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Darth Maul

June 9, 2012 | By Errex More

It’s been a while since I got a Darth Maul action figure, the last being the shirtless version from the Legacy Collection
based on Expanded Universe material, which is fine, don’t get me wrong, but what I really wanted was a more canon update on the character.

Lucky for me, with the 2012 release of Episode I in 3D format, we get the first ever Darth Maul figure made by Hasbro for the Star Wars Vintage Collection.

This Darth Maul (VC86) is an entirely new sculpture and Hasbro really went the proverbial extra mile with the detailing. The costume is sculpted full with textures and also incorporates a couple of layered real-fabric skirts to simulate the edges of the upper tunics.

Maul’s head is completely new and this time the Sith Lord was given a facial expression of quiet menace instead of the usual stark raving mad grimace used on previous releases.

The horns on his head still came out sculpted a little thick, but they do look much less stubby than they did for previous incarnations of this character.

Articulation on Darth Maul is quite extensive, consisting of:

• Ball jointed neck.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Pegged hinge elbows.

• Swivel forearm cuts.

• Floating torso.

• Swivel waist.

• Pegged hinge hips.

• Pegged hinge knees.

• Pegged hinge ankles.

All of these joints work flawlessly and some of them, like the neck, torso and waist have enough slack to achieve subtly nuanced poses. The lateral hip extension range is, of necessity, limited by the fabric skirts, but the material seems durable enough to withstand a little tension without fraying or popping a seam.

The paintjob on the head is really impressive. The facial tattoos are neatly applied and the Vermillion paint used for the skin has great coverage. Additionally, this is the first time I ever see flawless eye paint application on a Darth Maul figure in this scale, complete with red/yellow irises and black pupils.

Maul’s costume is basically monochrome, but still there is a fairly distinct difference to be noted between the smooth costume elements like the gloves or boots, and the heavily-textured simulated cloth pieces, but I’d hesitate to say that Hasbro actually applied glossy paint on any of the leather-gear elements, as their gloss could be due to the natural shininess of the plastics used.

Darth Maul ships with a fair amount of accessories: a removable rubber hood, a black fabric robe, a deactivated lightsaber hilt, a 2-piece double bladed lightsaber and electrobinoculars.

The hood and the robe are meant to be used together, and with that in mind, the hood was sculpted with a coarser fabric texture to try and match the weave on the fabric piece. The robe itself is made from some sort of cotton-like fiber that looks way too “rustic” to pass off as the crazily-pleated cloak Maul wore on Tatooine, and I also feel it is way longer than it needed to be, but as a whole the look works.

Maul’s lightsaber comes in two pieces that connect to form a full-length double-bladed lightsaber or be used as separate simple ones. The deactivated hilt is a single piece and it has a peg to attach it to the figure’s belt piece.

The electrobinoculars are a reissue of the same accessory that came in the Sith Evolutions set and other Darth Maul releases, that I’m guessing use a mold that dates as far back as 1999, but it’s still a nice piece.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this Darth Maul release. The fabric robe could be improved upon, certainly, but even taking that into account this is truly an exceptional action figure.