Gentle Giant Releasing 'Clone Wars' Inspired Darth Maul Figure
A fan favorite Star Wars character is finally getting some well-earned appreciation, with the announcement of a brand-new Darth Maul collectible statue. One which will be modelled on his appearance from Season 7 of The Clone Wars. Darth Maul is one of those rare characters from a franchise who has very little screen time but makes a lasting impression on the fanbase.
Introduced in the first of the prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace, Maul is revealed to be a Sith apprentice to the shadowy Darth Sidious. He is tasked with recapturing Queen Amidala of Naboo and killing her Jedi protectors. This eventually leads him to take on the Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn, along with his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi. Whilst Maul proves to be more than a match for the experienced Jinn, he is defeated by Kenobi, who slices him in half and watches each part fall down a huge shaft. Typical good guy beats bad guy scenario.
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The character has one line in the film and about 4 minutes worth of screen time (if he’s lucky), and is then killed at the end. However, surprisingly, the character became incredibly popular with fans and, with time, became citied as the best thing about Episode I. Any fan will agree, Duel of the Fates and his lightsaber ignition scene are two of the most iconic moments in the entire franchise. I still remember sitting in the cinema and seeing the second blade ignite for the first time and immediately wanting one.
Fans started to vent their opinions on how the character was mistreated and wasted. As his popularity grew though, they were finally rewarded when his character was brought back in the popular animated series, The Clone Wars. Again, just like his live action version, he is part of many iconic moments from the show. So it makes complete sense for popular statue making company, Gentle Giant Ltd, to release this statue, as it is likely to do very well in terms of sales due to the popularity of the character.
On the website, the description for it is given as follows:
“This 1/6 scale, approximately 12-inch statue depicts Darth Maul as he appears in Clone Wars Season 7, during his final battle with Ahsoka Tano. With his double-bladed lightsaber at the ready, the former Sith Lord and current ruler of Mandalore strikes a battle pose on a flame-scarred base.”
You can check out the pictures below:
It’s a beautiful piece, which would make an amazing addition to any fans collection, but it is also the first of two exclusive statues based on The Clone Wars. An Ahsoka Tano version is set to come next, but the release date is still to be confirmed.
The statue of Maul is available for pre-order now, at a price of $250. There are only 1,000 copies being made available, each coming with a “numbered certificate of authenticity”, so if you want one, you need to be quick. Anyone who places an order in October will also gain early pre-order access to the Ahsoka Tano piece. Credit for the design goes to Barry Bradfield, and sculpting credit goes to Pereira Ezcurra.
Maul deserves his own statue as he probably has one of the most compelling storylines of any character from the franchise. Thanks to the love of fans, he received a second chance and became such a major part of the overall story, and even received a truly poetic ending, in which he is finally struck down by his hated nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and dies in his arms.
Do you agree he deserves this acknowledgement? Will you be ordering one too? Be sure to let us know.
Until next time!
READ MORE: The 10 Best Quotes From 'The Phantom Menace'
Source(s): CBR