"Does Darth Vader have to choke a bitch?" is always a rhetorical question.
Darth Vader was once a man named Anakin Skywalker who converted to the dark side. He is possessed of great power, cunning, and speed. Once he called Obi-Wan Kenobi "master" although the exact nature of that relationship (could such a powerful being have once been a Jedi's slave?) and how it ended remain a mystery. He's been a member of the Jedi himself, and has been called "the most gifted pilot in the galaxy". He flies a variety of ships, at some point even an odd spherical "Death Star", all of which can transform into a humanoid robot designed in his own image. Despite all the imposing weapons at his disposal, he is a very powerful man, one of the most powerful masters of the force, in his own right, known to fight Cybertronians on foot.
He is presumably related to the similarly named Luke Skywalker in some way.
Fiction[]
Shortly after being converted from his previous beliefs to the Sith faction, Darth Vader is given the task of crushing all resistance to the Emperor across the galaxy. Piloting his new, heavily modified Sith Starfighter and wielding dark power, he morphs his spacecraft into an imposing combat robot.[1]
Later, as a sinister Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader is on a mission to crush the Rebels and bring young Luke Skywalker before the Emperor. Vader combs the galaxy for Skywalker in his TIE Advanced Fighter, another spacecraft that can morph into a humanoid robot, destroying all Rebel ships, pirate fleets, and asteroids that get in his way.[2]
Using his advanced TIE mecha once more, Vader participates in a shattering starship battle with his former master. Unable to best his opponent in giant robot combat Darth Vader is forced to fall back on his ship's vehicle mode's missile defenses. Giving us a true sense of their power, we learn that like Primus and Unicron before them, the conflict between these two powerful force users is enough to rock an entire galaxy.[3]
Toys[]
Attacktix[]
- Intergalactic Showdown (Multi-pack, 2006)
- Darth Vader comes in a set with Luke Skywalker, an AT-RT non-humanoid piloted robot with driver, Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Omega Sentinel.
- Darth Vader also has four other Attacktix figures not sold in Transformers packaging, designated "Starter Set", "Series 1", "Series 2", and "Series 3". The Starter Set figure reveals him to be the same person as Anakin Skywalker!
Star Wars Transformers[]
- Darth Vader TIE Advanced Fighter (2006)
What kind of egomaniac has the robots he pilots made to look just like him?
- Darth Vader's first mecha transforms into a TIE Advanced Starfighter, featuring twin spring-loaded missile launchers. These missiles become "lightsaber" melee weapons for the robot mode. One of the vehicle mode's solar panel arrays forms a "cape" for the robot mode, the other a large deflector shield. Like all Star Wars Transformers toys, it comes with a tiny mini-figure of its pilot.
- Anakin (Skywalker) Starfighter (2006)
- A redeco and retooling of the Obi-Wan Jedi Starfighter, Anakin's mech transforms into an Eta-2 Actis interceptor with twin spring-loaded "lightsaber" missile launchers, and flip-up S-foils.
- This mold was also retooled to make a new Vader ship as well as Mace Windu's craft.
- Darth Vader Sith Starfighter (2006)
- Another incarnation of the Eta-2 mold, this one has been retooled into Anakin's new persona as Darth Vader. It retains all of the same gimmicks as previous versions of the mold.
- Darth Vader/Death Star (2007)
- The imposing, sole Supreme-class figure of the Star Wars Transformers toyline, this gigantic Darth Vader mech transforms into the planet destroying Death Star. Featuring excellent articulation, it has ratchet joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, with swivel joints taking up the remaining few. In both modes, it has a spring loaded missile launcher that fires a small, translucent green projectile. It also features lights and sounds, with several clips taken from the movie. In robot mode, it has a seriously gigantic light saber. Taped inside the package is a cloth cape which can be attached to the back of the figure in robot mode (be careful not to throw it away).
Darth Vader and his bitches... er I meant stormtroopers
- Like all figures in the Star Wars Transformers line, it comes with a pilot figure of the character the toy depicts. Additionally, it comes with three more figures, all of which are generic Storm Troopers. Three TIE Fighters are also included, which also have a Mech Mode. Oddly, the instructions and description on the box refer to them as Mini-Cons. In both modes, panels on the back open to reveal storage compartments for the pilots and TIE Fighters, while in Mech mode there are several smaller compartments on the legs and shoulders for the pilots.
- The instructions give no suggestion as to where to put the lightsaber in vehicle mode, though there is plenty of empty space inside. Additionally, the compartments on either side of the back are barely large enough to accommodate more than one TIE at a time without disassembling the solar arrays.
- Galactic Showdown (2007)
- A redeco of the TIE Advanced Fighter in a brighter white (really bringing the black parts out), this version of Vader comes in a Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack with a redeco of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter.
Notes[]
- The Darth Vader/Death Star Transformer was at one point going to be based around the incomplete second Death Star shown in Return of the Jedi and had a similarly incomplete robot mode with one shattered eye.[4] This was eschewed in favor of using the complete Death Star and robot mode. It is otherwise identical to the concept art.
- Michael Bay stated that the reason for changing Megatron's design from a handgun to a jet for the 2007 film was because he found the G1 transformation to be similar to the idea of "Darth Vader becoming his own lightsaber and having someone else swing him around". Which wouldn't make more sense than half the crap that happened in Revenge of the Fallen.
References[]