Darth Talon from Star Wars: Legacy

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

Having been born in 1980, I was a little too young to get into Star Wars. I vaguely remember getting my dad kicked out of the movie theatre by crying during The Empire Strikes Back, and I think I remember liking the Ewoks (thus proving what a dumb kid I was), but I never had any Star Wars toys or a lunch box, and I never saw any of the original trilogy movies in their entirety until their re-release back in the 90s. I was much more of a Star Trek fan, those movies being released just as I was becoming old enough to appreciate movies. I never got into the whole Star Wars versus Star Trek thing either, though; I mean, you got one franchise with green-skinned slave girls in bikinis, and the other offers red-skinned Sith in bikinis – with a particular badass example being Darth Talon – why choose between two beautiful things?

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

I’ve commented before that it’s odd how Japanese and American popular cultures rarely intersect. Sometimes you get a movie like Kill Bill which combines aspects of both cultures, and on rare occassions an American property like Witchblade or Iron Man will get an anime adaptation, and fans of 90s hip hop might remember Takagi Kan and SDP appearing on De La Soul’s classic album Buhloone Mindstate. For the most part, though, they exist in their own bubbles. So it’s ironic that I learned about Darth Talon from Hobby Search‘s blog. I had only passing familiarity with Sideshow’s statues at that time and I hadn’t read Star Wars: Legacy, but I knew that this was a figure that I had to have.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

Star Wars: Legacy is a comic book series published by Dark Horse. While the popular Knights of the Old Republic video games took the franchise back millennia before the events of the films, Legacy picks up the story over a century after Return of the Jedi. In this world, the Jedi have fled into exile as the Sith rise in power (as usual). The hero is Cade Skywalker, an obvious descendant of the Kwisatz Haderach of all Jedi. However, he’s more Han Solo than noble Jedi, at least in the beginning. I’m reading through the first trade paperback and the story is pretty interesting, though the dialogue is a bit overwrought. I suppose that’s par for the course for Star Wars.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

I’ll be frank: when it comes to this hobby, I’ve got this dumb belief that white people don’t know beans about making figures. It’s similar to my belief that Japanese people don’t know beans about making RPGs, though the Persona games and Resonance of Fate have softened that conviction over the last couple of years. As a comic book fan, I’d like to buy figures of my favorite characters, but there are so few that I like; many of them sport flat paintwork, boring poses, and inexpressive faces. Go take a look at the comic figures section on Big Bad Toy Store to see what I mean.

Darth Talon looked like a very high quality figure to me, though, so I didn’t have any misgivings when I preordered her.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

As mentioned, Darth Talon is a character from Star Wars Legacy. She serves as the personal assassin of the archvillain Darth Krayt. She is emotionless and fanatically loyal to her master, and is a fierce and highly skilled combatant, which is obvious because she’s wearing a bikini; if she were one of those tricksy Sith who stays in the back doing force persuasion, she’d wear a robe.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

Another difference between Japanese and American pop cultures is the material that they build figures out of; most Japanese anime figures are made of PVC, while many American figures are cold cast. Darth Talon is made of polystone, giving her significant heft. Not only is she heavy, she is huge; she’s a titanic 1/4 scale, measuring about 43 centimeters tall, not counting the base. Here she is next to another recently-released swordsgirl:

Darth Talon and Momohime

When a figure is this large – and when it doesn’t wear many clothes – the sculpt takes on greater significance and Sideshow doesn’t disappoint in the least. While Darth Talon’s shape is slender and feminine, she still has a defined, chiseled musculature. She is sleek and sexy and powerful all at once.

I gotta admit, though, her breasts kinda have an antigravity thing going on. Hey, it’s sci fi, you know?

