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Licensed Products: eFX Collectibles, Master Replicas, Hasbro and more => MR Force FX Reviews => Darth Maul TPM Reviews => Topic started by: Master Tongren on April 14, 2006, 09:20:12 PM

Title: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 14, 2006, 09:20:12 PM
Just got mine from Borders and put it together today.  Borders only had the singles but they were selling 2 singles for the same price as a double.  Pretty cool.  So I get it home and immediately start the unpackaging process.  First box, cut through the seals and opened it up.  There was one half of the coolest sci-fi weapon begging me to get it out of there.  I took it out and the coupler and allen wrench.  I already knew about having to adjust the coupler to make sure both sabers line up.  No big deal at all.  I take out the battle damaged end cap with the crystal (very cool touch), added my triple a's and attached the coupler.  I then went to work on the second box.  Took off the crystal cap, added the batteries and attached it to the coupler.  First thing I noticed was it being 7 feet long was not a good idea to have it near a rotating ceiling fan.  Nothing happened, but you can imagine.   :)   

Then the moment of truth.  Turned both knobs and whooosh!!  They both fired up no problem.  The blade is definitely thicker that older gen sabers.  And the LED's are RED!!  Very nice blade work.  The handle rivals Mace's in my opinion in looks and sheer coolness.  A nice metal feel over the entire handle.  And when the coupler is added, gives it some nice weight to it too.  VERY cool handle.  Movement sensors and clash sensors seem to work nice and accurate with fast responses.  Power up and down seem timed perfectly to the lights.  I would only say 2 negatives on my review.  One are the power switches.  I'm 50-50 with these.  They are cool cause they're different from the other sabers, but at the same time you can't really pull of the one handed ignition of both blades like Maul did in the movie.  How cool would that be?  I don't have any suggestions on how they could have fixed that.  It just would have been cool to do.  Not a big flaw at all though.  The actual sound quality however is not exactly as full as I'd like it.  When fired up it does sound like it's coming from an am radio.  True the speakers are small and can only handle so much frequency, but listen to your other sabers Vader, Anakin, etc.  You'll know what I'm talking about. 

All in all those 2 negatives in no way out weigh the positives or coolness of this piece.  This is definitely one of my favorites.  I would give it a 9 1/2 out of 10 points all together.  Just for the fact that it's Darth Maul and it's FX are HUGE points in my book.  I say WAY TO GO MASTER REPLICAS!!  You knocked this one out of the park.  Now let's hope I feel the same way about the Obi-Wan I'm so looking forward to.

This was my first review and I hope I gave some insight and was somewhat helpful to some of you?  Just my 2 cents.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: cw on April 15, 2006, 09:04:39 AM
When you say one handed ignition of both blades, do you mean igniting each seperately with one hand
or igniting both ends with just one hand? The reason I say this is because Maul ignites the right side and
then places his other hand on the left side and then ignites it. It does look like the ignition switches should
have been the red buttons at the base of the hilt and not the top, though.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Timmy-Wan Kenobi on April 15, 2006, 09:19:37 AM
I agree. They wouldn't have been in the way so much either, for twirling and duelling.
But we can't have everything, I guess.
MR seem to have done an excellent job on the maul, IMO.
Despite complaints about the sound, I think that the upgrades in electronics, and the increased accuracy of the hilt and durability of the blade have raised the bar somewhat with regards to customer expectation.
MR now need to match this quality with future products.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: BIGGS DARKLIGHTER on April 15, 2006, 05:52:20 PM
I really like the changes MR has made as well. Although I'm still not sure if I like the power switches as they are...
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Darth Pantsless on April 15, 2006, 07:04:03 PM
When you say one handed ignition of both blades, do you mean igniting each seperately with one hand
or igniting both ends with just one hand? The reason I say this is because Maul ignites the right side and
then places his other hand on the left side and then ignites it. It does look like the ignition switches should
have been the red buttons at the base of the hilt and not the top, though.

