'Star Wars' Action Figure Review: Hasbro 'Star Wars Power of the Jedi: Darth Maul (Final Duel)'
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| (C) 2002 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) |
Pros: Nice detailing, good sculpt, and packaging
lends itself for collecting
Cons: May be too scene-specific; available
mostly online.
Character Background: Just as Darth Vader's
Nazi-like helmet, skull-like breath mask and black armor-and-cape outfit indelibly
branded him as the face of the Galactic Empire's evil in the Classic Star
Wars Trilogy, Darth Maul, the seven-horned, red-and-black tattooes
Iridonian Zabrak apprentice to future Emperor Palpatine's Sith alter ego Darth
Sidious, was supposed to be the incarnation of Hate itself in Star Wars
- Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
If one watches the Prequel Trilogy carefully just for thematic purposes, it becomes evident that Maul personifies one of the three aspects of Anakin Skywalker's transformation from earnest but troubled Jedi Knight to Sith Lord: anger and hate. (Count Dooku, of course, represents Anakin's ambition and the fact that a Jedi can turn to the Dark Side; Grievous foreshadows Vader's fate to be a cyborg.)
Considering the amount of promotional face-time Maul received during the media blitz preceding the release of The Phantom Menace, many fans - including this writer - felt he got less screen time in the finished film. Nevertheless, his two lightsaber duels (one with Qui-Gon Jinn on Tatooine, the other with both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo) were memorable, all things considered.(Later, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels retconned Maul’s survival of his bisection and portrayed his consuming drive for revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi and a final showdown between the two on Tatooine.)
Darth Maul (Final Duel) - The Figure:
This mysterious and highly trained Sith warrior uses his physical and tactical abilities to further the goals of his Master, Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Maul's anger and hatred of the Jedi fuel his powers with the dark side of the Force. - From the Jedi Fact File in the product package
Released in 2000 in Hasbro's all-encompassing Power of the Jedi line's first batch of figures, this action figure is a very scene-specific depiction of the infamous Sith Lord as he appears in his final, and fatal, confrontation with a young Jedi apprentice named Obi-Wan Kenobi.
In fact, the figure is very, very scene-specific, since it is based on the character's - literal - undoing by Obi-Wan.
Take, for instance, the figure's Break-Apart Battle Damage feature; Darth Maul, clad all in black, is designed to come apart at the waist, which is where Kenobi, taking advantage of the Sith Lord's unwise pause to gloat during their nearly one-sided duel in the Theed Power Generator on Naboo, uses his dying Master's lightsaber to cleave Maul in two. (This feature also appears in the 12-inch Maul figure that forms one half of Hasbro's Dark Lords of the Sith two-pack).
There are three other salient features that make Darth Maul (Final Duel) less of a generic figure: his lightsaber is now the cleaved-in-half version rather than the more wicked-looking double-bladed Sith weapon Maul favors, his arms are basically set in a "What just happened?" pose of surprise, and the Sith Lord's face is set in a painful "The Jedi got me" grimace.
Comments: Whereas Kenner Toys, the original license holder of Star Wars toys in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was usually content with very generic action figures when it introduced them, Hasbro has tended to take the opposite approach and releases figures of characters as they appear in very specific moments of the Star Wars films. For example, there weren't too many variants of Kenner's Darth Vader basic figure from 1978; the packaging might have changed as the company went from Star Wars to The Empire Strikes Back and from there to Return of the Jedi, but I don't remember any major tweaks to the figure itself.
In contrast, Hasbro seems to have created a veritable army of Vader variants, including (but not limited to) Darth Vader (Bespin Duel), Darth Vader (Dagobah), Darth Vader (Emperor's Wrath), and Darth Vader with Interrogation Droid. Each figure, of course, shares basic features (the flaring Nazi-styled helmet, the skull-like breath mask, and so on) with the others, but also has different detailing that helps keep it apart from its "siblings."
The same concept is carried on to Darth Maul in the Final Duel action figure, which enhances its collector's item status for teens and adults but perversely limits its versatiility as a toy for kids.
See, for display purposes as a collectible, Darth Maul is perfectly suited; whether kept in its package (as I have it) or posed on a generic figure stand (not included with the figure), the Sith Lord is forever frozen in time bearing that "how did that sneaky Jedi cleave me in half?" grimace and his arms flailing as he splits in half and falls down that long generator pit inside the Theed Palace on Naboo.
For kids who want to play with Darth Maul, though, the figure's main asset as a collectible becomes too rigidly limiting, since most children often create their own pretend adventures set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," and though a dying Maul might be just fine for the climax of such an imaginary Sith vs. Jedi duel, the pose, weapon, and break-apart feature requires much suspension of disbelief or, more expensive for parents, a whole bevy of Episode I and Power of the Jedi action figures of the same character.
Weapons and Accessories:
Lightsaber
Break-Apart Battle Damage
Jedi Fact File Booklet
All in all, if one is looking for a figure with a good sculpt and authentic detailing, Darth Maul (Final Duel) is a good choice. The costume, which is a Star Wars riff on martial arts outfits with some Japanese influence evident, is nicely replicated, and Maul's demonic Iridonian Zabrak's features are well done, down to the seven horns and the trademark yellow pupils that identify him as a Sith Lord/dark side of the Force user.
