Pre Vizsla (The Clone Wars) - Maquettes

Pre Vizsla was a defender of the Mandalorians' historic past as warriors that had once fought against the Jedi Order. Recognizing the Mandalorians' previous culture and what he believed they should be, Vizsla possessed a strong desire to return Mandalore and its people to that reality by leading the Death Watch in its campaign to take control of the Mandalorians' homeworld.

Fans of Mandalorians were overwhelmed with elation when they discovered how far season 2 of The Clone Wars would delve into their history and culture. Up to that time there were very few visuals that helped to talk about their story. Accounts of the Mandalorians were prevalent in novels, especially those written by Karen Traviss, but it wasn’t until The Clone Wars that we really got to see them in action, and how their roles were important in helping to shape the rich history of the Clone Wars saga. One main character was Pre Vizsla who was leader of the Death Watch faction concurrently with the Clone Wars. He encountered many famous names during his tenure with Death Watch, most notably Darth Maul. They shared a similar hatred for Obi-Wan Kenobi and eventually worked together briefly to do whatever they could to defeat him. That of course never panned out, but sometimes its cool when worlds collide in the Star Wars universe. Some coincidental encounters can sometimes be farfetched, but this particular story is interesting and believable, especially since Darth Maul lived for the second time as a half man with an only goal to kill Kenobi.

Pre Vizsla had some character flaws of his own. Eventually trusting the wrong people, he ended up becoming a victim of Darth Maul, someone he initially forged a collaboration with in the past. Hasbro introduced Star Wars collectors to the very first collectible of this character. They released 2010’s TCW Pre Vizsla (CW08) to an eager crowd. Super-articulated in every possible, the action figure was well done except for one glaring detail: the color scheme of the action figure was much too dark. Sadly, it gave collectors the wrong impression of how this character really looked in The Clone Wars. To be fair, Pre Vizsla did appear in many dark scenes which threw things off for interpretation purposes, but thankfully Gentle Giant Ltd. has taken the opportunity to set things straight with their animated Mauquette interpretation of this Mandalorian. As expected, Gentle Giant Ltd. has created an exact replica of the character seen in The Clones Wars. Pre Vizsla (The Clone Wars) comes without any interchangeability, but you probably won’t care because the Maquette is nearly flawless. And high-end collectors pine for flawless collectibles.

Pre Vizsla (The Clone Wars) has a gorgeous paint job. He is much more colorful than you might imagined. Hasbro is often guilty for altering the collective consciousness once they produce an action figure. We are often led to be believe that a character looks exactly the way their action figure does. Well, you’ll find just how off Hasbro was by studying the Maquette. Everything from the armor to the jumpsuit is lighter in general. And there are bright red details (and other colors) that help accent the costume too. Pre Vizsla comes helmeted, so there isn’t any way to display this piece showing the human portrait underneath sadly. If they did an interchangeable portrait with Clone Captain Rex (The Clone Wars) Maquette, it seems that they should have designed an interchangeable portrait for Pre Vizsla as well. Overall, Pre Vizsla (The Clone Wars) is a gorgeous Maquette and we very happy with the final product. Oh, and this piece completely blows away the total waster that is the Holographic Pre Vizsla (The Clone Wars) Maquette. That piece is a complete disaster.