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

Darth Talon needs a bit of assembly out of the box: her head and arms attach via magnets and slide into place very easily. She comes with a large circular base patterned with simulated dirt and rocks. It’s quite realistic and looks very nice. There’s also a special surprise built into it that I’ll get to in a bit.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

As a member of Sideshow Collectibles’s Premium Format lineup, part of her clothing is made from real cloth. In this case, her bikini bottom is made of thin fabric. It’s attached to her waistband so it’s not coming off unless you destroy it. And since I know somebody is going to ask, no, she does not have realistic anatomy.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

The paintwork is very good, with her armor being notably nice. Paint is a bit rough on her tattoos, but given their complexity – and the fact that they’re tattoos – I’m not too concerned about that. I think the only weak part of this figure are her eyes; her pupils are pinpoint, giving her a disturbing appearance. Then again, she’s both an evil Sith and an alien, and what do I know about Twi’lek biology?

One note to anyone who is contemplating picking up this statue or one of Sideshow’s Premium Format figures: the paint that they use appears to be alcohol-soluble, so don’t use rubbing alcohol to clean it off; bad things happen if you do. Water seems to be fine, though.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

Perhaps the most iconic aspect of Star Wars is the lightsaber, and Sideshow pays homage to it by providing a light-up feature for Darth Talon’s weapon. The batteries (two AA cells) are stored in the base, and presumably the contacts go up through her body. On one hand, it’s a pretty neat feature that shows off this elegant, more civilized weapon. On the other hand, you could also call it an inartful gimmick that is more appropriate for a child’s action figure (and you might wonder why Darth Talon doesn’t come with a kung fu grip). I can see both sides, and I generally don’t turn it on, since it doesn’t light up all that bright and I don’t keep a lot of alkaline batteries around. Fortunately, the power switch is cleverly disguised as the little black rock on the perimeter of the base, so it’s not particularly obtrusive and it’s easy to access should you want to light it up.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review

I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect when I ordered Darth Talon – she looked great but the one American comic book figure I’ve got isn’t that fantastic and I hadn’t seen much out there to convince me that that wasn’t representative of its kind. However, I’m very pleased with Darth Talon; her emotionless personality is perfectly captured in a figure that is both dead sexy and impressive as hell. The workmanship is superb, and she has an incredible presence that instantly makes her a main attraction in any collection. She’s a fantastic figure and was definitely worth her considerable cost.

Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
Darth Talon from Star Wars Legacy Figure Review
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48 Responses to Darth Talon from Star Wars: Legacy

  1. Shashin says:

    Fairly good looking figure, I do have to say. You mention consider cost, so I’m not sure I’d pick one up myself, but I’ve been wanting a 1/4 scale figure for awhile now; she really is freaking huge.

    • Tier says:

      1/4 scale is God’s chosen scale. It is the king of scales. More stuff should be 1/4 scale. Sometimes I feel guilty about not buying stuff that’s 1/4 scale, just because I feel I ought to be supporting this scale. Like this figure; I liked it, but then I tried to get my right hand in the same position as hers and I couldn’t do it. I just can’t twist my wrist sideways like that. In fact, it kinda hurts just to twist my wrist in that direction.

      • Ashlotte says:

        Aye 1/4 is nice…Shame detailing seems to go down as the scale goes up in general.Bout the only thing that I own that has both size and detail are Alter’s Nanoha figures with their generous “1/7”.

        Thanks for making me almost kill myself doing that hand pose Mizuho has…doable in the end, but damn uncomfortable to say the least. >_<

        • The Endless General says:

          I couldn’t do it………

        • Tier says:

          You are welcome! Maybe I should make that an entire post … put that picture up there and challenge people to get their hand like that. I think the responses would crack me up.

          Fortunately the 1/4 scale figures I’ve got are mostly really good. Well, I think they’re good, some people might not think 1/4 scale gangsta lean Saber is all that good. Man I gotta get around to taking her picture one of these days.

          • The Endless General says:

            I like gangsta lean Saber! I really wish someone would restock her so I could pick her up. I think I may just like Saber too much.

          • Tier says:

            Hehe, I’ve got a ton of Saber figures, despite not really having any strong feelings for the character. Admittedly, a big part of the reason I’m not a bigger Saber fan is that I despise Emiya Shirou; Saber ought to gut him like a fish (not that anything would spill out …) and make off with Rin.

  2. The Endless General says:

    I have to say; im now very tempted to seek this out. However, I must know……….just how considerable of a cost are we talking? She’s 1/4 scale, so i’m imagining it was truly prodigious.

