Hasbro just released Luke’s Landspeeder and Rey’s Speeder last week and now it looks like Bandai wants in on the 1/12 Star Wars vehicles game, soliciting Darth Maul’s Bloodfin Speeder from The Phantom Menace. It looks great but there may be some issues.
Not major issues, mind you, but as I drooled over the pictures a few things jumped out at me. But first, the meat and potatoes.
The speeder doesn’t come with Darth Maul, which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your point of view. More on that below. But the details are amazing and the paint is surprisingly interesting.
It does include a stand for the vehicle. Nothing fancy here, just a disk with a stick, pegging into the bottom.
The fancy stand is reserved for the included Probe Droid. It’s clear and has several points of articulation. THe droid itself looks great with it’s alternating matte and gloss blacks.
Finally, the set provides the necessary parts to allow the S.H. Figuarts Darth Maul to ride the speeder. Two grip hands made for the handlebars and a lower tunic piece that looks like it’s flowing in the wind.
The Bloodfin goes up for pre-order September 8th with an April 2018 release date. It’s listed for about $50. But it’s a Bandai Web Shop exclusive so you’ll have to go to the third party sites like Nippon-Yasan and mykombini.
NOW….my issues. Which are actually nitpicks, but whatever. I’m banging away at this keyboard, might as well ramble a bit.
The stand seems a bit tall, holding the speeder too high off the ground. I know it floats and can hover at any height it wants (in the real world) (in the real made-up world of Star Wars) but it just seems up there. And I feel like the stands should be switched, giving the speeder more mobility while making the Probe Droid the focus instead of the bulky clear stand. As is it looks like a ball caught in a water spout. A thin black stand would make it more sleek.
Then there is this…
That’s what I think of when I think of the Bloodfin. Barely off the ground. But more than that, look at where Maul is positioned. He’s essentially looking at the front of the vehicle, with the back panels coming up to about the base of the skull. Now scroll back up to the previous Bandai pic and see where the Figuarts Maul is sitting.
But there may be an explanation for that.
Maul’s ass doesn’t seem to be touching the seat, and he’s definitely not leaning into the backrest. It may be hasty posing or it may be that alternate tunic piece keeping him from sitting properly. Either way, this probably won’t be an issue when it finally reaches our grubby hands.
Keeping with the reference pics, you’ll also notice that while riding the speeder Maul is in his heavy robes. Why oh why couldn’t we get that instead of the tunic piece? I understand that the hanging pieces need to be changed to allow for sitting, but I think I would have preferred a cloth robe to cover and flow.
But I’ll probably have to rely on eBay for that.
Finally, Darth Maul himself.
It’s been a while since the figure was released, at a time when collectors weren’t as hot and heavy for the Figuarts line. He’s become a bit of a grail, expensive on the secondary market. But wait, Bandai announced a second run for this past Force Friday!
And it sold out pretty damn fast.
They kind of slipped the re-release announcement into the solicitation of eight new The Last Jedi figures, and included just a blurb that the Bloodfin would be sorted out later. So just a week later it is a Soul Web exclusive and the sales for Maul have come and gone. Just a weird tactic overall. Why not also offer a set of Bloodfin with Maul along with just the Bloodfin alone, after the individual Maul reissue? Then everyone is happy. Maybe there will be a Bluefin Bloodfin?
Saying all of that, I’ve already pre-ordered mine. Hey, hey, I can voice my issues while still being happy enough to grab it anyway.