IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

Sometimes, you just can’t beat the classics.  While the First Order and the Clone Troopers were perfectly fine designs, they were, at their core, just imitations of the original Imperial Stormtrooper.  After 15 years of revamps and redesigns, there is a certain sort of relief to getting to see the classic Stormtroopers back up on the big screen in Rogue One.  Of course, the actual troopers have never been far from toy shelves (though they were almost totally absent from all of the Force Awakens-related stuff), but now there’s even more excuse to see a whole slew of new Stormtrooper figures.  Let’s look at one of them today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Stormtrooper is another figure from the first series of basic 3 3/4 inch figures from the Star Wars: Rogue One line.  The figure is just shy of 4 inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation.  Despite Hasbro having a number of previously existing classic Stormtroopers in this scale and style, this figure is an all-new sculpt.  This figure is based on the Rogue One design for the trooper, which I’ve heard from some Stormtrooper aficionados has some tweaks that differentiate it from the A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, but is more or less the same look (in fact, it’s just as similar to one of those movie’s armor designs as they are to each other).  Though this figure may have a more simplistic articulation scheme, the sculpt is certainly not simplistic.  The head in particular, appears to be the most faithful 3 3/4-inch re-creation of the Stormtrooper helmet that Hasbro has produced.  The details look pretty much perfect, and the sculpt is surprisingly sharp.  The body isn’t quite as amazing as the head, but it’s still pretty solid.  The details of the armor have been translated quite nicely.  They’re pretty sharply detailed, but just a touch softer than the helmet.  The proportions are pretty solid, and actually look fairly human, and the pose, while still just a straight up and down sort of pose, is more natural and relaxed than, say, yesterday’s Scarif Squad Leader.  The paint work on the Stormtrooper is okay, but not without a few small issues, mostly to do with small details being left unpainted.  While he avoids really obvious missed details (like the missing black for the shoulders on the Rebels Stormtrooper), he’s missing a few of the black details on the front of the torso, as well as the grey details on the back of the helmet.  On the plus side, what is there is pretty solidly handled, with the head in particular exhibiting some very clean detail work.  Also, the glossy finish of the armor is very much appreciated, and gives the figure a much more put together look.  The Stormtrooper includes a standard blaster, as well as a torso piece with a pauldron attached.  The piece clips over the figure’s torso, and the top portion pops off, revealing a blaster-damaged torso beneath.  Because it clips over the existing torso, it’s a bit on the bulky side, and it’s clearly designed more for play than display.  That being said, it’s not the worst thing ever, and it’s certainly preferable to another big missile launcher.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I did not actually get this figure in my first round of Rogue Friday purchases from TRU.  I had initially dismissed it as being nothing more than a simple re-release.  However, on my second round of purchases from Target Friday morning, I got a closer look at the figure, and noticed that it was a much nicer sculpt than I’d initially thought.  Since I was buying two of the Black Series figures and I wanted to take advantage of Target’s $10 off a $50 purchase, I figured he was worth the investment.  I’m very pleased with this figure, and I think it might be one of the best basic Stormtrooper figures ever produced!