CLONE TROOPER — HOLIDAY EDITION

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Twas the night—er, day before Christmas, and all through the house, Ethan was realizing he hadn’t actually had a review go live on Christmas Eve in two years.  I didn’t used to do the themed review until the actual day, but last year I had two new Star Wars holiday-themed figures, so I did both days…well, sort of.  Anyway, there aren’t new holiday Black Series figures this year, but I’ve wound up with some old ones to fall back on, so let’s do that!  Here’s another Clone Trooper, because these guys are just everywhere.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Holiday Edition Clone Trooper was part of the debut run of Holiday Star Wars: The Black Series figures in 2020.  He was exclusive to GameStop and was figure 5 in the set of 5.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  This guy is using the older style Clone base body, with the Phase II-style helmet.  These figures were released after the introduction of the newer style of Clone, but presumably the exclusive offerings had to be turned around at a quicker pace, hence the older molds.  The Walgreens Clone Lieutenant did the same thing, and he was from right around the same point.  The mold certainly has its limitations, but at the same time, it was solid for its time, and still looks pretty decent.  As with all of these figures, the deco is what’s really selling him.  It’s appropriately tacky, with sort of an ugly Christmas sweater set-up on the torso armor.  Apart from the fact that he’s a Clone Trooper who inexplicably has TIE Fighters and a Death Star on his sweater, it’s a nifty idea, and honestly pretty solidly executed.  Beyond that, he’s just got a lot of red and green, as well as the striped stockings look that’s been recurrent with this sub-line. The stripes are a bit inconsistent, but everything else is quite sharp.  The first year of holiday figures didn’t do any guns (amusing, since they were all some variation of trooper), but went instead with melee weaponry.  This guy gets the Knight of Ren’s sickle thing painted up like a candy cane.  I don’t know that it quite lands the way it was intended to, but it’s not terrible.  He’s also packed with a porg, who’s got a little tiny scarf painted on, and I just love that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 2020, I was very definitely not going out and hunting exclusives, so I didn’t get any of these the first year.  This was the one from that batch I wanted the most, but I just never came across it.  Earlier this year, however, a set of them were traded in at All Time and I was able to snag a few of them, this guy included.  They continue to be exceptionally hokey, but I sure do love me some hokey decorations.

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.