We might be just a little bit in love with Bandai‘s Tamashii Nations Samurai Star Wars series. Made with meticulous attention to detail, innovative articulation, and an aesthetic based in both actual traditional samurai styles and a galaxy far, far away, they’re like a full-circle tribute to the fact that George Lucas was creatively inspired by Akira Kurosawa.
Clearly we are not the only ones. The line is doing well enough that more are coming, and Star Wars Celebration has revealed them, with help from an Instagrammer named darth_shank. Like every other figure in the line so far, they are villains. But one might be more than human…
Yep, Darth Maul looks like he may be an honest-to-badness demon in this line, which follows a certain logic as he’s the first non-human as well. Maul’s original design always evoked a kind of Asian demon mask, and this figure takes that aesthetic to its logical conclusion.
If one prequel villain isn’t enough, they also have Jango Fett, who can reunite with his grown-up kid-clone on your samurai shelf.
And speaking of said kid, an all-white “prototype style version of their original samurai-style Boba Fett will be a Comic-Con exclusive this year. Since these figures run around $90–that may sound like a lot, but when you see the elaborate resealable packaging and how much stuff they come with, you get it–you still have time to save.
Who do you want to see “turning Japanese” next? Our money’s on Kylo Ren since they seem to be sticking with full body-garbed characters for the most part, but with Maul now included, anyone’s fair game. A samurai Emperor would be interesting. Tell us who you’d like to see in comments!
Featured image: Lucasfilm/Disney
