Like I said, we disagree in opinion [and that's okay]. I enjoy reading Anakin in the Clone Wars-novels and in the RotS novelizations, but in the movies? No.
From an EU point of view, Anakin is someone you can "connect" with, in a sense. You can feel where he's coming from, and why he does what he does. After reading ROTS, I looked at the guy in a completely new light.
Vader's still a badass sonuvab*tch in the EU too, but there he's someone I want to see defeated, not win (much like Mel Gibson in Payback).
But when I make myself forget about the EU and watch the movies (something the vast viewing public does), Anakin is a more mature Jar Jar with better grammar. Annoying, obsessive, foolish, rash, and a griper.
Whereas Vader, sans the EU, is by and large a much more impressive character. To quote descriptions of him that have been used a million times, he's "menacing," "evil," "cruel," "cold-hearted," "scary," and just plain cool. By ROTJ, if you can ignore the distractions of the Ewoks, Vader's got a real internal battle going on, over good and evil. While Anakin also has a similar dilemma, his aforementioned personality traits tend to deflect a lot of sympathy or caring.
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Hayden Christensen did not do a very good job acting in the prequels. There was one moment where I thought he did well, which was the immolation scene on Mustafar. He was actually decent when he was on fire. But honestly, nobody can say that Hayden did a good job and have it be true. No matter what the reason was, Anakin wasn't portrayed well by him.
Vader looks cooler, acts like a badass, has an imposing/awesome voice, his own theme song, etc.
He's a classic villain who will go down in history as one of the best.
That's only because he got within 3 feet of Dooku.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: On cloud 9 in 7th heaven! I didn't
I say Anakin. For one, you can see what he's going through via facial expressions, and he gives you something to grab onto as far as being an audience member. You can see that he's human and has feelings, and not some masked figure how will just kill someone at the drop of a hat (which is cool as shit by the way). But Vader was my favorite character until ROTS. I could feel what Anakin was feeling before he articulated it, or conveyed his feelings through obvious actions. Like when he went to kill the little bastards in the council room, you could tell there was a part of him that didn't want to do it, but he had virtually no control over himself at that point. I dunno, everything Advent said (less the sexual aspect, lol) I agree with. But like i said, Vader is a close second, as he was my favorite character from the time i was 3 or 4, until i was 25...
its definatly darth vader cause hes simply cool, even lucas preferes him, he even wanted to make the movies, "the tragedy of darth vader" instead of "starwars" cause it is all about the guy in the leather suit...
Hmm. As much as I like Darth Vader, I'd have to go with Anakin (episode III version) because of him expressing much more emotion and personality as a character, and thus making him more likeable (to me at least)...
Plus, Vader's robotic legs made him way too slow in most situations. An achilles' heel Anakin didn't possess, even though he was too daring at times for his own good before becoming the Vader we all know from the original trilogy...
Which explains why Luke was able to kick him so easily at the beginning of their light-saber battle in RotJ. Vader's almost always walked pretty slowly too, though I suppose it may be a bit of an exaggeration to say Vader's slow in general (in terms of movement). He's just slow compared to Anakin...
He's also slow compared to Zett Jukasa, but do you think Zett could boot him down a flight of stairs?
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
After going back and taking a more objective look at things, I prefer Anakin to Vader. I don't get what people are talking about...the ROTS novel makes you feel sorry for him but the movie makes you just think he's immature? The motivation is EXACTLy the same in both. It's blaant-Hayden hain'.
From a character standpoint, one is full of personality and the other isn't. In terms of appearance, I love the black armor but this is way cooler. (please log in to view the image)
I also like how with Anakin, there's an aura of dark inevitability around him. The moment that little kid appeared in EP1, we knew he was destined for cruelty and pain. Watching his descent and movement towards that is quite enjoyable IMO.
Well said. I was just reading my old posts here, and they still ring true. Anakin's the shieeeeeeeeeeeeet, I think some people might have more of a problem with Hayden Christensen rather than the character, which would mask his story and characteristics.
Vader is what Anakin became, what I find a lot more intriguing is how he becomes that way and it's very deep.
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"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent." - Sagacious Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.