1/12 S.H.Figuarts Darth Maul Action Figure review

"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we will have our revenge".

That's right it's the one time Jedi Master murderer and ol robot legs himself Darth Maul. Once again I'm looking at a great action figure from Bandai, released as part of their S.H.Figuarts series.

Enjoy the pictures and quick review.

Lets face it, Phantom Menace was a ropey film, not horrible and probably not as bad as a lot of people make out. I mean come on it's not as bad as Attack of the Clones right?

But one thing we can all agree on, Darth Maul was a bad ass villain and had a great look, he was arguably the best thing about the film.

Even before I saw the film back in 1999 I was sold on the character after I bought myself a special edition magazine that focused on the character and gave previews of the film. I also took myself down to Argos and bought a Darth Maul figure. I remember loving the hell out of it. It's ironic that years later Darth Maul would also be the first 1/6 figure that I bought that started my collection of 1/6 scale stuff.

Sculpt and outfit:  Considering how small this figure is at just over 5 inches his face sculpt is very well done. They really captured the face of Ray Park under the makeup. All his horns are sharp and precise, it's also a nice touch that he even has his earring sculpted. He comes with two face sculpts, one of which is kind of neutral face and the other is a sneering face. Both are as good as each other,  Body/clothing wise he is wearing his trademark set of black robes that have nice detailing and definition. His articulation is actually quite woven into the sculpt of his robes and it's pretty cool, the articulation doesn't stand out at all. I do feel it worth mentioning that with the bulk of the figure being jet black a little of the detail is wasted but the detail is there none the less. 

Lastly I feel it's a shame he didn't come with a material hooded outer robe, it could have opened the figure up to way more potential but from what I've seen Bandai are very shy when it comes to actual material on their figures, unlike the Mezco figures.

Paint: Face wise it's very well done. Remember this figure is small, his head is tiny so as the below picture shows, they really got his face tattoos right and the paint lines are very precise. The paint on his head looks better than some figures/models that are way bigger. His lightsaber also has a great metallic paint job, and all the buttons etc are painted as they should be. Beyond that though.... he's black with a hint of black. It's to be expected as that's what he looks like in the film but it does make a for a bit of a dull figure. Maybe they should have added some light grey for definition in certain parts of his body?

Articulation: This is the first figure I've bought from Bandai where his clothes are sculpted to look really baggy. It makes for an interesting set of articulation. In the main all his joints are to the usual Figuarts standard, ball jointed head, neck, shoulders, hips and ankles. He also has pivot elbows, waist, wrists and knees. It's his legs that interest me, due to his baggy trousers the knee joints are really exaggerated. You'd think he loses articulation but actually they've managed to sculpt the rear of his legs in a way where he can still do all sorts. 

I have to admit, I didn't get very creative with this figure when posing him up, only because his tiny hands where a nightmare to swap out with my big sausage fingers. I felt like I was handling a tiny bird that might break at any minute the entire time I was handling him haha.

Accessories: Bandai kind of dropped the ball this time I'm afraid. It's nice that he comes with 2 heads but that's pretty standard for them now. It's also nice that he comes with the second saber that's split in half but my problem with that is it's literally just the same saber but cleanly cut in half. Really they could have included a 'battle damaged' saber seeing as the point is that his saber gets cut in half at the end of the film. Beyond that you also get the detachable saber blades and 4 sets of hands. As I said earlier, it would have been nice if Bandai finally took the plunge and threw in a material robe. Additionally though they could have included a probe droid and or his binoculars too.

Coke can for scale!

Overall he's a good figure for the right price, I really wouldn't recommend him though  if you have to pay silly aftermarket prices on ebay etc, only because the figure doesn't come with much and I feel on his own he's kind of a dull figure. Then again if you're going to get the Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon figures that Bandai have released then I guess Darth Maul is a must buy.