I got this guy for Christmas, I cant compare him with any SWTFs but he looks great next to Primus and Unicron  

 

Not really. Considering he has two hold the sword and a gun (and Unicron and Primus didn't need to grab onto anything, really), inarticulated fingers was about the only way to do it.

 

I got this guy for Xmas like most other people and he's pretty rad. He is of course a total pain in the ass to get into planet mode, I finally managed it today after taking a break for a few days. I think I got the order down now. Anyway, I love the sound effects, lights, cape, etc. Lots of fun and looks pretty good as the Death Star too. I'm quite pleased that I've managed to stick to the few good SWTF - the Death Star and the Falcon.

 

Got one for Christmas! BTW, TFwire.com has a good video of it on the home page.

 

I recently got Death Star Vader and decided to put my three planet/moon Transformers together:

 

Got mine awesome toy. My only regret is that there is nothing to maintain in place the backpack in robot mode.

 

Hm, My back pack is fine, trying pushing on the back bottom notches on each side to slide down the shaft further , then the back should stay in place stay in place with no problem, if i had a camera working, I'd take a pic and show you what im talking about.

 

got this guy today on clearance and I'm very impressed by him but it took me about 30 minutes to transform him into planet mode! my sister thought I bought a bowling ball.. lol
I wish I got Primus too when he was on clearance..

 

I bought this guy fairly recently, but couldn't be bothered bumping up an old topic to comment on him.

At any rate, he is incredible. Surprisingly large (Unicron must be absolutely huge to be considerably bigger than this guy), and the robot mode is very menacing and effective. It actually combines the TF look with Darth Vader's design very well, too. His electronics are great without compromising the toy too much (I kind of wish he'd had articulated fingers, but it's a small price to pay). The cape is particularly badass, too.

Transforming him into Death Star mode is a nightmare, but it is worth it, because the mode is very effective. I have a bit of trouble activating the extra electronics in this mode, but I consider them to be merely a bonus, so it's no drama. Having the little compartments on the outside to put the Tie Fighters in is cool as well.

Speaking of the Tie Fighters, they're surprisingly cool, as are the little mini figures. Nothing spectacular, but they get the job done.

All in all, an awesome toy, and a must-have if you can find it on sale/clearance (I don't think it's quite worth the regular price).

 

Sorry to revive this thread, but I just rediscovered that toy recently and can't help but realize how great it is. Better than Unicron and Primus because he's perfectly round in Death Star mode, the gimmicks are cool, the cloth cape is cool, the hidden compartment are cool, the soundclips are cool, the light sequences are cool. Very underrated toy, I wish we would get another SWTF toy as good as this one or the Millenium Falcon combiner.

 

I totally agree. I got him on impulse for about half MSRP at a TJ Maxx around last Christmas--definitely worth it. Monday, with much fear and trembling, I picked up the Luke X-Wing at TJMaxx for less than half MSRP to give Vader someone to fight--although, I have a feeling Luke will be severely outclassed  

 

I'm very sorry for bumping an old thread, but I figure it's better than creating a new one for a simple question.

Does anyone know of a online store that has this guy for cheapish? (less than $50)
The cheapest I can find is $67 and my budget is getting stretched this month considering I've bought MP rodimus, Takara Autobot 3-pack and quite a few more figures. And then there's the huge MOTUC sale on Tuesday...
I'm in Norway, so there's no hope of getting him in physical stores.

And before anyone asks: Yes I have already searched all the stores I know of  

 

Wasn't the original retail price close to that? I managed to pick one up MISB from a guy on ecrater a couple months ago for $40 + $15 shipping, and I considered that an incredible steal considering how old it is. BBTS's page for it says they had it at $55 before they sold out of them.

 

I'm glad mine was only £15.00 or £20.00 (I can't even remember exactly) but they got a load of them super cheap in Toymaster. which was lucky as i'd nearly bought him the month before for £40.00

He's a good laugh but I do think the back back is a bit under designed I have to prop it up using some of the planet kibble on his shoulders on top of the cloak.

 

It's been ten years since this thread was last updated and I'm incredibly sorry to bump such an old thread, but I finally got this figure in my hands after the longest time and I just had to leave my remarks and photos on it here. Even though Darth Vader is practically ancient by modern standards, being from all the way back in 2007, this doesn't mean he's in any way inferior to more modern toys - in fact, he outclasses them easily in certain respects.



The first thing you notice about Vader is that he's the absolute king of overpacking among Transformers. His box could have fit two Vaders in there if half of his gargantuan box hadn't been taken up by an 'actual size' paper cutout of the Death Star mode, not to mention the large 'shelf' under his feet that serve no purpose except to bulk up the box. Vader isn't a small toy by any means, being the size of a ROTF-era Leader class toy, but compared to his packaging he ends up looking a bit small. Also, he's secured to the blister not by paper cords or rubber bands, but by twist ties! They were a pain in the afterburner to untie, but good lord were they nostalgic.



