Originally posted by AdventI can completely agree with this.
Now, yes, Anakin is "whiny", he's a "brat", but so was I, and I still am. Look at why he questions his master, and everyone else. He definitely was not meant to be a Jedi, yet he's on the Jedi path. I'm not going to justify his actions, or his words, because most times, he's rightfully reprimanded, but still. The point is: if you don't like characters that are annoying to you, that's great for you, because different people have different interests that they look for.
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.
Vader, no contest.
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.
Anakin was forgettable at best.
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...
Re: Darth Vader (OT) or Anakin Skywalker (PT)
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...
Originally posted by Count Makashi
Vader isn't slow, he is just not fast as he used to be.
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...
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.
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.
Originally posted by Luminatus
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.
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.