Star Wars Mace Windu

Robot Mode: I'm really of two minds about Mace Windu's robot mode. Let's start with the head. I guess they did kinda capture the Samuel L. Jackson look there, but only if you know it's supposed to be him. Still, as far as likenesses among the Star Wars Transformers go, it's not too bad. The rest of the body is an acquired taste. The cockpit of the starfighter makes for a bit of a pot belly, making the figure look disproportioned even though it really isn't. The arms look a bit too thin for the torso. The legs are okay, but with the full weight of the fighter's wings on Windu's back as a sort of cape/robe, they have a hard time balancing him out. The only real way to keep him standing stable is to use the wingtips on his back as additional stabilisers.

Windu comes with two lightsabers as weapons. He has good posability, so you can throw him into all kinds of fighting poses. The balance problem comes into play here again, of course, but apart from that I have a slight problem with Mace's hands. They are more like robotic claws, no thumbs, and while he can hold the lightsabers, they are not terribly stable. Hands are kind of my pet peeve (as you migth know if you've been on my site before) and Mace's could have been done better. So all in all we have a robot mode that looks okay, but has problems both in regards to look and stability. Not bad, but could have been better.

Alternate Mode: Mace Windu transforms into a Jedi Eta-2 starfighter, which is kind of a cross between the starfighters we saw the Jedi use in Episode II (see Saesee Tiin) and the TIE Fighter (see Darth Vader) the Empire used in Episodes IV through VI. Personally I like the look of the fighter, but I do have some problems with the mold nevertheless. The cockpit is difficult to close properly, the wings on either side don't always remain stable, and the miniature figure of Mace Windu always flies around the cockpit, I have yet to manage to properly seat him. Look-wise, though, I have no complaints. Great detailing, nice landing gear, and the S-foils on the wings, which can flip out for attack mode, look really cool. So all in all the vehicle mode could have been better, but it's still okay.

Remarks: I think I wrote 'could have been better' for both the robot and the vehicle mode, and that statement pretty much sums up my opinion of Mace Windu. The mold of this figure has been reused several times now (for Obi-Wan Kenobi among others), but it's not the best of the Star Wars Transformers. It's not a bad figure by any means, but for me, I sometimes get more worked up if I have a good figure with avoidable flaws than when I get a figure that's just plain bad. Mace could easily have been improved with better hands, more stable legs, and some improvement on the cockpit. As things stand, though, I can only call him the good side of average, no more than that.

Rating: C+