Everything about Darth Maul was cool.  He had an awesome ship that looked like a combination of an advanced TIE Fighter and a mini Star Destroyer.  He had a double-bladed lightsaber.  He had a bunch of sinister looking probe droids at his disposal.  And he had his very own crescent shaped speeder that seemed to be able to traverse cliffs in a way that would have sent Luke’s Landspeeder, and everyone inside it, into oblivion.

Darth Maul and Sith Speeder was available at the time of the Episode I toy launch.  I had seen it in Toys R Us the day after the event but passed because all I was interested in at the time was a single carded Maul figure.  Later, once I felt the inexorable pull of collecting, I picked this up since I couldn’t find that single carded Maul.  While it wasn’t as good of an overall figure as the one I was looking for, as a collecting newb I didn’t notice.  I was just happy to have a Darth Maul figure.  It wasn’t the ultimate prize I was looking for, but it would have to do.  The real draw here, even to this day, is the speeder itself.  The set retailed for about $12, which is pretty amazing, even with the basic figure price hike to $7 (likely because of the commtech feature).  Of course, this is cheaper than a TVC figure today, and it included some pretty innovative features.

The Darth Maul figure had a sculpt that wasn’t nearly as detailed aesthetically as the Darth Maul (Jedi Duel) figure.  It incorporated some cost compromises, as Hasbro was wont to do with pack-in figures at that time - and still does today (TVC TIE Fighter).  The paint apps were a bit sketchy on the face, and not as much care was taken when crafting the underlying sculpt.  In particular, the hips/thighs are ridiculous in appearance.  But the figure does include hinged knees, which, along with the widened hip position, allow the figure to sit perfectly on the speeder.  Hinged knees were rare at the time.  I spent many hours exhaustively researching this (I asked Chris), thinking it may have been the very first instance, but there was at least one example, having been used in the EU Swoop Bike pilot figure.  Still, it was rare, and it was done with excellent results.  Another feature of the figure that was rare (but not quite the first) was the use of soft goods for the robes.  The special collection Leia 2-pack figures from POTF2 had soft goods clothing, but those were premium figures.  These robes were designed very well.  They included the distinctive Sith droopy arms, and the hood and the rest of the body were crafted so that they fit the figure much better even than with modern figures.  This wasn’t a basic figure.  It was a pack-in.  But with hinged knees and soft goods, it did have some key evolutionary traits.

The set was part of the small vehicle sub line.  The Sith Speeder is the star of the set, despite the somewhat innovative Darth Maul that was included.  This is a well designed toy.  The speeder looks great, with enough realism to pass as a “collector level” item today.  There is very little about it that seems to compromise aesthetics in favor of toy play features.  There is a hidden Sith probe launch mechanism, in which the boxy cover in the back end flips up with a push of a non-obtrusive lever.  That same lever then activates the launch of the spring-loaded Sith probe.  The only thing visible is the lever, but it’s not annoying.  Another play feature is that there is a hole through the handlebars that is meant as some kind of storage for the double bladed saber.  It’s a little silly when in use.  It might not make for a bad spot for storage of an unlit hilt, but when fully lit, it’s kind of bizarre.  But you can think of it as an actual weapon of the speeder, as Maul can use it to mow down enemies as he flies by them kind of like big spikes on the wheels of vehicles in Mad Max or something.  But if you ignore this, you’re just left with an unassuming hole through the handlebars.  No big deal at all.

With those features being well integrated into the sculpt of the vehicle, the speeder ends up lookin just like the prop in the film.  Darth Maul sits perfectly in the crescent-shaped seat.  The peg holes in his feet match up with the pegs on the foot pedals, something which Hasbro has been challenged to accomplish across the life of the line.  Maul is sculpted with his hands able to also solidly grip the handlebars, so the overall look is nearly perfect.  This is an example of how a figure is supposed to properly interact with a vehicle/accessory.

So while the Darth Maul figure has since been re-done by Hasbro many times over and with great improvements, this one is still worthwhile because it fits on the speeder so perfectly.  The speeder itself is a great little vehicle, while also managing to have some inoffensive action features.  It’s an exceellent effort all around, and still worthy of display today.  It was even re-issued in the TPM Walmart Fiasco of 2012, but you probably didn’t care.  I give this set an 8, mostly for the vehicle and the interactivity of the figure.