Hasbro has not given us a decent ROTS Anakin yet, out of the several variations to be found, which is surprising since this movie actually focuses on him.
A while back when I got the Anakin Evolutions set, I thought it was good. Good, but not great. But not far from great. There were a few things I didn't like, and a few I didn't understand... AOTC Anakin has elbow articulation, ROTS Anakin didn't? ROTS Anakin has ankle articulation, AOTC Anakin doesn't? Didn't make any sense. So, when I was able to pick up an extra of this set (because no matter how bad a figure Hasbro makes turns out, I always need 1 unadulterated version in my collection. What can I say, OCD is a terrible thing), I decided to swap out the parts and make an Ulitimate Super Articualted ROTS Anakin (since I was never found of the AOTC version anyway).
I used the ROTS Anakin head and legs, and swapped out for the AOTC torso, arms, sash, and belt. I cut the right arm right after the elbow joint and added the ROTS glove, and maintained articulation on the elbow joint. There's not much more articulation I could add to this guy - neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. I had to trim down the AOTC torso neck, it was longer than the ROTS torso for some reason. I still want to work on the cape/robe, and I want to paint his eyes Sith red, but it's too late and I'm too tired for that right now. That will be tomorrow nights project.
click to enlarge
Now, on to Vader. This was another figure that I thought had great potential, but in the hands of Hasbro, we all know what that means. The silver string around the neck? Nice touch, but it should have been shorter than an inch long. The helmet won't stay on for ****. And the head under the helmet? Please...
First thing I did was shorten the silver string. I'd love to swap it out altogether, but I don't know if I have any chain small enough. I think it looks 100x better after being shortened. All I did was cut one end, and stuff it under the helmet collar. The second thing I did was to swap out the head with an extra from a #50 Crispy Anakin that I had. I figured this was supposed to be a ROTS Vader, so he wouldn't be all white under there yet. And, to my surprise, swapping out the head actually fixed the helmet problem. I guess the #50 head is a little wider than the other head, because now the helmet stays on with no problem.
click to enlarge