Darth Maul/Owen Lars - SW [SOTDS] - Comic Packs (Exclusive)

Owen Lars fights Darth Maul to protect the life of his young nephew, Luke Skywalker. The Sith apprentice has returned from the dead to hunt down Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi who destroyed his life. Owen's quiet moisture farm on Tatooine becomes the scene of a deadly battle between the forces of good and evil.

The Comic Packs line has unfortunately bit the dust much to the chagrin of collectors. It really was the only platform left where Hasbro could devote character from the varied Expanded Universe into one line. It had a good run, but the train came to a sudden halt in the Legacy Collection (thanks to egregious repacking of very old sets) and the line was put on hiatus. But there were multiple sets that didn’t get released before this sad Hasbro announcement and we wondered if we were ever going to have the chance to add the remaining ones to our collections. Hasbro gave us relief from this angst and all the packs will find homes in one exclusive fashion or another. The first one to see release is the Visionaries themed pack including Darth Maul and Owen Lars. This Comic Packs set is awesome for sure, but isn’t it such a shame when we get an update on an Original Trilogy figure but yet adorned in EU attire that totally outdates the movie-based version? Such is the case for Owen Lars in this Comic Packs set. It was a 2010 San Diego Comic Con exclusive from Hasbro that brings two new awesome characters into action figure form. And we are thrilled to have them, but we just wish that Hasbro could also update the movie characters with this excellence. Don’t get us wrong, this set is spectacular, but it really makes us wish even more for an accurately sculpted and super-articulated version of Owen Lars from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. That’s all we really want Hasbro. Please?

Hasbro attempted to imitate the look of Owen more closely to how he appeared in Episode II and Episode III even though he is meant to appear somewhere in the middle for this release. This cleverly aged look to his appearance has translated well into the action figure and Owen immediately becomes one of our most favorite Comic Packs action figures in quite some time. Hopefully an Episode IV version of him is not too far outside Hasbro’s parking lot. The 2009 TLC Owen Lars (BD46) figure was extremely impressive and Hasbro further extrapolated and included a few extra bells and whistles for this release. Owen definitely looks aged from the 2009 action figure, but he is still a bit of a ways off to being as “old looking” as the actor in Episode IV, so a little more tweaking will be required to get things just right. The shape of the face is certainly closer to the Episode IV actor, but the body is much too lean and young to believe that this is a senior version of our favorite space uncle. But while we point out these details it isn’t our intention to criticize this action figure. It is certainly a pretty remarkable figure that should satisfy you if you’re looking for an update to the Owen Lars figure from 1998's POTF2 Purchase Of The Droids Cinema Scenes action figure. He comes prepared with 12 points of articulation and this is more than enough for a character of this nature. His soft-goods robe clearly borrow the design of the 2009 TLC Owen Lars (BD46) figure, but it has been woven in a new material and comes without the textured stitched knots. His weapon looks more like a grease gun (or some derivation of Zuckuss’ rifle) but is looks cool nonetheless. And while you may be surprised, Owen definitely rivals for our attention as the better figure in this set.

But Darth Maul is nothing to sneer at either. Loaded with articulation, he is an excellent interpretation of the cyborg version of Maul we all saw in the Visionaries comics. Relentlessly tracking down Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, it seems as if Maul has more revenge and settling the score on his mind than following Darth Sidious’ direction. He is extremely articulation and stands very well, but the paint job is unfortunately lacking quite a bit. The black tattoos on his body are very faint while the horns on his head are expertly sculpted but it seems as if some detail in the face was sacrificed (and not really made up for elsewhere). The lightsaber looks fantastic and he can wield it in his hand pretty well. His Grievous’ like clawed feet look extremely cool and his legs can contort on many planes to recapture the action seen in the storyline. But most importantly, it is very nice to receive a new version of Darth Maul in the sea of all previous versions that see release upon release, year after year. This all-new figure is an exciting taste of what Sideshow Collectibles is offering in their Premium Format figure lineup. Darth Maul is undoubtedly one of the most favorite characters from the Star Wars universe and collectibles that include him or new takes on him will remain popular. This Comic Packs set sports the new “Shadow Of The Dark Side” line look and it is housed in a beautiful slipcase. Has Hasbro created such amazing sets like this for general release, we bet the line would have sustained much longer. But hopefully sets like this will reinvigorate interest because this is one awesome set and long overdue.