ARC TROOPER CAPTAIN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0047: Though there have been numerous figures based on the 2D Clone Wars‘ Captain Fordo, his name as only been used officially one time for a figure.

Have you ever loved something from afar? That’s my relationship with the original Clone Wars and its tie-in figures. I loved them, but the airtimes for the original shorts made them tricky to catch, and the line was pretty majorly scalped at the time. Nevertheless, I still hold a fondness for it. One of my favorite parts remains something I actually *did* get to experience firsthand during the original run, which is Clone Captain Fordo and his original figure. And me being me, that translates to buying more figures on top of the one I already have, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The ARC Trooper Captain was a Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series release, released in packaging styled after the original 2D tie-in line, and under the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary banner. He hit in the Spring of 2022, alongside similarly styled Mace Windu and General Grievous figures. The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Fordo is largely based on the molds introduced by ARC Trooper Echo. As they’re both ARC Troopers, it’s not the craziest idea, I suppose. If you want to get technical, it leaves a number of inaccuracies on the armor, but the flip side is that he’s based on an animated design to begin with, so there’s a degree of a grey area there. The most glaring things, really, are the ammo pouch being on the wrong side and the permanently affixed backpack. He does get a different helmet, this time using the more proper phase 1 helmet. It’s based on the updated version of the helmet mold, and it’s been modified to include his rangefinder. The paint work on this figure is decent and fairly basic. Most of the line work is pretty clean, but there’s a little waviness on some of the red lines. I was surprised to find that, even though the helmet is glued in place, the underlying head is still molded in flesh tone plastic, rather than just matching the helmet color like other troopers without removable helmets. I assume it’s somehow linked to the mold’s original use, since the other ARCs have all gotten removable helmets. Fordo is packed with two small blaster pistols, a medium rifle, and a long rifle. He’s still saddled by only the one trigger finger, and he doesn’t get Fordo’s usual modified pistols, but it works out alright.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I loathe dealing with exclusives, and Walmart exclusives top that list, so I did no hunting for this guy in-store, even though he’s Fordo and I love Fordo. Instead, I played the waiting game, and it paid off, as I was able to snag a sealed one from All Time through a trade-in. He’s got his flaws, but I’m very forgiving when it comes to Fordo. There’s no denying he’s quite fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront

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