Darth Revan - Mini Busts

Darth Revan is arguably one of the most important characters in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. A human of unknown origins, he was trained as a Padawan on Coruscant and at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. Contributing to the mass genocide of the Mandalorians and fighting under the guise of both Sith Lord and Jedi Knight, Darth Revan helped defeat the Sith Empire he had established. Revan is the first physically seen in the hugely successful Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game.

Fans of Knights Of The Old Republic should have had a lot more to be happier about with the release of the Darth Revan Mini Bust. A very long-awaited collectible from Gentle Giant Ltd.. to accompany the relatively flawless Darth Malak Mini Bust, the final product is good but just not great. Don’t misunderstand us. Darth Revan is very well detailed and for the most part extremely well-sculpted, but the Mini Bust falls short when it comes to its paint job. When you see references stills of Darth Revan, the red on his mask (and other parts on his costume) is very vibrant. But on the Mini Bust, the red is very "grayed out" (or dull) and barely visible. This is a shame because it greatly affects his overall presence and the personality in his “face” is greatly hampered. We are also slightly bothered by the way his cape falls at his forehead. There is an oddly sculpted “dimple” or “brim” that hangs a little low and just affects the overall look of Darth Revan in not-so-flattering ways and also dims the "character" in this character. So right now the best Darth Revan toy or collectible may just be 2007's TAC Darth Revan (No. 34) figure.

It would be egregious to overlook the brilliant sculpting of this Mini Bust however. Darth Revan looks fantastic in that light. He is slightly hunched forward and has two crisscrossing lightsabers brandished. (Well, brandished should you choose to pose him with the blades of course. Like all of their Mini Busts, Gentle Giant offers the flexibility of removable lightsaber blades. This is always a plus!) In a unique move, Gentle Giant Ltd.. has included a set of red lightsaber blades and a set of purple lightsaber blades. Interestingly, they are packaged wrapped in tissue paper as a set of one red and one purple instead of a homogenous pairing. We’ve tried posing the Mini Bust with solid colors but admittedly Darth Revan looks significantly better with the alternating colors instead. It's just more appealing with mixed colors. Of course, you may have a different opinion on this altogether (and that's fine too). Darth Revan’s pose is rather calm for a Sith Lord, but he is evidently ready to duel any Jedi that enters his path. So while Darth Revan lacks a brilliant paint job, it’s still a good [great] bust with some incredible details. Despite a rather muddled look, Darth Revan does deliver to the collector a very good item for his or her collection.

So, you know how we feel about the overall look of the Darth Revan Mini Bust. It's an aesthetically pleasing Mini Bust and aside from some poor deco choices, the piece should really satisfy some of the hunger KOTOR fans have. We have to admit that we're surprised by the lack of product based on the Knights Of The Old Republic. So in that light, collectibles seem extra special since they're relatively uncommon. It certainly doesn’t fail as a Mini Bust. It just leaves an unfinished taste in your mouth. We really wish more could have been done to the paint job to make it stand out better. Darth Revan has some strikingly colorful characteristics, but the Mini Bust is overall too dark as you can see in our gallery. (Heck, even the box art shows a much more colorful Darth Revan.) This may not matter for some since the Mini Bust has incredible detail everywhere else. The front of Darth Revan is section after section of intricate craftsmanship. And believe it or not, the paint job is better on his body than on his face. Even simple things like his cape look great as is sculpted in black. Take for instance the chevron pattern on his shoulders. It really complements the rest of his outfit and things that can’t be captured on smaller scaled collectibles can be caught on this scale. Darth Revan is what we would call a good Mini Bust. He seems a little rushed, but we think he will still satisfy many Mini Bust collectors.