Hot Toys - DX16 / DX17 - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

[Futurion]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

SS has no likeness to Park, so as HT. But at least HT reminds me cartoon version.

For me SS still has the better likeness to Park..
View attachment 418985

 

[matrix69]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

Depends on what moment you compare to, using that image, Sideshow has the better "neutral intensity" look, but HT's portrait reminds me of the moment when Maul's looking down at Obi-Wan just for Obi-Wan leaps up to kill him.

That's probably the look they were going for..but facial expressions aside i'm still not seeing a whole lot of Park in the sculpt..

 

[slikkerias]

Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

For me SS still has the better likeness to Park..
View attachment 418985

What I really love about the SS paint job is that little piece of flesh color showing under the eyes. Makes it so real. Hope HT will get that too. Judging from these two pictures I definitely prefer SS. But eventually I’ll have both and can use the sculpt that I find the best. Or display both, one hooded on the speeder and one ind fighting stance.

What about the incorrect sleeves? Wonder if they’ll get changed...

 

[dmon83]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

I am personally not looking for Ray Park. I am looking for Maul and this captures the character perfectly.

 

[matrix69]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

SS has no likeness to Park, so as HT. But at least HT reminds me cartoon version.

Disagree on SS having no likeness...it's an excellent sculpt...but i do agree on HT looking more cartoony...it's more Battlefront than TPM.

 

[DarthBakura]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

What I really love about the SS paint job is that little piece of flesh color showing under the eyes. Makes it so real. Hope HT will get that too. Judging from these two pictures I definitely prefer SS. But eventually I’ll have both and can use the sculpt that I find the best. Or display both, one hooded on the speeder and one ind fighting stance.

What about the incorrect sleeves? Wonder if they’ll get changed...

Don’t hold your breath.

I am personally not looking for Ray Park. I am looking for Maul and this captures the character perfectly.

What?

I mean, this is the TMP Maul, not the Expanded Universe iterations of the character. The intention IS to look like Ray Park.

 

[Dave_W]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

Depends if you're after capturing the essence of the character or the actor in costume.

 

[matrix69]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

What I really love about the SS paint job is that little piece of flesh color showing under the eyes. Makes it so real. Hope HT will get that too. Judging from these two pictures I definitely prefer SS. But eventually I’ll have both and can use the sculpt that I find the best. Or display both, one hooded on the speeder and one ind fighting stance.

What about the incorrect sleeves? Wonder if they’ll get changed...

Agree..while HT paint apps are always exceptional the eye work on SS is more realistic looking. I hope HT tweaks it but maybe that's the tread-off by having the pers..

 

[Gipetto0812]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

...

I understand Sideshow needing guides for paint, it's always been their weakness and I'm sure the factory would struggle otherwise, but, I really don't get the argument when they themselves produced pretty consistent Maul paint without them on their first figure.

I'm just dumbfounded that a company with paint to the levels of HT's quality is using hard sculpted lines like that, you give JC Hong a photo and say I want this tattoo pattern on him, he'll get it done and the factory seems very capable of matching his work.

I agree, I don't get it either : Like you, I would think someone like HT would be able to do it w/o the tattoos carved in for guidance. finger's crossed it was a rushed prototype and that's what they needed to do just to get it done in time for the Con

As for SS, I just remember the sculptor of the Legendary Scaled Figure saying they needed the tatts carved like that for painting when they made a bts video for that piece.

 

[matrix69]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

View attachment 418995

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

Not true. The tats change in almost every scene. Each figure is unique in that regard. The horn placement is also off at times. Since he wears a robe for half of his screen time, you can’t tell that one as much, except in a few instances.

This is one point of major personal preference. Maul's tattoos and horns were horribly inconsistent. There are a number of press photos and moments in the movie that match those, I've come to adopt that as what I feel is meant to be his official look and the others are just inconsistencies.

What I really love about the SS paint job is that little piece of flesh color showing under the eyes. Makes it so real. Hope HT will get that too. Judging from these two pictures I definitely prefer SS. But eventually I’ll have both and can use the sculpt that I find the best. Or display both, one hooded on the speeder and one ind fighting stance.

What about the incorrect sleeves? Wonder if they’ll get changed...

This is what boggles me, HT sculpted the head like a person in makeup and prosthetics, but a subtle feature like this seems lacking in the paint but would go a ways towards selling the head as Park in makeup and not an alien species, which is what the sculpt seems to be going for.

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

I agree, I don't get it either : Like you, I would think someone like HT would be able to do it w/o the tattoos carved in for guidance. finger's crossed it was a rushed prototype and that's what they needed to do just to get it done in time for the Con

As for SS, I just remember the sculptor of the Legendary Scaled Figure saying they needed the tatts carved like that for painting when they made a bts video for that piece.

