***Background***

There are a few ways to get a man to marry you. I think what really made my hubby realise that I was the one though was when I bought him the three Star Wars Potato Heads for Christmas the other year. You see I'm not a Star Wars fan at all but my hubby is a bit of a (dare I say it?) freak when it comes to collecting things like this and had been looking at them longingly for ages.

Mr Potato Head has been on the go for many years and I remember having him and his wife when I was but a little girlie. They would keep me amused for hours, putting different eyes on them and changing their noses and ears constantly. Most of this information comes from my mum although I do remember them a little bit.

Darth Tater is of course based around the baddie of the films who is of course Darth Vader. See what those clever people at Playskool and Hasbro have done. Darth Vader went over to the dark side because he believed it would save the love of his life but of course it was all lies. Just in case I get any of that wrong, I've been told what happens because I've been watching and playing Star Wars Lego on PS2 lately. That was a Christmas present this year for my man.

***The Age Limit***

This toy is marketed for children aged two and upwards and I stress that it doesn't just mean mental age. My husband won't let our 5-year-old son play with this though and I think he's being very mean.

I would actually say that this isn't really suitable for children as young as two. Although most of the pieces are quite large, I would be worried about them being chewed and bits breaking off, which then might cause a choking hazard.

***The Attachments***

The body is pretty standard and is full of holes just like the normal versions. This is for sticking the various bits and pieces into it and dressing up your tater. It comes with a set of eyes, two ears, a nose, a tongue and a set of teeth and these are all pretty normal looking pieces.

What sets this one aside though is the other sections that make him a dark spud. He wouldn't be complete without his black faceplate and helmet of course but he also comes with a black cape and black shoes too. Finally are his arms, which are again coloured black and in his right hand he holds his red light sabre.

***The Toy***

The toy is great fun to play with, well I say that but I am not allowed to play with it either, my hubby is so mean sometimes. He will sit and have great fun mixing and matching body parts and it only gets worse if he has friends over and a beer or two has been consumed. Some of the ways they dress this tater up are just plain daft.

As I mentioned earlier he got the Spudtrooper and the Artoo Potatoo versions along with this one and he did struggle whether to open them or not because of the collectiblity aspect of this type of toy. He couldn't really contain himself though and had to take it out to have a proper play. When it's not being played with though, it carefully gets put back in the box to sit up on a shelf.

If you do want to ditch the box, there is a compartment at the back of the spud body that opens and you can put some of the pieces in there for safekeeping. I have to say that this one is quite realistic with the black attachments although some of the other things that are suggested on the box for making other versions are a lot funnier.

***Price and Availability***

When these first appeared in the shops you could spend up to £20 each on them, but they seem to sell for around £10 nowadays. I managed to get them from Amazon in the sale at the time for only £4.99, which was why hubby got all three, because it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

***Final Thoughts***

For any fan of Star Wars, this has to be an essential present. Darth Tater really makes a stunning addition to the collection in our house. As it says on the box,

"As a Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Tater was once a promising young Jedi who lost his roots!"

Corny or what???