Darth Maul - TBS [P1] - Six Inch Figures (#02)

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 revenge."

We aren’t crazy about saying this, but The Black Series 6” line is going to give the 3.75” line a run for its money. As staunch proponents of Hasbro’s 3.75” for more years than you could possibly imagine, it is with apprehensive and bittersweet caution that we feel that the 6” line is the new 3.75” line. Before you look for tools to rip out our vocal chords with for uttering such nonsense, let us be clear that we think the 3.75” line is irreplaceable. It’s the bread and butter of any Star Wars collection, and as far as we will ever be concerned, a complete necessity that can never be tucked away. But we know we probably incited you with our assertion that The Black Series 6” is the “new” basic figure assortment. There are some big reasons why this may eventually be the case. But the case in point here is the Darth Maul action figure. This is one stunning action figure and Darth Maul has honestly never looked better in plastic form. If you read out review on 2012’s TVC Darth Maul (VC86) figure, you know how much we raved and raved about that action figure. And we still love it. But if you dig it out and compare it to The Black Series 6” Darth Maul figure, you probably will never look at it the same way again. By comparison, the TVC Darth Maul (VC86) figure has quality in detail that now appears sophomoric at best. That’s how impressive The Black Series 6” line is. The sculpt and even the super-articulation of the 2012 The Vintage Collection figure pales in comparison to the incomparable detail of what The Black Series 6” figure offers.

Darth Maul is a very impressive larger scaled action figure. He is packed with 21 points of high quality articulation that give him full range mobility and, like other figures in this line already, can attain positions without limits or reservations. Darth Maul is so far a very unique 6” The Black Series figure. He actually comes with an interchangeable head that is permanently attached to a very rubbery (i.e. flexible but doesn’t allow complete free form movement) outer cloak accessory. As noted, this combination piece locks up most of his free-range movement, but if you’re clever, you can still get him in some very neat positions. See our photo gallery for proof of this. Darth Maul’s paint job is relatively simple, save for his portrait. But Hasbro definitely took some disappointing shortcuts which left some of his detail sadly unfinished. In particular, Hasbro didn’t completely paint the horns on his head. As a result, Darth Maul looks like he is missing something. Thank the Maker that he has been manufactured with a dynamic sculpt and tons of articulation to aid in distracting you from this setback. The tattoos on his face have been applied with great care. They’re symmetrical, cleanly applied, and the red color which serves as the backdrop to the black facial tattoos is modestly colored without appearing too bright or obtrusive. Because the rest of Darth Maul’s outfit is black, there isn’t much to worry about as far as paint operations are concerned. So you should be pretty happy with the final product if you can overlook the mishap on the horns.

Although Darth Maul technically comes with two portraits, we’re referring to the one with the attached cloak as an accessory. In addition to this piece, Darth Maul also comes with macrobinoculars, and two lightsaber hilts that attach together to form the complete double bladed lightsaber hilt. The blades are also likewise removable so it gives you more options with how to pose him. Just like Luke Skywalker (#01), we believe the blades are an appropriate length, but they are a bit too thick and not much wider than the lightsaber blades given to the figures in the 3.75” lines. Darth Maul can hold his accessories very easily and they look fantastic when they are in his use. One detail we didn’t mention yet is that Darth Maul comes with soft-goods. These subtly added extras are hidden underneath the flexible tabards and underneath the rear of his skirt too. They’re very fine and add a few extra layers of texture to the figure without looking oversized or too “bushy.” We’re actually quite impressed with how great they look. Hasbro was certain to trim them in a way that they don’t hang out below the plastic molded robes. They serve as an “under layer” more than anything else. You’re going to be very impressed with them. We don’t mention packaging very often in our reviews because it goes right in the trash when we prepare our galleries, but due to popular demand, we’ll include some description about it in our reviews here and there. This isn’t our own word choice for the packaging, but we have heard it referred to by others as sophisticated. We think that is indeed the perfect term to describe it. It’s streamlined. It’s simple. And it looks very, very adult. There aren’t any fancy pictures to draw in the kiddies. Let’s hope it’s sophisticated enough to pull in all the adult collectors. This line must succeed!