Regarding the discussion of Sideshow vs Hot Toys, whenever it's said Sideshow has nailed a figure and HT doesn't have much room to top it, we get surprised with something like Emperor Palpatine which reveals the room for growth Sideshow had.
Right away, I can already see areas where I'm sure HT will top this already amazing figure, the question for those already owning this will be, how much is that difference worth.
While I love the portrait on this figure, in the right lighting, seam lines really show and it's pretty ugly and "cheapens" a very lifelike portrait making it an obvious "toy". I'm sure HT will manage to produce heads without any seam or at the least, a much less pronounced one.
I also see HT going with fabric choices that more closely match the film costume, but also carry the bulk and weight to have it fall on the figure, probably even wire the opening of his robes to mold them hanging over his belt and all, probably make the pants a little baggier as well.
While HT COULD potentially get more detailed with the eye paint work, based on the Emperor, I doubt they'd offer much better than Sideshow delivered.
I do imagine that HT will go for a snarling, teeth showing face to set themselves apart from Sideshow further, though I'm happy with the expression Sideshow chose. While Maul has snarling moments, one aspect I love about the character is how expressionless he looks so often, and his eyes just give off this burning hate gaze that says so much and the Sideshow head nails that.
Just sharing my two cents on that topic, but that's not to take away from the impressive work that has been done on this figure. I was looking over some pics of the old Sideshow figure and as much as that figure felt like a huge improvement over Hasbro in it's time, it really doesn't hold up over time, tiny waist, overly bulky looking upper body with the fabric of his costume, just doesn't capture the Maul silhouette, whereas this one does, for the most part it's like looking at Ray Park in costume. I love that they went with the more pale shade of red, while Maul did look almost cherry red in some shots, similar to the original figure, I think in figure form it comes off very much like a toy where this looks more like a human in face paint.
... Man, that Hasbro was great in it's day!! I still have it too, the one that came with the speeder & the one that seperates in half that came with Vader, and I think some deluxe one? All in a box somewhere.. 
...for me SS best SW figure thus far..
