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Darth Plagueis

October 10, 2015 | By Errex More

Sith Lords are a curious thing to collect. In the movies there never were a lot of them, even though the Expanded Universe got quite a number of them in various media, like comics, books and videogames, but after Disney acquired Lucasfilm, a lot of them were excised from canon.

Darth Plagueis is one of the few remaining dark lords in the Star Wars mythos, and he had an action figure release in the 1/18 scale segment of the Star Wars Black Series. Plagueis was mentioned only briefly during Revenge of the Sith, but later on, a novel expanded upon details like his species and other physical traits.

Right off the gate, Darth Plagueis is a Muun, the tall, gaunt alien species mostly identified with the Banking Clan. Hasbro had made at least one other Muun action figure since Attack of the Clones, but Plagueis here uses none of those older molds.

Plagueis is noticeably taller than the regular humanoid figures in the 3.75-inch line and much thinner. Underneath the fabric robe the sculpture is very detailed and reveals a removable piece of chest armor.

Plagueis’ face is gaunt and thin, with a haughty, stern expression that comes across effectively even with the re-breather mask in place, covering the lower half of his face.

Even though Darth Plagueis is among the thinnest Star Wars characters ever made into plastic, he did get a very extensive amount of articulation in the form of:

• Ball jointed neck.

• Pin & disk shoulders.

• Pin & disk elbows.

• Swivel wrists.

• Swivel hips.

• Pin & disk knees.

• Pin & disk ankles.

Each one of these points of articulation is perfectly integrated into the sculpture, and even though the figure lacks waist articulation or rocker feet, this Sith Lord is quite capable of engaging in dynamic action poses.

The paint job on Darth Plagueis is also quite impressive in its simplicity. Most of the figure was molded out of a very dark brown plastic, with a few black panels painted on and outlined with pale golden lines. The greaves and other elements of his armor are painted in a graphite-looking hue, keeping with the somber color scheme.

The head was molded in a grayish brown material over which a shading wash was applied. The wash enhances the sculpted facial features and frames nicely the red eyes.

Darth Plagueis comes with a bunch of interesting accessories: a fabric cloak, an armored vest, a removable mask, a long black staff and a red-bladed lightsaber.

The cloak is well tailored to the figure, although the hood is somewhat difficult to array in a natural looking fashion. Both the vest and the mask fit the figure perfectly, but the really interesting bits are the staff and the lightsaber, which can be connected to produce something akin to a light-spear.

In conclusion, Darth Plagueis is one of the most satisfying figures I have picked up in an appallingly long time. The only reason I am not giving this figure a perfect 100/100 score is because of the horrible Black Series packaging it came within.