement of roughly a quarter million people. For this toy this crew has been cut down to three Stormtroopers, three TIE Fighters, and Vader himself. The four mini figures can be stored in Vader's legs and shoulders. The TIE Fighters, well, I suspect that they were supposed to go into the big back compartments, but for the life of me I can't figure out how unless you're supposed to take them apart. Anyway, the figures and fighters are a nice little extra, but no more than that.

Remarks: Okay, I won't go into any discussion on whether it makes sense for Star Wars characters to transform into Star Wars vehicles (or, for that matter, whether or not the Death Star could beat Unicron). What I will say is that I really like Darth Vader, probably the coolest-looking, scariest villain of all time, and him transforming into the Death Star is just nifty. The Death Star as an alternate mode does little more than look cool, it has very little play value, but that doesn't hurt the figure much. And it's just simply amazing in robot mode. So if you're a Star Wars fan as well as a Transformers fan, there is just no way you should pass up this baby here.

Rating: A-