Darth Maul - POTJ - Mega Action

The Power of the Force is in your hands with Star Wars: Episode I Mega Action Figures! Each figure features battle actions straight from the movie... and YOU control them! Let the battle begin!

Darth Maul is a fearsome warrior expertly trained in many forms of lethal hand-to-hand combat. Using his weapon on choice – a menacing double-bladed lightsaber – Darth Maul blocks and slashes with incredible finesse. Now with Mega Action Darth Maul, you can recreate the same awesome combat movement – just like the movie!

Retail was so terribly inundated with Episode I products throughout 1999 and 2000 that many additional things planned had to get canceled because there just wasn’t enough time and space to get it all out. With the advent of the Power Of The Jedi line however, Hasbro was able to revisit quite a few of these canceled items in the new line look. In 1999, would you believe Hasbro began working on their first very new scale of action figure since the 12” line? Originally called “Jedi Power Figures”, this up-scaled line would contain premium features like high-end soft-goods when required, dynamic sculpts and enhanced articulation. Although many of the figures in the 3.75” lie up were coming with significantly improved features and added articulation as well, the newly revamped 6” line, now under the banner Mega Action, hoped to be the “new thing” in Star Wars collecting. Sadly, it flopped right out of the gate. With a very admirable price point of under $10, these enlarged Star Wars action figures just didn’t resonate with collectors because of the wonky action features added to them. Spring-loaded arms? A ring on Obi-Wan’s back? Come on now.

What is so bittersweet about the Mega Action Star Wars line is that the deco on the figures is almost earth-shattering. These figures look fantastic. Aside from the weird “play features” these are some of the nicest sculpts Hasbro has produced. You almost wish it would translate as equally well into the 3.75” lines. Darth Maul’s tattoos have never looked better, and the premium soft-goods skirt has a beautiful drape and texture. Again, it really makes you pine for the same treatment in 3.75” scale. As far as enhanced articulation is concerned, that sentiment is arguable. Sure, Hasbro has added a few extra points to the Mega Action Darth Maul, but we don’t think it’s anything too noteworthy. They’ve added a swivel bicep and then immediately following that is a hinge-jointed elbow. It functions very much like a faux ball-jointed elbow, but ultimately doesn’t give you the complete range of motion you’d want to see in the ultimate Sith Lord. Darth Maul is able to hold the lightsaber in more than just a few configurations however. And this is all thanks to this new articulation system. The legs just come with swivel hips, so you sadly cannot recreate any aggressive type poses thanks to this limitation.

The packaging boasts that Darth Maul comes with “lightsaber attack” moves. And from a certain point of view he does. If you squeeze his legs together he performs “acrobatic battle action” (per the box) but all this means is that he lifts his arms (and lightsaber) upwards and downwards. We think that too much emphasis on the word “action” has been placed on this line. These are really just glorified action figures with just some enhanced features. And we don’t believe that too many collectors will be wowed by them. Hasbro would have been better off to get rid of all the gimmicks in this line and instead use the extra features to devote towards making a better collector-styled action figure. Obviously play value is a huge part why a vendor makes a toy, but when the action features look more silly than realistic, we have to question how wise this is. One thing is for sure. As a display piece, Darth Maul looks pretty darn good. He looks a little small in the upper body, but it’s not anything too terrible in our opinion. He holds his double-bladed lightsaber well. And if you’re so inclined, you can remove one of the blades for alternate display.