My Full Maul TPM FX Lightsaber Review

[Vosk]

Hi all,

Well I'm sure you've seen by now that I'm a newbie.  I'm proud to say that I've offically re-joined the Force FX Lightsaber ranks.  I had the Anakin AOTC FX Lightsaber, but took that apart and during deconstruction I ruined it on accident. :(  Anyways, on September 1st, I bought my first two Force FX Lightsabers, one through ebay and one from an MR dealer whom I know pretty well.  Anyways, today was the exciting day and I finally got my Maul FX Lightsaber (which is the one I bought from ebay) and here is my short little review for it.  I'll skip the pictures since we've all seen what this looks like by now so I'll get right down to business. :)

The Box:
Well, what can I say about it?  Except that it definitely is a lot bigger than your standard FX Lightsaber box.  It was a tad heavy carrying it on one shoulder too but I dealt with it.  Opening the box it was pretty nice to see how nicely packaged this Lightsaber was.  Definitely a lot better than how the Anakin AOTC FX Lightsaber was packaged.  I instantly tore into the packaging and removed the lightsaber.

The Hilt:
VERY nicely detailed hilt.  I am very surprised that Master Replicas was able to reproduce the detail on this hilt that matches it's Limited Edition counter part.  The saber definitely was not as big as I was expecting it to be.  I've seen the comparison pictures of this versus it's Limited Edition counter part and there really wasn't that much of a difference in thickness.  Over all I am pleased with this hilt.  All though I think for my FX Lightsaber I will be adding black paint inside the creves' to make it look more "authentic". ;)  Also I will agree with people that it twirling it as a single blade can be pretty heavy since all the weight is in the emitter section because of the blade.

The Coupler:
Definitely a nice way to bridge the two lightsabers together.  All though for me I messed mine up pretty well, so if anyone has a spare coupler that they'd be willing to give away for free then hey I'd be willing to take it from you. ;)  I noticed too how heavy the coupler was and I found it pretty nice that the Lightsaber came with an alan wrench for the coupler.

The Blade:
Upon removing the Lightsaber from the pacakage I intantly put the batteries in and fired this bad boy up.  I was very amazed on how bright the Lightsaber glowed, all though it was red but to me it some what seemed like a hint of orange too but that didn't bother me.  I really love how it slowly activates and deactives just like in the movie.  There is quite a bit of blotchyness in both of my blades, probably due to the fact that I am using Energizer Max batteries.  I need to get me some Energizer E2 Lithiums when I get paid in October and I'm sure that will take care of the blotchyness. 

I also took this Lightsaber into my bathroom, shut the door, turned off the lights and fired her up.  I was definitely surprised that it completely light up the room with just one and with both light it made it even brighter.  I am very pleased with this blade in terms of color and brightness.

The Sound:
Hmm, a bit of a disappointment.  I had read on here that the sounds for the Maul FX Lightsaber were recyled from the Vader ESB hilt.  I was also even more disappointed that there was only one saber clash sound.  I will admit I thought the motion sounds when you swung the saber were pretty nice.  I belive there is 3 swinging sounds, I could be wrong but I don't remember what others have said. 

The Score Rating:
For the score rating, I give this a 9/10.  The reason why it doesn't get a full 10 is because of the recyled Vader ESB sounds.  I was really hoping it would have the true Darth Maul sounds that we heard in the movie, oh well.  Over all I am VERY pleased and happy with this hilt. 

My Anakin ROTS FX Lightsaber will be here on Monday and I'll post a seperate review of that Lightsaber then when I've had a chance to play with it.

By the way if anyone was wondering I'm 25. :-p

Pictures:

Both Sabers


Both Sabers Again


Damaged Coupler


Light In Normal Lighting


Light In Low Lighting


Light In Complete Darkness


In Complete Darkness With Flash On


The saber joined together

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/BigT1981/Darth%20Maul%20FX%20Lightsaber/FullMaul01.jpg

The saber joined together again different angel

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/BigT1981/Darth%20Maul%20FX%20Lightsaber/FullMaul02.jpg

One half of the saber

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/BigT1981/Darth%20Maul%20FX%20Lightsaber/MaulEnd02.jpg

The other half of the saber

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/BigT1981/Darth%20Maul%20FX%20Lightsaber/MaulEnd01.jpg

[Codova]

nice review, short and sweet. You just need some pics.

[Vosk]

Thanks. :)  Well I guess I can take some pictures of it.  I'll take some tomorrow though.  Don't really feel like taking any right now.

[Vosk]

I've added pictures to the first post now.

[Codova]

nice pics. How did you mess up your coupler like that?

[Vosk]

I took a pair of plyers (not the pointy nosed ones but the ones you can adjust) and basically had to hold that coupler in place while I unscrewed the saber halfs from it.

[Timmy-Wan Kenobi]

Nice review and pics, BigT1981.

Shame you messed the coupler up like that, it probably would have been better to poke a screwdriver through the holes to give you some thing to lever against. How did it get so tight, anyway, was it cross-threaded or did it just get really tight whilst spinning?

I kind of like the extra weight in the blade when using the Maul in single configuration, it feels like a short staff then, but I do find that the emitter details make your hands sore.

[The Negotiator]

Nice review....no probs with them?

[Vosk]

Nope, no problems with the sabers at all they work beautifully.  Well it does have the blochyness that a lot of people have posted in their reviews.  I just think it's my batteries though since I have the Energizer Max.  When I get paid in October I'll be getting some Energizer E2 Lithium batteries for both the Maul and Anakin (which will be here this afteroon) FX sabers.

[The Negotiator]

Do you mean that the anakin will get here this afternoon?

[Vosk]

D'oh!  :P

Yes, it will be here this afternoon...

I generally catch my typos before submitting a post but sometimes some sneak by like that one.  :-\

Edit: By the way I did managed to get a new coupler... a friend of mine is sending me his so all is good.

[Vosk]

Well I got the new coulper thanks to a friend of mine and I decided today to put the two halfs together.  WOW this sucker is LONG.  It definitely is an outdoor "toy" just as everyone who has one says it is.  I live in an apartment and I've got a tall roof for my bedroom but even then sometimes it hits the cealing.  Crap it's almost too tall to stand up on one of the blades against the wall...

Anyways I'll have pictures of it together later tonight.  Going to wait until it gets dark to take some good pictures.

[Vosk]

LOL I totally forgot that I was supposed to post pictures of the saber together...better late than never I suppose.  Anyways my first post has been updated with the pictures of the saber together.  If you click on the direct link the pictures are huge so just a warning for dial up users.

Anyhow I'm not sure if you can notice in the pictures but for some odd reason the half with out the covertect knob is A LOT shiner than the other half.  The half with the covertect knob is much duller looking...I wonder why that is.

[Kyp Durron]

IF...and that's a BIG IF, I were to ever get this, it would be the double version and I would remove one of the blades so I can mess with it in "Tattoonie"(sp?) configuration.  8)


-Joclad

[Vosk]

You were close... it's actually "Tatooine" hehe..

Edit: By the way if you ever get this saber you will not regret it trust me.  The full Maul saber is simply awesome.  It is an outdoor saber unless as myself and others have stated that you have tall cealings.