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Packaging - **1/2
The boxes follow the usual
current Star Wars package design. It's not collector friendly - you'll
have to destroy it to remove all the parts. It also has a TON of
difficult twisties to untie, so I suggest getting out the wire cutters.
It does allow you to reach the button to activate the voice, although
it's on the Try Me mode, which does only one line. There's also some
decent text on the character on the back of the box.
Sculpting - ***1/2
We've gotten a number of 12" versions of this character, but they tend
to have blank, dull stares. This expression works alright for certain
poses, but the only really good "I'm going to eat your heart"
expression we've gotten was with the very expensive Sideshow Premium
Format figure. Now, DST has gone that same route with their large scale
version. His
expression just isn't mean - it's feral. The teeth are exposed, the
nose is wrinkled, the lips are drawn back, the eyes are squinting - he
looks like a cornered animal ready to attack. Also like the
Sideshow PF, the tattoos are actually sculpted on his face, rather than
just painted. Purists might not appreciate this, since they were not
like that in the film, but it adds sharpness and clarity to the
markings, and even more danger to the expression. The bones look
good, but aren't quite as realistic as we've seen in some other Maul's.
The head size is excellent though, and is very appropriate to the tall
body. The hands and boots are a bit oversized though, giving him
a bit too much of the 'hasbro' look. Large hands also tends to
translate into large accessories, or that's what the ladies tell me.
That means his saber hilts and binoculars are a big bigger than is
correct for this scale. Maul's height is 19 inches tall at the tips of his horns, making him
about the same as the other figures in the series...and of course, too
tall if you're looking for movie accuracy. Maul was much shorter than
characters like Qui-Gon, and even Obi-Wan, but since the UQS line only
has the one body size, they'll all and up being equal.
Paint - ***
The paint work here is better than the usual mass market figure, but
not quite up to specialty market quality. The black tattoos are
fairly well cut, but the sculpted edges help make them look a bit
cleaner than they are. The eyes are fairly straight, but the white is a
bit sloppy in a couple spots. The best of the paint work is on the
teeth and gums, which rival some much more expensive figures in their
realism.
Articulation - **
Here's where I had all my issues, and this category is going to hold
back my Overall score. If you don't have the issues I did, you'll be
much more happy in general. I
had to actually get THREE of these figures, because the first two broke
right out of the package. The first one broke at the left wrist when I
tried to swap the hand. So I drive my butt back up to Toys R Us to grab
another. I didn't have that particular problem with the second
one, as the hands swapped easily. But this one snapped at the hip as I
was posing him. Now, you'll remember I snapped my Sideshow Indy
Prometheus body at the hip too, but that was largely my fault.
Not so this time, as I was simply moving the leg into position
when the post in the hip snapped like a brittle twig. *sigh* Back to
Toys R Us. The third time was either going to be the charm, or
the end of my relationship with this particular figure. Since you can
see there are a variety of photos (all taken of the third figure with
the exception of the packaged shot) in a variety of poses, nothing
broke (yet) on this third figure. However, it seems to me that
breakage is likely to be an issue across the line if I had this much
trouble. To top if off, the third figure had a floppy chest joint,
something that I hadn't experienced with the first two (or with the
earlier Indy). The joints that are here do work well. The ball
jointed neck gave me a decent potential for posing, and the ball
jointed shoulders and hips have a decent range of movement. The wrists
are peg and post too, so they can bend forward and back, which is very
useful for posing the force push left hand. I was able to get
this third figure to stand well in a variety of poses, but I did find
that the loose chest caused some trouble. I think a little paper
stuffed up in the front will go a long way to helping correct the
problem. The body is certainly lanky and long, and they have to
ensure that breakage isn't an ongoing problem. But I have to admit that
when the joints that are here hold up, the underlying body is very
poseable.
Accessories - ***
The figure comes with several accessories, all decent enough. I would
have liked one or two more, but considering the price point, I'm
pleased with what we got. There's
his double bladed saber of course. It comes with two caps on the ends
of the split sabers, but you can pop these off and use the included
connector to attach the two halves. Of the three figures I had, two fit
nice and tightly together, while the third was a bit too loose.
Unfortunately, the loose one was the third and final one I bought.
However, I bet a little plumbers tape would go a long way to fixing the
connection. The two halves of the saber are lit, and I would have
liked a full sized unlit hilt as well, for those 'at rest' poses.
That's a minor complaint, but it would have gone a long way to upping
this score. NOTE:
A reader writes in to tell me that, yes Virginia, the saber blades do
come out! So you can remove them and have an unlit saber. You might
imagine my reticence at pulling to hard on these, considering my past
experiences. Now if he just had some place to hang said unlit saber. He also comes with his special binoculars, which are
scaled well, and a second left hand. The packaged left hand is in
a force push pose, but the extra hand is designed to hold the
binoculars. It works well, although it suffers from the slight
oversized look that all the hands in this series have had so far. His
final accessory is a black display stand, scaled up for this large of a
figure. It works fine, although even with the slightly loose body, I
didn't really need it.