    • The Endless General says:

      Nevermind, I checked it out. Considerable, yes, but it’s pretty much par for the course for 1/4 scale. Unfortunately I can’t fit it into the budget right now unless I canceled Kos-Mos or Kenshin. That isn’t going to happen.

      • Tier says:

        I paid like $290ish, including shipping. So yeah, kinda expensive, but not quite as ridiculous as some of the stuff I’ve paid for. And yeah, I don’t think I’d cancel Kenshin or KOS-MOS for this. Well, maybe KOS-MOS, but that’s only because I’m not as fond of her Episode III outfit.

  3. Ashlotte says:

    Please tell me you bought it locally…Japanese retailers are so overpriced on stuff like this. >__>

    • Ashlotte says:

      Ok…Your stupid comment system cut off everything except the first paragraph! T_T

      Not writing all of that again haha…I will say that the one Western figure I own is one of my favorites, but then she has no face and thus sidesteps the thing that I hate about most western sculpts…

      • Tier says:

        I ordered it direct from Sideshow, so yeah, no wacky overseas markup for me.

        Also, my site’s comment system is infallible and indestructible. Should any error occur it is obviously and incontrovertibly the fault of the user. For sure. Having no face does streamline things quite a bit. Like take this figure here; now I like Witchblade, I like Sara Pezzini, I’ve got a bunch of the comics and I’ve got all the anime DVDs, but I really don’t think I’m digging that face much. I’m not really certain which direction she’s looking, either; it seems to change depending on which of her eyes you look at.

        • Ashlotte says:

          Ah good to hear…Yea I guess I’ve been immersed in Anime/Manga for too long maybe, but Western sculptors idea of what a beautiful face is are just way too distant from my own.

          • Tier says:

            Yeah, I’m sure there are a lot of good figures of Western origin out there … I just can’t recall seeing very many. Nor can I recall too many that are made out of PVC … in fact, I think I can only come up with one (a figure of Tarot, which I don’t think had a very large production run).

  4. The Endless General says:

    I don’t really know where else to say this, but you were correct about Saber Lily. I’ve only had her for about 15 minutes (and 10 of those were spent trying to get those damn wire ties off), but I can safely say she’s my favorite figure in my collection.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, she’s a really a great figure. I saw that jump and slash Saber also got released the other day so you’ll be having a partner for her to team up with pretty soon. And I think Saber Alter’s preorders are supposed to open up pretty soon. Good stuff, good stuff.

      • The Endless General says:

        Yeah I remember getting an email notification of that the other day. I really should check my email more often lol. The only problem I’ve run into so far is that Saber Lily’s base is much wider than I expected, so the space I cleared for her was inadequate. A quick restructuring fixed that right up though. The problem now is I don’t think the other Saber will fit next to her if her base is a similar size : ( Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there I guess lol.

        Is Saber Alter’s preorder opening soon? Wow, I should really be more aware of that stuff……..

        • The Endless General says:

          Well, I saw a comparison picture of Saber Excalibur and Saber Lily. Their bases are basically identical in size……….so I’m gonna have to do some serious rearranging to make sure all three will fit. Saber Alter’s base looks to be the same size too………..

        • Tier says:

          I think it is, I recall seeing some news to that effect. I hope it does, anyway, since that’s one of the figures I’m looking most forward to.

          You could maybe overlay the bases on top of each other? I’ve done that before, particularly for photo shoots when I need to get the figures posed close together. I’ll just stick some coins or something under the base to get it level.

  5. Halbred says:

    Star Wars has never really been my thang, but I certainly appreciate his figure. I’m completely unaware of this character, but she looks badass. I can’t believe how goddamn big she is, though–where do you keep her? I think the lightsaber gimmick works fine. It’s a lightsaber, for God’s sake, it’s supposed to light up. It’s probably a cool effect in a dark room, too.
    I’ve seen a few quarter-scale statues at the comic shop, and while ridiculously expensive anyway, none of the tickled my fancy: Rogue, Red Sonja, and someone else. Actually, the Red Sonja was interesting, but I thought it was a bad sculpt. There’s a level of realism I don’t want in my figures. I prefer my figures to toe the line between cartoony and 60’s pin-up rather than “you can see every crease and muscle” detail. The giant Red Sonja was more toward that end, so I didn’t like her.

