Review of Star Wars: The Black Series 6" Darth Maul

           I swore I was done with Star Wars figures once Hasbro started making them with extremely limited articulation. The prices went up and quality (in terms of articulation anyway) went down, the vintage line became next to impossible to find after the 3rd wave in my area. I was so upset, because I love Star Wars. A line I had invested so much in, and after 10 years, I walked away. Then came the Black Series. Pictures surfaced of a new 6" line of figures for Star Wars that made me question if I could start fresh with a line of characters that I have loved since I was little, then the final photos of the first wave came through, and I saw him...my favorite Sith Lord.....Darth Maul. I knew if anything, I had to at least get him. So then the line was released and I had no luck, I figured it would be a repeat of the Vintage line again. Not one single Toys R Us has had this series at all near me. So I tried Target, and clearly the Force is with them as they had them all. I only picked up Maul, but this figure is so damn good, that I just might venture back into the world of a Star Wars collector, especially with Han Solo and Boba Fett coming out, but this isn't about them, this is about Darth Maul.

The Basics:
Scale: 6"
Price: $19.99 at Target

Character Bio:
The evil Sith apprentice Darth Maul engages in a fierce lightsaber duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have our revenge."




Sculpt and Paint:

The sculpt on Darth Maul is incredible. I mean this is just an amazing figure. All of the 3 3/4" Darth Maul figures have been close to perfection but something has thrown them off but this guy is flat out perfect. The robes are all well sculpted with the wrinkles, and they have an amazing texture. The boots look amazing as do the gloves, and I love the robes around the waist. My one issue with the 3 3/4" Vintage Maul was that the lower robes were all soft goods but on this one its soft goods but with plastic over them, which I love because it keeps them flat and in place.  The Headsculpt is spot on. The horns could have been sharper/pointier, but that's a minor nitpick and I get they needed to keep them a bit dull due to safety issues and the like.
In terms of paint, the only painted areas that I can tell are his head, which has an immaculate paint job, and the boots, gloves, and belt, which are a glossy black. Now on the shelf, when I got him there were two, and both had perfect paint jobs, but as always I would compare them just to make sure you get the ideal figure.

Articulation and Accessories:
In the accessory department, Darth Maul comes with quite a bit. He has a monocular ( the device he used in Tatooine to watch the ship holding Princess Amidala, and the Jedi land, a dual-bladed lightsaber that can a.) split in half to become two lightsabers, and b.) you can remove the blades and plug the hilt into his waist. Now we aren't done. He comes with an alternate head that has his Sith robes attached to it. They are made of a very pliable rubber that slide right over him and stay in place perfectly.

Now this part is awesome. I have been waiting for a Star Wars figure to have this much articulation. Darth Maul has a balljointed head with a hinge that allows him to look back and down very far,  swivel-hinge shoulders, swivel-hinge elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, a balljointed torso, marvel universe style balljointed hips, swivel thighs, DOUBLE-HINGE KNEES!!!, and an ankle hinge and ankle PIVOT!!!!! This is so FREAKING AWESOME!!!! The poses you can get out of this guy are freaking amazing, but more on those later.

OVERALL:
This figure sis a prime example of what a 6" Star Wars figure should be. Amazing articulation and accessories, perfect paint and sculpt, and one thing I want to point out is that the plastic used to make this guy feels so much more durable than the plastic used on the Marvel Legends, for example the elbows and knees on the Bucky Cap mold always were very bendy, none of that here, though the lightsaber hilt is a bit softer plastic, but I can understand why, and it isn't really noticeable unless you are trying to bend the hilt. The packaging is incredibly collector friendly, open the top flap, slide out the tray containing the figure, you can place him back in the tray if you want, slide it back in, close the flap, looks like it was never opened. Overall this is one of the best purchases I have made in 2013, easily in my top 10, he is worth every penny, and I cannot wait to see what is coming next in Star Wars: The Black Series.

10 OUT OF 10!!!!!!

 

LOOK AT IT!!! MARVEL AT IT!!!!