I'm sure Sideshow uses it on their pricier pieces to ensure QA because their paintwork has always been challenged, but again, HT is better, and I'm not sure about rushed prototype, since JC Hong is posting photos, he usually posts when pieces are finished.

 

[DarthBakura]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

Depends if you're after capturing the essence of the character or the actor in costume.

That’s not what people say about the Ledger Joker figures. As a collector, I want more than the essence of the character. Unless it’s not a theatrical/live-action iteration of the character.

All of that said, they have most of the paintwork down pat. Sculpt needs a good deal of tweaking though.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

Jeez the last 14 pages are just Maulfans denial and justification for the SS figure. Let it go man!! As

The OCD runs strong with Maul fans.

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

That’s not what people say about the Ledger Joker figures. As a collector, I want more than the essence of the character. Unless it’s not a theatrical/live-action iteration of the character.

All of that said, they have most of the paintwork down pat. Sculpt needs a good deal of tweaking though.

There's definitely room for people to be happy enough with a character's essence and not an actor's likeness, but I'm with you, for as brief as it was, Park's performance is what defined and drew me into the character, the shots of him from the trailer and on the cover of Star Wars the magazine had me hooked before I ever saw the movie. I have the original Maul prequel comic series, have looked at many fan art pieces and seen his EU cartoon incarnations, and I don't particularly enjoy his look when it deviates too much from Park's likeness. The comics were fairly close, the cartoons way off. Even with products, my favorites have looked like him. The original Hasbro 12' Maul had a great likeness to him and it was a let down to me when subsequent releases were very generic.

Spoiler

When I heard Maul would show up in Solo, I said I wouldn't care if they didn't bring Ray back, I was pleased to see they did bring him back.

 

[potatoes212]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

For me SS still has the better likeness to Park..
View attachment 418985

I agree with this totally. The highlight of the SS sculpt is that Ray Park is in there and it's incredible. The PERS eye system for this one is nice, but hard to see from a distance, and the sculpt, while the pores are nice, doesn't really embody the actor. Perhaps they continue to work on this based off the iffy feedback. If they have an alternate head that would be a bonus with the robe, but until they fix this, this is an easy pass.

 

[parrasmaniac]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

View attachment 418995

this trick is great, and neccessary, to compare this sculpts! great, matrix!

 

[DarthBakura]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

The OCD runs strong with Maul fans.

OCD in this hobby can be a good thing though, when critiquing. Not the other way around though, where you end up charging up a bunch of credit cards.

Besides, I think you mean to say Star Wars fans in general. The amount of minute things that influence a person’s enjoyment of a Boba Fett or Vader figure, on this very board, is staggering.

There's definitely room for people to be happy enough with a character's essence and not an actor's likeness, but I'm with you, for as brief as it was, Park's performance is what defined and drew me into the character, the shots of him from the trailer and on the cover of Star Wars the magazine had me hooked before I ever saw the movie. I have the original Maul prequel comic series, have looked at many fan art pieces and seen his EU cartoon incarnations, and I don't particularly enjoy his look when it deviates too much from Park's likeness. The comics were fairly close, the cartoons way off. Even with products, my favorites have looked like him. The original Hasbro 12' Maul had a great likeness to him and it was a let down to me when subsequent releases were very generic.

Spoiler

When I heard Maul would show up in Solo, I said I wouldn't care if they didn't bring Ray back, I was pleased to see they did bring him back.

It’s just odd to have people say they care more about essence, when we’re kind of known for being the picky crowd. We typically throw out many a critique of Vader’s helmet, Joker’s facesculpt and Boba’s—well, entire outfit.

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

I think a huge difference comes in how you present your thoughts too. There's critiquing in a constructive manner which can fuel fun discussion, and then there's the rip it apart as if the flaws are insulting you and how dare the company that produced do such a thing attitude that doesn't help anyone.

I like to think I'm the former, while I don't agree with things HT has done and find them interesting conversation points, I'm not upset by any means. If I didn't have a high end Maul and Sideshow's weren't an option to acquire at reasonable cost, I'd jump on this, but where I have Sideshow's, I'm looking at this from another point of view.

 

[Rixx]

Re: Hot Toys - MMS - The Phantom Menace - Darth Maul and Sith Speeder

Then theres also the subtle influence persuasion critique.

Where one keeps going on and on about how they don't like something compared to the SS from HT. Almost as if to persuade ones own thoughts and or others, into believing it and gain justification to own something inferior.