Darth Maul With Sith Infiltrator - EI - Trophy Assortment

Following orders from his Master Darth Sidious, Darth Maul easily tracks his Jedi prey by traveling in his Sith Infiltrator equipped with a stealth cloaking device.

My, what a small Sith Infiltrator you have Darth Maul! Constantly looking for ways to make Darth Maul, the main antagonist from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, it seemed the only way to do this properly was to develop sub-lines, instead of basic figures, to pique buyer interest. It sort of worked. A Trophy Assortment sub-line was created which paired a Hasbro action figure with a repainted Micro Machines vehicle and bam – your action figures came with their own toys to play with and display. For us, it was a very neat concept and we fell instantly in love with this short-lived line. In fact, the line was so short-lived that it only contains one release: the KB Toys exclusive Darth Maul With Sith Infiltrator set. Retailing for an alarming $12.99, KB Toys charged kids and collectors the six dollar difference for essentially a two dollar Micro Machines vehicle. Was it a value? Not really, but seeing the figure stand next to a miniature of his vehicle looked better than it sounded and many collectors found charm in this toy line. Sadly it ended as quickly as it began. A set with Obi-Wan Kenobi and OOM-9 were planned but ultimately never materialized. Prototypes exist (as evidenced by photos) but they are nearly impossible to find.

Meant to recreate the scene where Darth Maul dispatched Sith probe droids out into the Tatooine desert while looking through his macrobinoculars (or scanners – whatever you prefer), Darth Maul is able to hold the included accessory at eye level thanks to swivel elbows. But the figure isn’t loaded with articulation. He comes with a swivel head, swivel shoulders, the swivel elbows just mentioned, a swivel waist and swivel hips. Clearly, Darth Maul doesn’t come with a wealth of articulation, but the swivel elbows are all he really needs to be effective for this particular release. For us, we feel that Darth Maul has an excellent sculpt. Although hooded figures tend to have muddily painted faces, this one is bright and clear and looks pretty darn nice. Some will undoubtedly feel however that the paint operations could be better. We’ll agree to disagree with that sentiment. It’s hard to paint these types of figures well, so for us Hasbro did a great job. Besides, this figure is mostly black and doesn’t require a full palette of color. We feel Hasbro did an admirable job here altogether. Hasbro even remembered to include the silver droid caller on his left arm. There is a great deal to appreciate here.

The flowing robes are split at the sides and underneath of them is obviously a fully sculpted figure. But because he has been given molded robes, it totally inhibits the movement of Darth Maul. But that’s really no surprise here. This figure is meant to be displayed on a shelf and not played with where a lot of action is required. In an interesting move, Hasbro opted to sculpt his lightsaber hilt to his robe. This is kind of an age-old way of doing things. We’re quite surprised that Hasbro took this approach. Would it have been all that difficult or costly to include a separate accessory that he could have held? Or did Hasbro just focus on screen accuracy for this exact scene perhaps? Again, Darth Maul With Sith Infiltrator is a toy that's intended to be admired from “afar” on a shelf somewhere. it’s not necessarily a plaything. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t a roaring success for KB Toys. For us, we would have loved to see the other figures in this line get released. Something about the concept resonates with us. Also, because we don’t collect Micro Machines, it would have been nice to add a few of them into our collections via the Trophy Assortment. Whatever your take on this, we’re happy that Hasbro at least gave this a stab, even if only one figure ended up getting released from it.