Outfit - ***
Maul's outfit consists of the layered under suit, with scarves and pleather/vinyl belt, and his outer robes. All
the clothing looks quite good, and is tailored nicely. Although he has
this gangly UQS body, it wasn't a visual issue because of the type of
clothing. The inner, wide belt is more of a vinyl material, while
the small straps across it are a pleather. The belt closes in back with
two small metal snaps. This belt is much better than some we've seen,
like Medicom's 12" version, but it lacks a key feature - the saber slot
on the right side. Then again, since there is no unlit saber hilt
included with the figure, you wouldn't have anything to hang there
anyway. The outer robe looks good, complete with many pleats and
long sleeves. It has a metal hook clasp in front, and they've take a
page from Sideshow's book by including a wire in the edge of the hood.
While you can pose the hood up, the expression on the face doesn't fit
that look quite as well. The wire also makes it possible to pose the
hood on his back very flat and well hidden. His boots, like
Indy's, are his sculpted feet. I'm assuming they can be removed, just
like Indy's, but after my breakage issues, I wasn't going to try. The
rubber and lower sections of the boot join smoothly, but there is that
ankle joint that allows the foot to move forward and back. The boot
sculpts are decent, but a bit large, much like the hands. I'm sure Ray
Park was more than happy to approve a figure with large hands and
feet... Sound Feature - ***
All of the UQS figures are supposed to include various sounds, and Maul is no different. As
I mentioned with Indy, the Try Me switch is on the left side of his
torso, in the area where you'd find your obliques. You can easily reach
it without undressing him, once you know where it is. Switch it into normal mode, and you'll get 4 sounds: - a light saber igniting sound - "Yes, my master." - "Tatooine is sparsely populated. If the trace was correct, I will find them quickly, master."
- "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last, we will have revenge." These are all very clear and loud, and the placement of the speaker at his waist makes it easy to hear from any angle. Fun Factor - ***1/2
These UQS figures are shaping up to be great toys, something a young
fan of the movies can really enjoy playing with. Of course, they
have to get out a couple Star Wars good guys for Maul to battle before
he can be a whole lot of fun, but pair this guy up in the hands of an
eight year old with a UQS Qui-Gon Jinn, and you'll have one Hell of a
good time.
Value - ***
Of course, this score depends on how much you paid for it. If you
bought it at Toys R Us for $80, you can take another half star off of
this score. On the other hand, if you picked it up for less than $60
(one of my sponsors has it for just $57!), you can add another half
star. But I'm assuming you paid between $65 and $70, which is a very
good value for a solid, true action figure that is a whopping 19" tall
AND has a well done sound feature.
Things
to Watch Out For -
If
my experiences are indicative, then you'll want to take some serious
care with the body. After breaking TWO in a row, you can
imagine that I handled the third like it was made of glass. In all
fairness, the third figure took a header off the table onto a concrete
floor twice while I was shooting (and I held my breath each time)
without any problems.
Overall - ***
I might have been originally surprised to
see this figure so heavily nominated by the Poppies Judges for Best 18"
Figure, but now that I have one in hand, I'm not surprised at all. The
head sculpt is quite good, and if you get one without joint issues,
you'll be very happy with him. I'd have added another half star to my
Overall had the body not caused me so much trouble. The
underlying body is going to be a big issue for DST with certain
characters. Let's face it, the photos we've seen of the Terminator do
nothing to sell me on him, and the Trek Kirk and Spock look pretty bad
too. But characters like Maul, with enough clothing to hide the long,
skinny torso, will do much better in this format. These figures
won't replace Premium Formats or other high end statues. They
aren't supposed to - they are toys. But Maul is an excellent toy, and
for collectors that can't afford or simply can't justify spending
several hundred dollars on the high end collectibles, these make an
excellent alternative. Well, at least Maul and Indy do - the jury is
still out on the other figures to be released. This figure isn't as
movie accurate as some of the high end collectibles either, but there's
no doubt who it's supposed to be. Assuming that breakage doesn't
become a widespread problem, I suspect this figure will be in my top
three 18" figures for 2008.
Score Recap:
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - **
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
I picked him up (three times!) at Toys R Us for $80. Online options
include:
- Urban Collector
has him for just $57!
- Things From Another World
has him at $64.
- Andrew's
Toyz has him at $65.
- Showpiece
Collectibles also has him at $65.
- CornerStoreComics
has him at $65.
- Entertainment
Earth has him at $68.
- Alter Ego Comics
has him for $72. |
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