    You know what I’d like to see, in any scale? A sculpt of the old 80’s cartoon version of April O’Neil (from TMNT), complete with yellow jumpsuit and inappropriately large, seemingly unsupported breasts that the character is now infamous for.

    • Tier says:

      She’s on top of my scanner right now. Man I hope that it can support her, I think her shipping weight was like ten pounds. I don’t think she’s quite that heavy but she still has a serious amount of heft.

      I remember there was a Red Sonja statue patterned after Marc Silvestri’s art that I liked, but her legs were chopped off. I don’t like that much; I’m not a big fan of busts or any sort of statue where the limbs aren’t fully intact. I’m also contemplating Kotobukiya’s Psylocke statue, but I don’t know that I like her face. A figure’s face is its most important part to me, so that’s a pretty big problem and I don’t know if my Psylocke infatuation can overcome that hangup.

      That’d be pretty awesome, April was one of those cartoon characters I liked as a kid, along with Scarlett and Steelheart and uhh … man, who else, now I’m gonna have to look for an 80s site to go read up on the cartoons I used to watch.

  6. Wow, that pic with Momohime really puts her size into perspective! The only 1/4 I have right now is KOS-MOS and I haven’t taken her out of the box yet. lol No idea where I’d put something this huge, at least at the moment.

    For a Sith, she doesn’t seem all that evil to me – her expression looks as if she’s bored at the fact there’s no Jedi that can match her abilities. lol

    Did you take any pictures with the LED on? Even if the feature isn’t going to be used by you, I think it’s great that they integrated the LED – just one of those tiny features that add to the overall quality of the figure. =)

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, she looks pretty serene, which is more of a Jedi thing, if I remember Knights of the Old Republic correctly. Though on the other hand, she’s a very cold and machine-like killer so I think it shows her personality pretty well. In fact, one of the early scenes of her in the comic series shows her dispassionately torturing and slaughtering a Jedi knight.

      Yeah, the picture between 9 and 10 shows the lightsaber lit up … as you can see, it’s pretty dim. I wish they’d made the light more powerful. If you’re gonna include a sort of gimmicky light-up feature, I think you ought to go for the gusto. Still, it’s a pretty cool feature, though one that works better in a darkened room.

  7. here-and-faraway says:

    Fantastic photographs and writing. Lovely figure. I cannot believe how big she is compared to Momohime!

    • Tier says:

      Thanks! Yeah, she is titanic. I think all of Sideshow’s Premium Format stuff is 1/4 scale, which is truly admirable. We need more big figures out in the marketplace.

  8. Phil says:

    Nice review as usual. Every figure should be in 1/4 scale….where’s the 1/4 Miku? C’mon GSC and Alter, hop to it.

    Now onto a more important matter……..

    THE REDSKINS BEAT THE COWBOYS.

    If they win tomorrow, I, will be cackling all the way to the bank. It feels good to be a band wagoner!!!!

    But you and me both know that they will lose, they will never when the super bowl again.

    • Tier says:

      I am guessing it will be a nippy, nipply day in hell before GSC makes a 1/4 Miku. And now that you mention it, it’s kinda odd how Alter hasn’t done a Vocaloid figure. I guess maybe that’s strictly a GSC/MF thing (and sometimes Volks). I’m sorta hoping that Alter or someone that picks up the 1/4 scale Asuka Langley Soryu/Shikinami figure I’ve seen, though.

      Ha, and they won on a fluke play! Not that I was unhappy that the Cowboys lost, I hate them too. In fact, I’m not sure which team I hate more. I guess the outcome I was really hoping for was for a meteor to land in Landover just after kickoff. That wasn’t even the highlight football game in the region, however; the most glorious game was the mighty JMU Dukes defeating the Chokies on their own stoop. God that was amazing. It truly did brighten my weekend.

