Darth Nihilus - Mini Busts

Darth Nihilus was one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the history of the galaxy, so corrupted that his very presence meant death. His insatiable desire to feed on living things by draining their Force energy made him known as the Lord of Hunger.

Knights Of The Old Republic fans are a small but very powerful bunch. Their undying interest in the game and its related stories never wanes in the slightest and they voice their concerns to Star Wars licensees to ensure that great collectibles get made. The characters are absolutely some of the coolest we've come across and they're event better in collectible format. Since the game’s release, not too many characters have been made, but the ones that have been forever immortalized in some collectible format have for the most part delivered collectors something to enjoy for their collections. Gentle Giant Ltd. was a little bit slow on the uptake, but they have made a few great pieces for their Mini Bust line including Darth Malak and Darth Revan. Now they have developed Darth Nihilus into the Mini Bust line as a PBM (yes, different from PGM) exclusive. Because there was 1800 pieces manufactured, extra units went to various other online retailers (or e-tailers) so collectors had other options. The Mini Bust is expensive. It clocks in at $85 and doesn’t offer anything extra to collectors than the other Mini Busts that solely come with a lightsaber blade attachment, so we personally find the MSRP infuriating. It is an exclusive, but we don’t think the buying public is big enough to quickly wipe out the 1800 pieces edition size immediately.

The Mini Bust is very well sculpted. Darth Nihilus is at the ready wielding his lightsaber and has his left arm outstretched with fingers crumpled a la Darth Vader from The Empire Strikes Back. The Mini Bust has a very dull and matte finish, something that is quite a relief since sometimes many of the Mini Busts Gentle Giant Ltd produces can have an annoying sheen. But this Mini Bust is overtly dull. (It doesn’t look bad at all.) We’re thoroughly impressed with the paint operations in the face. His off-white mask covers much of his facial structure, but you can see some surface area of his black skin around it. His eyes are literally peering at you through the holes in the mask and it’s unsettling at best. The Darth Nihilus Mini Busts is a success because of how eerie you feel looking at it. We think that’s quite an accomplishment for any licensee that they’re able to alarm the collector via excellence in the expression captured in the sculpture as well as a brilliant paint job. Darth Nihilus scores “straight As” in all of these areas. The rest of the Mini Bust is pretty straightforward. There isn’t any new ground broken here, but did you expect anything else. The Mini Bust line is what it is and it’s a spectacular line. It really doesn’t need revising. It just needs great products.

We love the origin of his name. Nihilus was derived from two words: nihilist and annihilate. And both words sum of the character quite well. Since a nihilist believes in nothing, this fits his personality that he wants nothing to do with the Sith or Jedi teachings. And annihiliate, well, that is self-explanatory. Darth Nihilus certainly knows how to do some damaged as evidenced by his role in the game and the stories written about him in the supplemental materials. But this information can have the opposite effect on something being cool. And it’s probably the actual “background” of Darth Nihilus that we don’t like too much. He’s essentially a rogue Sith lord. And from what we’ve read about Darth Nihilus, it seems like a desperate attempt to make the epitome of evil more evil. And that doesn’t necessarily fly with us. Sith and Jedi are sacredly established in the Star Wars universe and we don’t know if trying to squeeze a character like Darth Nihilus into a Sith lord only not to follow its teachings is such a wise idea. Why be or claim to be a Sith. We could be way off base with our assessment, but we’re not entirely satisfied with how Darth Nihils fits into the Star Wars universe. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a cool character because he is. And the Mini Bust is gorgeous. Knights Of The Old Republic should count themselves very lucky indeed.