Mafex OWK Vader- The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
I recently bought the Mafex OWK Vader from BBTS and wanted to share my opinion on it, since it's regarded as one of the best Vaders at 1/12 scale, possibly only second to the SHF OWK Vader.
The Good- This guy looks amazing. The SHF Vader arguably has the better helmet, as its almost a perfect recreation of the helmet model used in the Kenobi show, but I think Mafex did a much better job with the finish and level of detail on the helmet. The paint application is clean and accurate, with the gun metal paint in the right places on the mask. They picked the perfect shade of red for the lenses. On both helmet sculpts the lenses are transparent, with Anakin's eyes being ever so slightly visible from behind them. The damaged helmet, while not my preferred way to display him, is perfect. The additional silver and bronze/brown paint around the gash really sells it. The Anakin head sculpt is also much better than I was expected. The likeness is impressive at this scale. The body proportions are also flawless. I found the SHF to be kinda stubby when compared to this guy. I found the articulation good for a Vader figure. He's no Spider-Man in terms of posability, but he gets the job done. Finally, The number of accessories he comes with is insane. He comes with almost everything a Vader display would need. I appreciate them including 3 inquisitor lightsabers, but I have no intention of ever displaying him with them.
The Bad- My biggest complaint with him is the soft goods. They SUCK. The cape has 7 wires in it, which seems excessive to me. It looks really good in dynamic poses, but is almost impossible to get to sit naturally when in a more neutral pose. Thats not even mentioning the collar. 6 of the wires meet up at the collar, making it sit super funky on his shoulders. There's no gap between his helmet and shoulders with it on, ruining his iconic silhouette. This guy is currently the only Vader in my collection, so I've already got a black series drape cape coming for him. From what I've seen online drape capes or custom wired capes make him look almost like a shrunken down Hot Toys, so I'm very excited to see how it turns out. The inner tunic looks fine, but I found it annoying when posing, as on mine (not sure if a QC issue, or genuine design flaw) It isn't well attached under his shoulder armor, and the corner of each side likes to peek out and cover part of his chest box whenever moving his legs or torso. It's not a horrible issue, as I just use a toothpick to readjust it, but it is kinda annoying.
The Ugly- The QC on mine was very hit or miss. the aformentioned inner robe was an issue, but his arm joints were also very stiff out of box. The left shoulder was tight, but loosened up after a few minutes of posing. The right arm, however, was awful. The ball joint in his shoulder had an even more limited range of motion than he should have, and the bicep swivel was so stiff I didn't realize it was there until the left swivel loosened up. I had to heat and oil the arm just to get it moving, then it took more playing around with and oiling to get it to stop squeaking. Also, the glue connecting the chain to his cape is very low quality. The chain broke off right before I started writing this with no pressure. I was just sticking his head onto his body, and it broke like it was nothing. The dome is also weakly connected to the mask, especially on the damaged sculpt. it shifts and pops off with the smallest touch. The hands are also looser than they should be on their pegs.
Overall- It's not a bad figure, I don't own the SHF Vader, but from what I've seen of it I much prefer the proportions and finish of the Mafex. But there are a lot of problems present, especially with the joints and soft elements. Most of these things are fixable, and will bring him up a few notches, but its frustrated that I have to do them in the first place, considering this is a $100+ figure. Out of box he's a solid 7.5/10, but with the drape cape and fixed joints he'll definitely be a 9.5 or even 10/10. If you want the best Vader you can get at 1/12, this is it, especially since its cheaper and easier to find than the SHF version. One day I'll get my hands on a Hot Toys Vader though. sigh