Darth Plagueis - TBS [P1] - Basic (#18)

Known as Darth Plagueis the Wise, this Sith Lord experiments with ways to cheat death using midi-chlorians, until he is killed by his own apprentice – Darth Sidious.

We hope the many of you out there in the collective collector universe are happy with the rumor, official reveal and subsequent release of Darth Plagueis, a character that we just don’t plain get, but also a character that we do indeed hold respect for as it has been the voice of the people that has brought him to fruition. We are speaking from a perspective where we haven’t read Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, so we’re ignorant of what the true draw is to this character. But even without reading about his exploits in the novel, we find it extremely ridiculous that the mentor of Darth Sidious, who would eventually become Emperor Palpatine and the personification of evil was a withering, wimpy-framed Muun. We were raised to never judge a book by its cover, and here it applies literally and metaphorically, but come on already, this is just silliness wrapped in ludicrousness. We won’t deny the powerful moments in the novel that made him so popular, but it may be true that only other Muun more annoying than Darth Plagueis is Olivia. Now that we’ve probably offended every last person waiting in line to buy this figure, we don’t want to leave you cold. While we just can’t swallow that this is what the Sith Master of Palpatine looks like, we can tell you that as a standalone action figure, it’s a very nicely done figure and we expect it to impress those who have waited so long to see him get made and released. There will be some surprises for you here too. Darth Plagues the Wise, as he was known, was born Hego Damask and he was obsessed with eternal life, a basic spiritual principle.

Darth Plagueis makes its debut in The Black Series line, a controversial replacement to the collector favorite The Vintage Collection. It’s still a fitting line for his nonetheless and since we can’t change what’s already in effect, collectors will have to take it or leave it. The dark packaging does look appropriate for a Sith Master and he frankly looks pretty cool inside of it, even if he sort of mixes in with all of the darkness. Hasbro did do the sculpt of Darth Plagueis justice and he should resonate with most collectors. He is an action figure with 13 points of articulation, but would you believe that he comes without a waist joint? There is no way possible to swerve him to the left or the right which makes posing him slightly frustrating. It becomes more problematic when trying to pose him with his lightsaber. You really need movement in the waist to make an action figure dueling a lightsaber look believable. You’ll likely find it disappointing too that Hasbro omitted this point of articulation. The sculpt of Darth Plagueis is pure excellence aside from this misstep however. His features are thin and Hasbro has managed to squeeze in ball-jointed articulation into the smallest of areas. He can attain many free-standing poses and he looks natural in almost all of them. Aside from an awkward lean, there is very little to complain about as far as his sculpt is concerned. His head sculpt is also excellent. It’s very thin and narrow, as this is a feature of the Muun species, and Darth Plagueis has a great amount of veins bulging in his cranium and his head has a beautiful wash to give it some additional texture and natural surface detail.

Darth Plagueis comes with a healthy does of accessories. Hasbro designed a removable breathing mask which is slightly difficult to situate on his face. You have to remove his portrait to attach it and fasten it from the base of his neck area. We suppose you could force it over the top of his head, but we fear it would tear and be forever ruined. Once you place the mask from the base of his portrait, you can pop it onto the base of the neck stem and then futz with it until it’s perfectly over his mouth. Also included is an interactive staff and lightsaber. You can use them independently, or you can plug the fully lit lightsaber into the top of the staff for an elongated lightsaber, or some other weapon for which we don’t know the real name. For added texture, Hasbro sculpted a separate vest accessory and it’s easily removed and placed back on the figure. It certainly adds some alternate ways of presenting this character into your Star Wars collection. Lastly, Darth Plagueis comes with a soft-goods cloak. It has a decent drape and a somewhat fitted hood. It works with you so that you can make it look like it was designed for Darth Plagueis and has some give to make it feel less oversized because it actually is. At some angles he looks really cool in it and then others you wonder what Hasbro was thinking. Why can’t they master soft-goods like they could in the vintage Kenner line? Darth Plagueis is absolutely a well-made figure and he should thrill lovers of the Expanded Universe. You may not “get” him, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Hasbro made a quality figure here. And that’s all that matters to us, honestly.