Robot mode is classic Darth Vader, only with large chunks of Death Star hanging all over him. He's a shellformer, as expected of someone who transforms into a perfect spheroid, but the planet kibble is actually positioned in places that make him look more powerful and imposing such as forming shoulder pauldrons and arm guards, and some of them form useful parts like his heels. He can still be a little unsightly from behind, but you can always cover it up with the included cloth cape(!) instead. Yes, he has an actual cloth cape. MP-11 Starscream doesn't have shit on this guy. The head has some mechanical detail around the back picked out in a light silvery paint wash, as well as a Sith symbol molded in and painted in silver on the back of his head. Despite his size and weight he has excellent articulation, which is inhibited in only his knees. He even has a form of ankle articulation! The lack of waist swivel I can forgive, since this was 2007 after all. Somewhat oddly his knees can't bend more than around 45 degrees in the normal direction (backwards), but bend 90 degrees forwards to accomodate his transformation. He is armed with a translucent red lightsaber and a blaster that fires a green missile, and the toy will 'recognize' which weapon it's holding in its right hand and will make according sound effects as well as activate a red LED for the lightsaber. It's an amazingly creative gimmick I haven't seen outside this toy and maybe Stomp and Chomp Grimlock, and it gives him extra play value. He also speaks phrases when you push the button on his belly, though they aren't taken directly from the movies. Some weren't even spoken by Vader in the films, but by other characters such as Tarkin.

(NOTE: My Vader had a loose right lateral hip joint and had a tendency to lean backwards. I don't hold that against this figure, since it's from 14 freaking years ago.)



As many people have commented before, the transformation is very fiddly. You have to massage all the Death Star parts into place just right as you make sure none of them are popping out in the many, many places they tab into one another. It's frustrating until the very last step, like a puzzle that only shows the picture when you've assembled every last piece. But the end product is worth it. It's a flawless rendition of the Death Star as it appeared in A New Hope, with its own lights (green LEDs) and sounds (movie quotes in Vader's voice plus breathing sounds) activated by a button just above the battery cover. As previously mentioned in the thread, you can unlock more sounds by pressing down and holding the button instead of tapping it. The blaster becomes the superlaser in Death Star mode and can be fired by opening a hatch and pressing Vader's head, though you may have to press deeper than you expected to engage the trigger. Four legs extend from the underside so your planet-killer won't accidentally roll off the table. In my opinion this is the best toy of the Death Star that exists aside from the Lego version, from the simple fact that it does something other than just sit there and be a big gray plastic ball. The light gimmicks really sell this mode too, even lighting up the translucent green missile like the superlaser from the movies.

(NOTE: The lightsaber CAN store inside the Death Star mode. Before you close the panels on the legs that go on either side of the superlaser area, slide the lightsaber's blade through the C-shaped part of the blaster. That way it should rest across the diameter of the Death Star when you close everything up.)



And just because a Death Star that transformed into Darth Vader wasn't enough, Hasbro packed in a whole lot of extras. The four mini-figures of Vader and three Stormtroopers is a nice touch, and you can store them in the compartments on the robot mode's shoulder pauldrons and legs. (My Vader mini-figure came with a ridiculous QC error - his arms were assembled backwards! Fortunately I saved Lord Vader from a reverse-elbowed fate thanks to some surgery with an exacto knife.) And the TIE fighters are just... there. They ostensibly have a mech mode, but the 'transformation' is basically nonexistent and you're better off leaving them as good old TIE fighters. All those extras are still fun accessories that complement the big bot, and they even store inside compartments in the big bot's shoulder pauldrons/Death Star rear for safekeeping.



I don't regret a single dollar I spent on this guy. He's big, imposing, and filled with fun light and sound gimmicks that's sadly becoming a lost art in today's environment, and is very possibly the only GOOD Star Wars Transformers toy to come from that line. If you're a Transformers fan who also has a thing for Star Wars, Darth Vader is the guy you need on your shelf to bring it to the Dark Side.

 

Don't apologize, I love modern reviews of old toys, especially ones that signify a bygone era like this guy.

I mean, this toy may have issues, but compared to nowadays it's kind of insane imagining this being released. It's huge, chunky, and such an oddball niche item. You can feel the heft through the photos, and it doesn't look cheap or hollow. Hell, it manages the shell kibble about as well as Haslab Unicron.  

 

I've been bumping a few old threads myself now and then, great fun. Sometimes getting an older toy for the very first time (or taking it back out of the box for the first time after a decade) can be just as fun (or more so) than getting a brand-new toy.

 

I kinda wanna see the mech mode the TIE fighters have. Can't find pictures of it anywhere.

 

You've already seen it! On the picture with the three TIE fighters on my review post, the middle one is in mech mode and the two on either side are in TIE fighter mode. Yes, that's literally all there is to the transformation. A single-optic head pops out from the cockpit, and that's it.

Personally, I think Vader should've included a mini-figure of the Executor that transformed into a humanoid robot form instead of those three TIEs, even if it means we'd only get one extra instead of 3. It would be more in scale with the Death Star mode, and would be more fun to play with than just a TIE fighter with a head.