Darth Tyranus is the Sith name that this former Jedi took after he abandoned the Jedi order a decade ago. An uncompromising idealist, he grew disillusioned with the Jedi when they began serving the politicians in the Republic. Every fiber of his being demands purity of belief, and he found such unswerving commitment in a strange and frightening place: in the evil order of the Sith. For ten long years, Darth Tyranus lived in hiding, honing his Jedi skills and crafting his vision of the galaxy's future. He has emerged from his self-imposed exile to turn his vision into reality. His commanding figure scintillates with power and inspiration, enthralling all those who find themselves in the Dark Lord's presence. Every move he makes is executed with grace and refinement, revealing the existence of the once-great Jedi who has now been absorbed into the dark side. He fights with consummate skill in the old-world style of a vanished era, evoking the glory of the past while casting an ominous cloud over the future.
Christopher Lee was a late addition to Episode II. Originally the Sith apprentice and political leader of the Separatist movement was going to be a woman. Lots of concept art was done of that character, but when they hired Lee is all had to be shelved, and there wasn't any time to make him anything other than "condescending white guy."
Even his clothes are boring. Dooku has never been a flashy character, and this toy accurately depicts his boring-ass clothes. Black boots, brown pants, and a brown tunic held in place by a wide brown belt, all
worn under a big brown cape. Wow, thrilling! There isn't even a lot for this line's "look at us, we can copy McFarlane Toys' homework" style to sink its sculptural teeth into. All that energy has been put into the lower edge of the cape, which is all bunched up as it swirls around his legs at knee height. His left hand is clutching the fabric, which is about as dynamic as we get. The face is decent, about as good a likeness as Padme got, but if you consider what he'd look like without his cape on, you'll realize the neck is both weirdly long and bent at a strange angle.
There isn't a lot to be done with the paint, either. Brown and brown and brown and brown. The arms and legs are a minorly different shade from the torso, which may be intentional, or may just be a result of the materials used. His belt is a slightly redder shade, and the cape nearly matches that. The boots are high gloss black, and there's no spill between the pink skin and the darker clothing.
Dooku gets something rare for Unleashed figures: articulation.
His right arm has a swivel at the shoulder, allowing him to either point his lightsaber down at the ground, or ahead at his opponent. His right wrist is also a swivel, because, like Emperor Palpatine, he's got an alternate hand to allow him to fire lightning from his fingertips. The lightsaber itself has a removable blade, because it would be too long and hit the ground otherwise. The lightning (and the hand it's coming out of) is molded from translucent blue plastic, for the best effect, and the bolts reach a good 6" long past the fingertips. It's quite impressive.
The Unleashed figures came with ornate display bases the figures could be plugged into. Typically the figure was the part that had the connector pegs, not the base, which we're normally be against (as it makes the figure worse), but in this case, that's a positive:
these bases are mostly generic enough to be used for anything, and not having obtrusive pegs on them makes that more possible. Dooku's base is, I think, supposed to be a bit of the hangar where he fights the Jedi? It has a gray floor with a geomeetric pattern on it, a slice of brown wall with some dirt(?) piled up against it, and a brass item that looks like a huge cleat you'd tie a boat to - presumably something to draw parallels between space ships and real ships. That's actually a separate piece you have to plug onto the base, but that means you can also take it off and Force-throw it at his enemies. Fun!
Depending on when you bought this figure, it could have had one of two different names: when he was first released, in 2002, he just came on the same card as everybody else, and was labelled "Darth Tyranus"; in 2004, the figure was rereleased on the newer card, with a curved bubble and cool art in the background, and was "Count Dooku." Presumably because the movies never did anything with the Tyranus name, so no one knew it. The figures themselves are identical, which unfortunately means they're both equally boring.
-- 08/22/26
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