Cad Bane (The Clone Wars) - Maquettes

Cad Bane could easily be called a veteran of his craft. He was a menacing mercenary and a ruthless bounty hunter. His notoriety placed him amongst the most vile of villains in the galaxy, and thus a favorite freelancer of the Empire for many of their dirty dealings.

It goes without saying that Gentle Giant Ltd.. is a purveyor of excellent high-end Star Wars collectibles. They focus on formats with repeat hits and one of their more popular line, the Star Wars and Clone Wars Maquettes took a slight change in direction beginning in 2008. With the new The Clone Wars television property, Gentle Giant began focusing on characters and brought them forth a newly revised “The Clone Wars” lineup. Some have been quite impressive while others seem good, but nothing out of the ordinary. We’re not so sure however that the Cad Bane Maquette would be able to qualify as mediocre in any light. This very popular bounty hunter with ties to Bossk and Aurra Sing has been developed for the Maquettes line and we’re overall quite impressed with it. The Duros aren’t too often utilized in Star Wars folklore, so we’re glad to see a main character bring new interest to this species.

There is one small issue that we want to get out of the way though. Why does Gentle Giant place some characters in the Maquettes line at such an awkward lean that comprises its display aesthetics? Kit Fisto (The Clone Wars) immediately comes to mind. While the intended pose was meant to be striking and very visual, the lightsaber blades obscured his face terribly and can only be seen clearly from one or two angles. Star Wars characters made into Maquettes should have very upright and static poses (facing the camera so to speak). Cad Bane has a decent pose, but he is leaning to his left and it’s distracting. There are so many options to pose him in so we’re very surprised that he is leaning backwards and at that angle too. Hopefully it won’t deter you from considering this piece however. The details are larger scaled items are always more impressive, but this scale in particular lets you see everything without it becoming obtrusive.

The sculptors did a fine job with bringing Cad Bane to life in the Maquettes line. Keep in mind that this is an animated interpretation of his (i.e directly out of the TV show) so there aren’t any artistic liberties taken here. He is a spitting image of his character from The Clone Wars television show. Gentle Giant Ltd.. was carefully to choose a color palette that most accurately reflects his average appearance in the show. The brim on his hat is low and nearly covering his red eyes. His blaster pistols have been removed from his holsters and are up and ready for action. His coattails are still swinging in mid air apparently from his last quick movement before freezing his pose in time. The Cad Bane Maquette is definitely as nice piece, but collectors for high-end collectibles are becoming few and far between. The edition sizes keep getting smaller and typically need to be put on clearance before selling. Let’s hope that something reinvigorates these lines again.