The lightsaber, too, is nicely done, with a shorter handgrip than a similar one Maul grips in an Episode I variant known as Darth Maul (Tatooine) but with a nearly identical Sith blade made of translucent plastic that lets ambient light shine through to create a lightsaber effect.
As always, parents should be careful when shopping for this figure, which is still available online; like all Star Wars figures, this one has small parts that can be lost, broken, and/or pose choking hazards to children under the age of three.
If one watches the Prequel Trilogy carefully just for thematic purposes, it becomes evident that Maul personifies one of the three aspects of Anakin Skywalker's transformation from earnest but troubled Jedi Knight to Sith Lord: anger and hate. (Count Dooku, of course, represents Anakin's ambition and the fact that a Jedi can turn to the Dark Side; Grievous foreshadows Vader's fate to be a cyborg.)
Considering the amount of promotional face-time Maul received during the media blitz preceding the release of The Phantom Menace, many fans - including this writer - felt he got less screen time in the finished film. Nevertheless, his two lightsaber duels (one with Qui-Gon Jinn on Tatooine, the other with both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo) were memorable, all things considered.(Later, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels retconned Maul’s survival of his bisection and portrayed his consuming drive for revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi and a final showdown between the two on Tatooine.)
Darth Maul (Final Duel) - The Figure:
This mysterious and highly trained Sith warrior uses his physical and tactical abilities to further the goals of his Master, Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Maul's anger and hatred of the Jedi fuel his powers with the dark side of the Force. - From the Jedi Fact File in the product package
Released in 2000 in Hasbro's all-encompassing Power of the Jedi line's first batch of figures, this action figure is a very scene-specific depiction of the infamous Sith Lord as he appears in his final, and fatal, confrontation with a young Jedi apprentice named Obi-Wan Kenobi.
In fact, the figure is very, very scene-specific, since it is based on the character's - literal - undoing by Obi-Wan.
Take, for instance, the figure's Break-Apart Battle Damage feature; Darth Maul, clad all in black, is designed to come apart at the waist, which is where Kenobi, taking advantage of the Sith Lord's unwise pause to gloat during their nearly one-sided duel in the Theed Power Generator on Naboo, uses his dying Master's lightsaber to cleave Maul in two. (This feature also appears in the 12-inch Maul figure that forms one half of Hasbro's Dark Lords of the Sith two-pack).
There are three other salient features that make Darth Maul (Final Duel) less of a generic figure: his lightsaber is now the cleaved-in-half version rather than the more wicked-looking double-bladed Sith weapon Maul favors, his arms are basically set in a "What just happened?" pose of surprise, and the Sith Lord's face is set in a painful "The Jedi got me" grimace.
Comments: Whereas Kenner Toys, the original license holder of Star Wars toys in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was usually content with very generic action figures when it introduced them, Hasbro has tended to take the opposite approach and releases figures of characters as they appear in very specific moments of the Star Wars films. For example, there weren't too many variants of Kenner's Darth Vader basic figure from 1978; the packaging might have changed as the company went from Star Wars to The Empire Strikes Back and from there to Return of the Jedi, but I don't remember any major tweaks to the figure itself.
In contrast, Hasbro seems to have created a veritable army of Vader variants, including (but not limited to) Darth Vader (Bespin Duel), Darth Vader (Dagobah), Darth Vader (Emperor's Wrath), and Darth Vader with Interrogation Droid. Each figure, of course, shares basic features (the flaring Nazi-styled helmet, the skull-like breath mask, and so on) with the others, but also has different detailing that helps keep it apart from its "siblings."
The same concept is carried on to Darth Maul in the Final Duel action figure, which enhances its collector's item status for teens and adults but perversely limits its versatiility as a toy for kids.
See, for display purposes as a collectible, Darth Maul is perfectly suited; whether kept in its package (as I have it) or posed on a generic figure stand (not included with the figure), the Sith Lord is forever frozen in time bearing that "how did that sneaky Jedi cleave me in half?" grimace and his arms flailing as he splits in half and falls down that long generator pit inside the Theed Palace on Naboo.
For kids who want to play with Darth Maul, though, the figure's main asset as a collectible becomes too rigidly limiting, since most children often create their own pretend adventures set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," and though a dying Maul might be just fine for the climax of such an imaginary Sith vs. Jedi duel, the pose, weapon, and break-apart feature requires much suspension of disbelief or, more expensive for parents, a whole bevy of Episode I and Power of the Jedi action figures of the same character.
Weapons and Accessories:
Lightsaber
Break-Apart Battle Damage
Jedi Fact File Booklet
All in all, if one is looking for a figure with a good sculpt and authentic detailing, Darth Maul (Final Duel) is a good choice. The costume, which is a Star Wars riff on martial arts outfits with some Japanese influence evident, is nicely replicated, and Maul's demonic Iridonian Zabrak's features are well done, down to the seven horns and the trademark yellow pupils that identify him as a Sith Lord/dark side of the Force user.
The lightsaber, too, is nicely done, with a shorter handgrip than a similar one Maul grips in an Episode I variant known as Darth Maul (Tatooine) but with a nearly identical Sith blade made of translucent plastic that lets ambient light shine through to create a lightsaber effect.
As always, parents should be careful when shopping for this figure, which is still available online; like all Star Wars figures, this one has small parts that can be lost, broken, and/or pose choking hazards to children under the age of three.
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