  9. DaSaru says:

    RUN MOMOHIME RUN THE BIG RED UNDERDRESSED ALIEN WOMAN IS GONNA EAT YOU!!
    Heh. Gotta get that out of my system.

    Nice pics and review as always.:)
    I like the 2nd pic for some reason.
    What is the other American figure you have?

    I’m also getting a 1/4 figure from Sideshow..but it’s male. But it’s Gambit so it’s okay. 😛
    Kinda worried as I heard that Sideshow is all over the place in quality so I hope it’s at least as good as this one.

    • Tier says:

      Haha, if I had more room, I shoulda done a shot with Momohime running away in the foreground and Darth Talon looming like the colossus in the background.

      The other figure is NECA’s Psylocke. It was cheap but it was also 1/6 scale. Actually, hmm, I’ve got another, I’ve got McFarlane Toy’s 1/6 scale Dorothy. That was pretty cheap too, but it’s actually pretty good quality. I wonder if anyone wants to see a review of that, a couple of munchkins torturing a blindfolded, panty-clad Dorothy with a hot brand? Yeah, I guess maybe not. Then again, maybe I’ll work it into a filler post or something.

      I hope your figure turns out good XD I’m thinking about getting Ms. Marvel, though I’m not sure yet; she’s pretty expensive and I’ve already got Alphamax’s Mai Shiranui ordered for that month, and she’s really pricey.

      • DaSaru says:

        Momohime running from a collossus reminds me of a game..wander what it’s called..:P

        I wonder why American figures insist on resin/polystone though. I’d rather PVC since it’s more affordable and work just as well. And personally the glossy sheen on resin/polystone is too much for me and could easily be recreated by certain paints if they want. Like the Kotobukiya vinyl 1/6 Hellboy coulda fooled me that it was resin.

  10. The Endless General says:

    Well, I bought Darth Talon. I’m gonna have to do some serious budgetary restructuring, but i’ll make it happen. Somehow lol.

    • The Endless General says:

      I’ve noticed that their selection of premium format figures is kinda odd; they’re missing some icons. I mean, where the hell is Darth Vader!? Lol. Then again, I too have a penchant for characters who aren’t all that popular, so I guess I can see the reasoning. I wish they’d make a premium format Luminara Unduli……….i’d be all over that in a second lol.

      • Tier says:

        Congrats on the great purchase! You won’t be disappointed, I think. Unless you want the lightsaber to light up really bright, I guess. Hehe, yeah, I remember there was even some consternation on one of the boards I frequent when Darth Talon was announced; people couldn’t understand why Sideshow would choose a minor character from a relatively obscure comic book series when big heavyweight characters hadn’t gotten PF statues. Looking at Darth Talon, the rationale is pretty obvious, though XD

        I oughta watch the three prequels one of these days; I remember The Phantom Menace wasn’t al that well regarded, but it seems like the second and third movies are pretty good.

  11. Phil says:

    The skins lost. I don’t know whether to be sad or glad…(I knew they would lose actually)

    • Tier says:

      They did! XD What a glorious victory for the Texans. The kicker (literally) is that I’ve got Neil Rackers on my fantasy team so I got extra points from that overtime win. Now I have to hope that Pierre Thomas does alright tonight, because I’m down by 7.

  12. The Endless General says:

    Just got her today, and I have to say that once I had her assembled I paused for a moment. Not because there was a problem, mind you, but because of her monumental size. As I’ve mentioned somewhere here before I don’t own any 1/4 scale figures, so this certainly suprised me. She truly is an amazing figure; I think it was well worth the expenditure.

    • Tier says:

      I think so too. Gee, what was the first 1/4 scale figure I got … I guess it musta been Hobbyfan Meiya. Speaking of which, I think I’m gonna be revisiting that figure soon. Every time I open up a 1/6 or 1/4 scale figure, I always gotta smile at seeing how big they are … bigger is definitely better as far as I am concerned.

      • The Endless General says:

        I was just wondering; what’s the size comparison between her, Kos-Mos, and Kenshin? It was difficult to find a space for her due to her towering height, and with the other two on the way I just wanted to know what I’m in for lol.

