The release of the sixth and final (for now, anyway) Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, has yielded some truly strange merchandise, but none so pop, humorous and irreverant as Darth Tater,
the inevitable merging of Mr. Potato Head with Darth Vader.
Appearing in newspapers and on geeks' shelves alike, this nifty collectible is taking the world by storm and available all over the place, a fun little toy perfect for collectors and any Star Wars fans with a sense of humor. It was only a matter of time before one ended up in our hands.
Simple but diabolically effective, Darth Tater's potato-shaped head remains the same as all previous on the Potato Head family tree. Instead, pretty much all of his appendages are based on Darth Vader and caricaturely adjusted to fit his vegetableness. The whole thing looks awesome and hilarious - his arms, feet, helmet and facemask thingy are all perfectly authentic and utterly ridiculous on a potato. He even has his red lightsaber, sculpted into his right hand; very cool!
All of his parts are also interchangable with other bits and pieces, including ears, a nose and mouth which can make him somewhat like Vader maskless. One thing particularly cool is Darth Tater's cape, made from real fabric that holds onto his body via his arms and just makes the whole thing that little bit cooler.
And, of course, the potato body opens up at the back to fit in those accessories not currently in use. Accesories? He is accessories! Complete with all the body parts you expect from a Mr. Potato Head, he's suited up with everything he needs, and then some.
Good thing, too, since a toy named Darth Tater is just screaming to be played with. Nothing is quite as fun as having him talk to your other Star Wars figures (particularly the 3 3/4" toys, and, um, all the others too, who he's completely out of scale with).
However, some parts of the Potato Head design make him slightly less playable. For one, his arms don't really have a lot of movement, because of the big helmet and all - balljoints would have been a lot more playable, but would also have changed the original Potato Head mold, so it's not too bad a sacrifice. An oddity is, though, that his lightsaber can't be removed from his hand, unlike every other part of him, which all come right off. He also can't really fight with it, which makes it useless despite looking really good.
Darth Tater comes in the same nifty packaging as all other Mr. Potato Head toys, a nice little plastic case showing off the namesake as well as featuring a handle for easy carrying. The cardboard inside shows off Darth Tater and his accessories, with some "Serving Suggestions" as how to fit his appendages on him to make him look more or less Darth Vadery.
Still, it's Darth Tater! You just know you're going to have fun with this toy, whether sitting next to your PC on the desk amusing your friends, or lecturing 3 3/4" Storm Troopers on eating their veggies. An awesome idea with great execution, it's just the thing to tweek that geek pleasure center inside of you. You know you must own it. Don't deny yourself any further of what is, without a doubt, the greatest collaboration of vegetable and evil space warlord ever.
After Darth Tater and the Spudtrooper, what other potato-crossovers would you like to see? Tell us on our message board, The Loafing Lounge.
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