Darth Malak - TAC - Basic (30 35)

Four thousand years ago, during the height of the Old Republic, a young Jedi fell to the dark side while battling Mandalorians in uncharted space. Renaming himself Darth Malak, he returned to plague the Republic he once protected. Malak's steel jaw is the result of a vicious lightsaber wound inflicted by his former Sith Master, Darth Revan.

Darth Malak, another rogue Jedi Knight is probably the symbol of disobedience in the Star Wars expanded universe. Essentially a vagabond running from one system to another, he learned the hard way that you just can’t put your trust in a Sith Lord. Darth Revan, his former master, inflicted a terrible lightsaber wound tore off his jaw necessitating a steel one in its place. Just when we think that Hasbro is unable to make an action figure for the sheer fact that it is too violent for kids, we are surprised by what they make available in the action figure line ultimately. A crispy version of burned Anakin came out in the Revenge Of The Sith line in 2005 and now we Darth Malak with facial injuries that will make you queasy thinking about it, let alone looking at it. But the final action figure does indeed look very cool and Hasbro faithfully recreated this video game character with stupendous results. Darth Malak just like Darth Revan appears in Knights Of The Old Republic video game and became just as popular as Revan in a very short time. While we don’t get too many Star Wars characters from this extremely popular video game series, the ones Hasbro chooses to attempt come out better than expected and Darth Malak is a testament to this fact.

Darth Malak comes with 12 points of articulation and is certainly much more “movable” than his wave mate Darth Revan. But while he has decent articulation, a lot of it is inferior. For example, Malak has a swivel joint at the head and swivel joints in the elbows. Thankfully he has ball-jointed shoulders and knees which really help to pose him in a variety of ways despite his other limitations. The paint job is superb and we are particularly enthralled with how well Hasbro designed the details in his chest. The engraved lines on his upper chest have been painted in yellow and really make his outfit pop out. Hasbro could have easily left this the same color as the rest of the outfit, so we are showing gratitude here. While his face has caused a bit of controversy, we think it came out just fine. Many expressed that Malak had a “deer in headlights” look in his eyes. But if you saw the prototype of this figure, it was much more pronounced and dramatic. We think Hasbro corrected that error enough to our liking and the final production piece looks pretty cool. Just like Revan, Malak also comes with a lightsaber and lightsaber hilt. The options are yours.

His iron jaw is removable and what is housed under there will probably frighten small children. The nasty injury is absolutely disgusting and fans of horror will undoubtedly get their kicks out of this action figure. Again, this shows how effective Hasbro’s sculptors can be when they want to because Darth Malak is so excellently sculpted. Darth Malak also is an example of an action figure that may have been started too early and why we need to think twice before clamoring over an action figure we want to see made in the basic figure line. He certainly could have used super-articulated treatment like the Rebel Honor Guard (30 10) or the Death Star Trooper (30 13) in the same collection, but Hasbro may have begun work on his too soon as he doesn’t have all the ultimate articulation he deserves. If or when Hasbro revisits this character maybe they can include some enhancements, but it is unlikely that we will see this character reinvented at this point. But we will also definitely never say “never” either. But for where Malak may lack, he makes up for it in other areas. And you really need to have a critical eye to appreciate where Hasbro put in the extra effort (like the red line running at the top of his silver belt for example). There is a lot to be thankful for here. We recommend trying to find ways to appreciate it because Darth Malak is pretty darn good action figure.