        • Tier says:

          Just eyeballing her, I’d guess she’s a bit larger than KOS-MOS and Kenshin. The latter two still take up quite a bit of space though, since KOS-MOS has a huge gun and Kenshin has an enormous sword that sticks out behind her. Fortunately the two Volks figures have fairly compact bases so their shelf footprint isn’t too large compared to the Sith chicky.

          • The Endless General says:

            Yeah her base is monstrous; although her height posed the only real problem. She was actually just a few centimeters too tall for the shelf I cleared for her, so I had to move her onto this shelf thingy I have over my bed. It’s cool though because it has a mirror on it so I can see all sides of her at once lol. She’s currently standing next to (and dwarfing) Saber Lily, which will pose a future problem of where to put Saber Excalibur. Oh well, I’ll deal with it in due time I guess.

          • Tier says:

            Yeah, I pretty much squeeze figures in wherever I have available surface space, which is rapidly dwindling. I’m often needing to improvise; right now, I’ve got Darth Talon and Kotobukiya’s Asuka perched on my scanner, which conveniently has a very large and flat top.

  13. Lee says:

    Bit late to the party on this one, but just bought it and awaiting her arrival through the snow plaguing Britain at the moment! On the subject of western figures having poor faces, it’s definitely what put me off purchasing many figures I otherwise would have. On the other hand, my other 2 western figures have very nice faces IMO. The Adam Hughes Zatanna figure, and my favourite figure – Tim Miller’s Black Cat.

    • Tier says:

      Snow everywhere! I could really do with some mild weather, after the DC area got one of the largest snowstorms ever last winter and then went through the hottest summer on record.

      I remember when I first heard that Sideshow was making this figure, I went to their forums to see if anyone had some close-up pictures of their work so I could assess their quality. Right around that time, their newest and hottest figure was their X-23 comiquette figure and man … that statue’s face is just all kinds of WTF. Fortunately Darth Talon turned out much nicer. I also thought about ordering their Ms. Marvel premium format figure but the face was only okay and it’s hard to justify shelling out nearly $300 for a figure with just an okay face.

      Both of those figures have very nice faces, which is a welcome change from the norm, and I also just noticed that Bowen Design’s Black Widow also has a beautiful face. I hadn’t noticed how good that statue looks. Hmm …

  14. Lee says:

    Ew, no! Just googled that sideshow X-23, and have to agree…not good! Although results also popped up for Bowen’s X-23 which is looking mighty fine!

    Hope the weather improves in DC. Although i’m sure you are still able to operate in the U.S. Any small amount of snow falls in Britain and everything grinds to a halt. With 8 – 10 inches this winter you’d be forgiven for thinking the apocalypse had hit!!

    • Tier says:

      I don’t think I’ve seen Bowen’s version. I gotta admit that X-23 really is not one of my favorite Marvel characters so I haven’t paid a lot of attention to her merchandise. The Sideshow piece stood out mainly cuz I was like “WTF” when I saw it.

      Yeah, the weather’s not too bad in my area; we’ve only gotten like one inch of snow so far and in my experience, heavy snow seems to happen every other year so I’m expecting this winter to be relatively mild. I heard the midwest got splattered with snow, though. I don’t want to hear any midwesterners cracking on how people in the DC area can’t cope with snow, after watching the Metrodome’s roof collapse under the weight of all the snow they got. I mean, who builds a multi-million dollar stadium with an inflatable roof, anyway?

      I read a news story that the snow is really locking down Britain. Hope things clear up there, it sounds like the airports are a real mess now.

      • Lee says:

        Yeah, the snow shut down Heathrow, and Eurostar as well. My girlfriend flew back from a biz trip in Japan. The flight took 14 hours, and was diverted to Ireland. It then took her 4 days to fly from Shannon to Heathrow!

        My Darth Talon arrived today, and she’s most impressive! Looks exactly as I hoped (thanks for your detailed pics – they persuaded me to part with my cash). It’s the first PF statue i’ve seen (let alone bought) so I was rather shocked (in a good way) with how big she is in the flesh (or should that be resin?).

  15. Andrew says:

    Very sexy x3

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