Are two blades better than one? In some cases, yes. Sometimes, no. But overall yes. :)
Night after night. Dream after dream. I must say, I've never had so many dreams about a Force FX lightsaber as I did with the Darth Maul FFX. I'm not sure why... I was looking forward to it (who wasn't), but initially it wasn't something I was overly excited about. But for some reason, I was having these recurring dreams every few nights... the Darth Maul lightsaber, two blades long, five feet long (in the dream :D ), being spun around by me in front of my house on a dark night. As time went on, my excitement for the Darth Maul FFX only amplified. When I found out it could be reserved at Border's, I wasted no time in reserving a pair. April 4th was the release date. About a month's wait. In the days approaching April 4th, my anticipation accelerated. April 4th comes along, and no call from Borders. So I call them and am told that the Darth Maul lightsaber has been pushed back until April 11th. :( What a bummer! Another week goes by, and come April 10th, I get a phone call. I answer, and to my surprise, Borders had recieved their shipment of the Darth Maul Force FX one day ahead of schedule! ;D I raced over there and got me two lightsabers. I then zoomed home, opened up both sabers, and applied the batteries. The results? Stellar. ;D
The HiltThe Darth Maul FFX hilt feels to have a solid build. It also looks authentic. It doesn't get fingerprints, which is excellent. It's not heavy at all. When you pick it up, initially it feels quite heavy. But that's actually the blade. The blade is much heavier than the hilt. It's kind of like the plastic Anakin ROTS in that sense. Up close, the hilt has some very good and authentic detailing. I love the feel of this lightsaber. The ignition switch is unique in the sense that you must rotate it to turn the saber on and off. I like this, as it prevents the blade from accidentally shutting off. It's also just a neat little feature to have. The endcap of the lightsaber is designed to show the details within the battle damaged Darth Maul hilt. It looks almost exactly like that of the .45 scaled replica. I think it's kind of cool. Swinging around the Maul saber is a piece of cake. Since the blade is much heavier than the hilt the balance isn't exactly right, but the grip that the Maul provides makes up for it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/Maulhilt.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/SingleMaulCoupler.jpgThe BladeThe blade of the Darth Maul FFX is very sturdy. Is it really thicker than other FFX blades? It's hard to say. If you look at it up close, you can clearly see more space between the interior of the blade and the outer edges of the polycarbonate. It's cool, but I think because of that there's a bit less area to be lit up, so it doesn't look as wide when compared to other sabers. The blade may actually be the same width as previous models, but because of the wider gap between the outer blade and the electronics it appears to be thicker.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/SingleMaul.jpgFiring it UpWhen lit up, the blade glows a deep red color. It's not super dark, but it's clearly red. In a lit room it looks red and not pink like the Vader ESB. It does appear to be less bright, though. I'm not sure if it may appear that way because of the darker red color or not. I was a bit disappointed that there's a faint dark spot near the center as there was with the Anakin ROTS. But all in all, things look good. I think one of my Maul sabers may be a tiny bit darker than the other, but it's not very noticeable. The blade feels to be very securely placed into the hilt. There's no wobbliness of any kind. As for the sound, well, it's the Vader ESB sounds reincarnated. Not my (or anyone else's) ideal choice of course, but it works out fine. The sounds aren't exactly the same. They're clearer, and the tone is quite a bit deeper. When you connect the hilts the sound is slightly more muffled, but it gives off a really cool aggressive and menacing sound, just as it should. :)
Darth Maul saber in lowly lit room:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/Maullit.jpgDarth Maul saber in completely dark room:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/MaulDarkRoom.jpgDarth Vader ESB (left) & Darth Maul (right)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/Vadervs.jpgCreating the Double-Bladed LightsaberTo connect both hilts, you need the included coupler (pictured above). You must first remove the endcaps on both sabers and connect each hilt one at a time. This is a bit tricky when you're trying to connect the second saber. It's best to hold the second one to the top and on a flat surface, like a bed. The coupler is cool in that the bolt can be twisted with the included wrench in order to align both hilts evenly. Connecting both Mauls isn't like dust and crops. ;) It takes time and patience if you want to do it just right. But if you tighten the coupler and the hilts too tightly, they're very, very hard to take apart. At least mine are. In fact last night I spent so long trying to get the coupler apart from one of the hilts that my hands were hurting so much afterward. Haha.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/DoubleMaulhilt.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/DoubleMaulunlit.jpgOnce you fire up your double-bladed Darth Maul FFX, you have what may be holding the most awesome Force FX lightsaber to date. At 7 feet long, the double-edged Maul isn't exactly a walk in the park to handle. It bumps walls and chairs and anything else easily. Instead of watching that one blade doesn't bump anything (which sometimes is a task in itself), you have to watch two. But once you make it outside of the house and you have all the room you need, you're in for a real treat. The double Maul is surely a sight to behold. The blades burn brightly as the sound hums aggressively and you swing it around and twirl it. Just pure FFX awesomeness at its best. ;D I've been able to do some basic twirls above the head and to the sides, but since I'm only 5'3 and the Maul saber is over 7 feet long it isn't easy to do. I have found that wielding the Darth Maul saber has helped me in swinging around my single bladed FFXs. It makes them feel like a piece of cake to swoosh around. :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/DoubleMaullit.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Vickyrose85/FullMaullit.jpgFinAll in all, you can't lose with the MR Darth Maul Force FX lightsaber. You've got a detailed and accurate hilt, a sturdy blade... which lights up a nice red color, and cool sounds that work fine, even if they're not movie-accurate. You can use one saber, two if you want to pull an Asajj Ventress, or go all out with the double-bladed (my favorite way). ;) The Darth Maul lightsaber is quickly becoming my favorite FFX. With plenty of options, excellent accuracy, and lots of downright awesomeness, how could it not be?