I'm pretty sure he is just holding it in his left hand and they ignite one after the other. Maybe he used the force to do this. So if you want to do it, it's simple MT, just learn about the force
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 15, 2006, 09:51:24 PM
I think you're right Pantsless.  And I guess I'll just have to use the force as you say.   ;)   That was funny.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: cw on April 16, 2006, 06:46:00 PM
Watch the movie again. He uses two hands. The saber stays in place where he's holding it but he switches hands
to get the other hand on the left switch. (It's acually 2 sabers with a coupler so he has to use two buttons as well).
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 16, 2006, 09:24:30 PM
You're absolutely right.  Ironically I just watched it again today.  And I remembered this convo when that part came up.  Sure enough switches hands.  Good catch.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Dark Skywalker on April 17, 2006, 09:13:01 AM
Has anyone noticed that in the movies no one presses the buttons/switchs of their lightsabers to ignited them?
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Timmy-Wan Kenobi on April 17, 2006, 10:18:53 AM
You're right, I can't remember seeing any actual button pressing going on. 
I suppose it makes it a bit easier for the special fx guys if they can decide when the saber ignites, and when the saber powers up has an effect on the dynamics of the film.
Nevertheless, would have been nice to see a few close up, 'thumb on button' shots of sabers being powered up.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Dark Skywalker on April 17, 2006, 11:35:17 AM
Yeah I mean look at the close up in TPM when Obi uses tho force to get Qui-Gon's saber, you can totally tell he finger never came close to pressing the button ;) I just think it's funny
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: DarthRage on April 17, 2006, 11:53:46 AM
How come he couldn't have just used the force to push the button?  Mace's finger wasn't on the button when he turned it on against Sidious.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Dark Skywalker on April 17, 2006, 12:01:15 PM
I'm sure thats the case, I just thought it was funny
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 17, 2006, 08:07:12 PM
Although I seem to remember a scene in ROTJ when you can see Luke gesture turning his off while shaking his head saying never.  Remember?  He actually makes a motion that looks like he's turning it off by a button.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Dark Skywalker on April 17, 2006, 08:11:23 PM
Yeah a few times they do but others they don't
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 17, 2006, 08:14:03 PM
Oh I know.  I never thought about seeing the motion of turning it on or off till it was mentioned here.  Weird how you never pick up on subtle things like that.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: DarthRage on April 17, 2006, 08:27:42 PM
Just like you never saw Maul reach for his turn buttons when he did that one handed ignition on both sides before fighting Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: cw on April 17, 2006, 08:31:21 PM
I noticed that too. I guess you could use the force excuse (It's about the only way
to explain it). Seems Luke was just lazy in ROTJ. lol.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 17, 2006, 08:32:57 PM
Ha ha ain't it the truth.  Rage by the way, I "borrowed" your signature with the sabers you have in your collection.  I have the same ones but am not clever enough to make my own signature.  Have no clue how to do that.  So I snagged yours.  Hope you don't mind?  Thanks.   ;D
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: DarthRage on April 17, 2006, 08:46:07 PM
I noticed that and no I don't mind at all, I modified mine from taking somebody else's.  1 thing I wanted to tell you is to NOT save it as a JPG because it smudges.  Notice how mines easier to read... if you upload it through ImageShack under BMP format it changes it to PNG which looks more clear or you could just right-click and save mine as PNG format and reup it so if one of ours gets lost we can snatch the other one!
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 17, 2006, 10:05:33 PM
Rage,
Weird.  First time I saved it, I did do it as a BMP file.  But this time as you can see it's more clear now, I saved it as the PNG file per your recommendation.  MUCH better thanks.  I was wondering why mine was a little smudgey.  Thanks for the lesson.
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: DarthRage on April 17, 2006, 11:10:41 PM
I just learned that when I was editing it and mine looked just as bad when I saved it as JPG.  Ended up redoing it all.

I also added some of those to the image section of this site that hasn't been updated for a while until now.
http://www.fx-sabers.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=14

I edited a single Maul FX for your sig if anybody wants it.
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/maul_tpm.png)
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Master Tongren on April 19, 2006, 10:04:12 PM
Very cool.  And worked like a charm.  Thanks again Rage.   ;D
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: Darth Pantsless on April 22, 2006, 08:48:43 PM
How come he couldn't have just used the force to push the button?  Mace's finger wasn't on the button when he turned it on against Sidious.

Sidious's was, so was Anakin's when he pulled it on Sidious earlier
Title: Re: My 2 cents
Post by: DarthRage on April 23, 2006, 11:19:17 PM
Yeah, sometimes they do use their fingers... sometimes they don't.