Darth Revan

Presenting Darth Revan from the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Video Game. Darth "I make Vader look like a baby Ewok" Revan was released as part of the Star Wars 30th Anniversary Coin Collection set - that took me more than three years to complete - along with his best friend, later apprentice, later betrayer and first ever "Meatbag", Darth Malak. They both came with very nice coins.

The funny - and oftentimes kinda  sad part about this figure is that... well I always though Darth Revan was a woman. She certainly was a woman when I played KOTOR, and she was still a woman when she was referred to in KOTOR II.

Somewhere down the line, someone in either Dark Horse Comics or Hasbro - or perhaps George Lucas himself - decided that Darth Revan was a man.



To the uninitiated, Darth Revan was a Jedi Knight - never having officially been granted the title of Master. Side Note: As it is the tradition of the Sith to take a titular name upon becoming a Sith Lord, it is commonly accepted that "Revan" is not his real name. Now this particular Jedi Knight was not only extremely gifted in the ways of the Force, he had a special affinity for Force Persuasion.

To make things worse, he was also extremely naturally charismatic. He literally drew people to him.

When the Republic was threatened by the Mandalorians who had gone to war against it, Revan rallied the Jedi to destroy the Mandalorian threat against the wishes of the Jedi Council who advised caution (Heard that somewhere before). Revan's point was that the Jedi could not stand idly by while horrible atrocities such as the genocide committed on the planet Cathar happened.

The Jedi Council still advised caution but would not voice their support of Revan's march to war along with thousands of Jedi.

It was on the planet Cathar where Revan and his troops were shown a Force vision of the massacre that occurred under the leadership of Cassus Fett, along with the heroic last stand of an unknown female Mandalorian who stood against Cassus and paid for it with her life. Touched by this heroism, Revan took the Mandalorian Mask of the dead female as his own, promising to remove it only when the Mandalorian threat was permanently dealt with - which he did by slaying Mandalore the Ultimate over Malachor V.

The battle over Malachor V was not without Revan taking many moral short-cuts in the war which started bringing Revan to the Dark Side - he even used Dark-side energies in the battle of Malachor V and sacrificed a good number of his own Navy along with the Mandalorian Navy when he activated the Shadow Mass Generator which crushed the ships against the crust of Malachor V.

Forgive me my Master

Upon his death, Mandalore the Ultimate revealed that the Mandalorian war was a product of the Sith Empire's prodding and that the outcome - the weakening of both the Republic and the Jedi was as foreseen. Angered, Revan hid the Helm of Mandalore - the token of ultimate leadership in the Mandalorians - and the surviving tribes were forced to scatter, leaderless.

Revan then left to face the Sith Empire where he succumbed to the Dark Side and named declared himself a Sith Lord.

He would return to conquer the Republic powered by the StarForge and had it not been for the betrayal of his apprentice and friend Dark Malak (Well Revan did rip off Malak's lower jaw), he would not have been redeemed - play Knights of the Old Republic from here.



What's to like about Darth Revan?

The detailing! Look at that beautiful armor - fine, even if Revan is a man and not a woman. The detailing is not only obvious in his clothing, it extends to his lightsaber. It's supposed to be a three pronged light-saber, which makes it pretty original, Hasbro made it a two pronged lightsaber which is close enough.

I have to say that Hasbro really delivered when the fans demanded that this figure be created (This was the Fan's Choice first runner up. Not sure who was number 1).

He actually comes with two lightsabers, one lit, one unlit. Though personally, having played KOTOR, Darth Revan with just one blade just doesn't quite cut it. I don't know anyone who played the game with the major character having just one blade. Most of the time Darth Revan would have two blades (Of the same or different sizes) or a dual-bladed lightsaber. Happily his upper Torso articulation is more than capable of adapting to these demands - though the cape and hood tend to get in the way sometimes.

What's NOT to like about Darth Revan?

His tabard.It gets in the way of everything. I suppose you have to sacrifice a little of something to get this kind of beauty and they sacrificed his leg articulation because his legs are practically useless. His legs do not bend and while they are capable of moving a bit up and down, there's not much really there. 

So don't expect epic poses from your Darth Revan figure.

My Darth Revan was purchased at, surprise, the retail price of around PhP 499.00 back in 2008 or 2007 I believe. I was lucky to have found him. He's still available on Amazon for a whopping US$  99.95 (Roughly PhP 4,297.85 - plus shipping. Roughly the cost of some major Star Wars vehicles).

I think he's worth it, but then again I got lucky.

YOU WILL BUY ME!!!!!