Review: Star Wars Black Series Anakin Skywalker from Ahsoka, Galaxy Collection Wave 21
- Mephitsu
- 6 minutes ago
- 6 min read
"I haven't taught you everything yet."
Following his return to the role of Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+, Hayden Christensen made a surprise appearance during the debut season of Ahsoka, arriving during the scenes set in the World Beyond Worlds and guiding Ahsoka once again on her journey. This new arc of the Anakin story, acting outside of the main timeline in the world beyond worlds, has allowed Hasbro to bring us another General Skywalker figure from The Clone Wars, badged under the Ahsoka collection.
Anakin is part of Wave 21 of the Phase 4 Galaxy Collection. The wave also includes Clone Captain Rex from Ahsoka as well as Cassian and Krennic from Andor, and Moff Gideon and his Praetorian Guard from The Mandalorian. Anakin was released, alongside Rex, in the first half of June 2025, arriving in the standard black packaging with the turquoise blue accent colour assigned to the Ahsoka releases. Anakin was numbered as 17 in the line, and his side artwork links directly to Captain Rex, who was number 16. It appears this number is a mistake as the Ahsoka series has skipped a number 15, and the upcoming Death Trooper figure is also numbered as 17. The artwork for Anakin shows him in the world between worlds, with the shadowy non-descript landscape behind him also used on the larger backing card for the figure. While the Rex text was very generic and not specifically aligned to the Ahsoka storyline, Anakin’s blurb is very specific to his role in the Ahsoka storyline and his appearance in the world between worlds to act as her teacher once again.
Anakin is depicted as we see him in the flashbacks to the Clone Wars era, the first live action appearance of his Jedi General gear. This is built onto a basic burgundy suited body with a ridged texture built in to reflect the robes Anakin is wearing as he fights on the battlefield. Over this are a knee high pair of brown boots with sculpted detail but no additional paintwork, and a pair of long sleeves gloves and bracers. Unlike the boots these feature both sculpted and painted details with a trio of black painted straps and a silver clasp on each glove.
The outer robes are enirely treated in soft goods, and using the softer fabric we’ve seen on the other Jedi releases recently and ironically on Darth Vader’s capes. For Anakin, this is a deep blue colour and features some tailoring to create the V-neck of the tunic and the shape of the skirt with a front overlapping panel. Beneath this part sits an inner skirt, in the same material but coloured in burgundy. These soft goods are further secured in place by way of a belt in brown with gold and silver detail, and the larger shoulder armour that was reminiscent of what Anakin would end up wearing as Darth Vader. This, and the accompanying shoulder pauldrons, are cast in a blue-grey finish. The shoulder pauldrons are not attached to the chest armour as would normally be the case, but are fixed under the piece into the main body by way of a flexible ‘hinge’. The left-hand side pauldron carries a sculpted Jedi symbol, painted in red.
vs 2021 Clone Wars Anakin (right)
All of the Anakin Skywalker figures released to date that are based on his appearance from Attack of the Clones through to Revenge of the Sith have been based on the same originally body that dates back to 2014 and its subsequent 2019 re-release as an Archive collection figure. This latest version of Anakin still utilises the legs from this original release, with the upper body taken from the 2021 Clone Wars retro release. This newer version uses more soft goods than the 2021 version, replacing all of the sculpted robes across the chest and waist with soft goods. The shoulder and chest armour is also new and reshaped with the pauldrons smaller and inclusive of this recessed Jedi symbol. The belt too is slimmed down, although the exact same design as previous just no longer part of a larger soft plastic skirt section.
Anakin has a single, brand new headsculpt that is based directly from the Ahsoka appearances and Hayden Christensen as seen in those shots, inclusive of whatever makeup and digital wizardry was added to make him appear as the younger Anakin. This is much improved on all of the prior Anakin likenesses with a crisper, more realistic finish as the facial printing tech continues to improve. The scar over the eye remains visible, but more defined. The hair is added as a plug in piece in a soft brown and perhaps does not quite match the detailing of the face and it would certainly have benefitted from a darker wash.
Anakin features his lightsaber, the same one as has been in use for some time on Anakin figures but also across Luke Skywalker and some of the Rey releases. This is a bright silver hilt with black fins and a gold slide-on switch. It includes the same plug as the older releases, which connects to a socket on Anakin’s belt for a holstered position.
The lightsaber blade is a deep blue translucent piece, straight and true and wth a robust connection that clicks securely into the hilt. Anakin can wield this in either hand, but does still have trigger fingers on both hands, rather than a true full grip you’d expect for a lightsaber user. Articulation is sufficient to allow for a variety of poses, including two-handed holds.
Articulation is a little muddled due to the hybrid of very old (2014) and newer (2021) parts. Overall, we have 19 points of articulation with the upper torso carrying all of the more modern pinless functionality, including a dual-joint neck and butterfly shoulders. This provides Anakin with a range of both static and offensive options, wielding his lightsaber in both offensive and defensive positions.
The legs are now showing their age, with double jointed pinless knees that provide a good range of movement, but are not particularly pretty when used. Every Anakin figure using the 2014 legs has suffered from abysmally weak ankle rockers, and sadly, that is still an issue for this 2025 edition. There appears to be only one ratchet position in the ankles, leaving the space either side of that ratchet extremely unstable, and Anakin is prone to falling forward as his own ankles give way - an issue partly alleviated by a stand, but not by much. The soft goods work well enough around the legs to allow this version of the character to kneel, although all of that was possible on the 2021 figure with the PVC skirts.
Anakin Skywalker is very much a contrasting release to his counterpart Rex in the same wave. While Rex takes huge leaps forward in articulation using a brand new body, Anakin sticks with the legs of a figure well over 10 years old by this point and legs that have significantly flaws with stability. While Rex moves away from soft goods and to PVC skirts, Anakin moves away from PVC robes and skirts to soft goods and with little benefit achieved in articulation and certainly a backward step in aesthetics, with the soft Jedi material always sitting too flat and lacking the creases and folds we’d see at full scale.
The headsculpt is impressive, but if you’d have simply put that on the 2021 figure, we’d probably be praising this figure in most areas, apart from those ankles. Instead, we are rueing some missed opportunities here and asking some questions of the Star Wars team in terms of which direction we are going in with the Black Series robes - moving away from soft goods, introducing more, or taking it on a figure-by-figure basis.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...