Savage Opress

Presenting Savage Opress from the 2013 Star Wars Toy line released to promote the new fighterpods.com website (No I have not tried it yet).

To the uninitiated, Savage Opress is the older brother of Darth Maul (No! What gave that away?).

He's also dead

Spoiler alert.

Savage Opress was a Dathormirian tribal leader who was chosen by Asajj Ventress (After he killed his brother) to become her mate and help overthrow her master Count Dooku. The Nightsisters transformed the already powerful warrior into a true "Savage" animal of incredible physical strength, agility and edurance. He became a Dark Acolyte (Like Asajj) for the Confederacy. Strong in the Force, he was brutally trained by Count Dooku who wanted to use him to overthrow Darth Sidious (Ironic, but it was all part of the plan). Much to their chagrin it they both realized that they could not control Savage escaped from them - declaring himself a Sith Lord -   rescued his maddened brother Darth Maul and brought him home to Dathomir where his mind was healed.

Opress would become Darth Maul's apprentice following the Sith Rule of Two.



The Dixon brothers - wait, wrong series - the.... hmmm... they don't have a brotherly name. Darth Maul and his Apprentice Savage Opress would then cut a swath of destruction across the Outer Rim of the Galaxy, resulting in the deaths of quite a few Jedi - including Jedi Master Adi Gallia - Though to be fair, Obi-Wan Kenobi took Savage Opress's left arm.

Unlike his brother, Savage Opress was known to kill like an animal, brutal and... savage. His technique involved simply overpowering his opponents with brute force and Force and stabbing them with his dual lightsaber or his special pike that was gifted to him by Mother Talzin of the nightsisters. This particular version of Savage Opress bears the Combat Armor which is resistant to laser fire and corrosive environments.

In a discussion with Darth Maul, said to his brother "That's the difference between us. I see opportunity and I exploit it. You destroy every opportunity put in front of you. There's more to the Sith than destruction." To which Savage replied: "Maybe there shouldn't be"

The brothers would eventually take over - Mandalore! Surprise, surprise. This unfortunately drew the attention of Darth Sidious who tried to sway the two to his side and ended up instead in a battle against the two brothers. Separated from his brother, Savage Opress met his end. His final words to his brother were "Brother, I am an unworthy apprentice. I am not like you. I never was."

What's to like about the Star Wars 2013 Savage Opress?

His design. Savage Opress looks kick-ass. He's one of those characters that you do not want to see in a dark alley - especially considering his "Destroy everything that moves, lives or exists" attitude. As I've said time and time again, I really do not like the "Animated" look of the Star Wars action figures - with a few exceptions like the incredibly hot Aayla Secura figure - but this one is not so bad. I'm particularly found of that cruel, twisted sneer pasted on his face.

It's also quite interesting that Savage Oppress will tower over other action figures as he measures in at 4.5" tall versus the normal 3.5" tall figures. It's quite easy to imagine someone his size bashing open skulls with his bare hands - probably even after his opponent has ceased to breathe and just for the fun of it.

Upper body articulation is excellent and his armor's shoulder pauldrons - which I do love - don't get into the way that much (Though eventually they do. Though you have to accept that Savage Opress is a mindless overpowering beast. He's no dancer like Darth Maul.)

That's about it.


What's NOT to like about the Star Wars 2013 Savage Opress?

There are a few problems with the Star Wars 2013 Savage Opress. The first is the most obvious: It's a re-packaged version of the Star Wars 2011 Clone Wars Animated Action Figure CW No. 59 Savage Opress Armored version which... surprisingly... cost US$ 49.95 on Amazon (Roughly Php 2,047 plus shipping). But this one doesn't come with a stand, Star Wars battle Game Card and dice.

So if you don't want to splurge for the 2011 Clone Wars figure, do grab this off the shelf if you see it.

The other problem is that Savage Opress's pike - which comes with a push-activated missile launcher - is quite awkward and difficult for him to wield. It has "hand-guards" but there's almost no way that Savage can hold the pike from where the hand-guards are, and; Even if he were able to, the Pike's blade would be facing the wrong way:

The last big problem with this particular figure is the lack of foot articulation. With the foot articulation Savage Opress's overall articulation would be on par with some of the Star Wars figures from the Vintage collection.


This particular Savage Opress was purchased at retail from Toy Kingdom here in Manila for PhP 699.75 (Roughly US$ 17). It is not currently available on Amazon - unless you want the really expensive 2011 version.

Still a wonderful Sith to have.