Cross-posted to Fanmode
There’s clearly something about Imperial Stormtroopers that inspires affection. Witness the crowds drawn to Danny Choo’s grooving in Japan, the 501st Legion‘s devotion or the amusing Flickr group. The what and the why remain obscure.
Is it their everyman quality? None of us have a Jedi’s superpowers and few of us have a Corellian smuggler’s cool. But an endearingly incompetent underling who is embarrassed by teddy bears and tricksy doors, and has a manipulative evil boss? We could all be that guy.
Perhaps it’s the outfit that appeals. Simple, cool and immediately recognisable, the Stormtrooper armour has become iconic in the 30 years since the release of the first movie.
Whatever the reason, Stormtroopers are inarguably, if improbably, popular.
Toy-wise, the Stormtrooper has had many a figure with varying results. The vintage Kenner figure was a decent attempt for its time, the Power of the Force 2 line featured a ridiculously buffed up Stormtrooper and there are sixth-scale figures costing over a hundred dollars if your Stormtrooper fixation runs particularly deep.
Hasbro’s latest Imperial Stormtrooper figure is the 20th figure in its 2007 Star Wars 30th Anniversary Collection line. The line features strong sculpts and improved articulation at kid-friendly prices. The Imperial Stormtrooper is typical of the line but not without its disappointments.
Package
The toy is packaged in an unremarkable blister card. Photos from the movie adorn it and there’s also a glamour shot of the figure on the rear. The rear of the card also has the Stormtrooper’s profile. No mention whatsoever is made of teddy bears or doors. A curious omission, that.
Removing the toy from the packaging proved to be a real hassle. There is, of course, a definite need to ensure toys aren’t damaged during shipping but the situation is such these days that it’s now entirely possible to damage a toy in the epic struggle to remove it from the packaging.
Super trooper
Hasbro is fond of cutting corners and costs whenever it can and the company is often guilty of lacking ambition when it comes to its figure designs, but it’s done a good job with this one. For a 9.5cm tall figure costing 7 dollars, there’s a lot to admire. The sculpt is spot on, the proportions excellent. The cylindrical thermal detonator is where it should be on the utility belt, the sniper position knee protector is there protecting the left knee. If it was seen in the movie, it’s on the toy.
The figure is thankfully free of ill-conceived spring-powered or electronic gimmicks. It does, however, come with a removable helmet. Removing it reveals a startlingly good, if generously disfigured, sculpt of Temuera Morrison.
(The facial scars are presumably the results of shaving accidents. We’ve all seen how Stormtroopers shoot. Is there any reason to assume they’d be any more precise while shaving?)
Unfortunately, my Stormtrooper’s sculpt is marred by quality control issues. The tip of the nose has been sliced off, and the eyes were painted so poorly it appears he is about to roll his eyes back into his head. When you factor in the scars, this would make a passable Zombie Stormtrooper.
Strike a pose
The articulation, like the sculpt, is good but not without its disappointments.
The articulation low-down:
- Head: ball joint
- Shoulders: swivel and hinge combo joints
- Elbows: swivel and hinge combo joints
- Wrists: swivel joints
- Mid-torso: ball joint
- Hips: swivel joints
- Knees: swivel and hinge combo joints
- Ankles: swivel and hinge combo joints
The limited hip joints are the biggest disappointment and it’s difficult to understand why this modern figure is restricted to the same type of hip joints as the original Kenner figure. It’s the inconsistency that’s particularly exasperating here. Why does a surgical droid merit ball-jointed hips but not a Stormtrooper? The Stormtrooper does have some bits on the utility belt hanging by the side of the hips but if they were made of the same kind of pliable plastic the holster was, they needn’t be any impediment.
Elsewhere, the mid-torso ball joint suffers from a relatively poor range of motion making it only marginally better than a simple swivel joint. The Stormtrooper can scarcely bend forward or to the side. Bending the figure backwards at the torso reveals the ball socket. Surely this could have been better implemented.
Overall, though, this is a figure that’s capable pulling off most poses, cool or goofy.
Accessories
The figure comes with a BlasTech E-11 blaster pistol and an exclusive collector coin. The blaster rifle, a very simple sculpt, is prone to warping due to the pliable plastic used. The Stormtroopers aren’t renowned for their sharpshooting so this isn’t a major issue. The figure includes a holster attached to its utility belt but holstering the blaster is a struggle and once placed, it looks awkward. The coin, though decent, does nothing for me and I would rather have seen resources spent on the figure itself.
Overall
The 30th Anniversary Collection Imperial Stormtrooper is the best version yet at this price point but there’s still room for improvement. Eliminating quality control problems and tweaking the articulation slightly would result in the perfect Stormtrooper. Let’s just hope we won’t have to wait for the 35th Anniversary for this to happen.
As things stand, this version is still very good and a worthy purchase for any Stormtrooper or action figure fan.
Links
Reviews
yo go re and Thomas Wheeler have excellent reviews of the figure.
The look
Scott Collura runs through the evolution of the Stormtrooper.
Variations
Not every Stormtrooper is a Jango Fett clone: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
The Stormtrooper effect
A Wookiepedia article on the Stormtrooper’s main weakness. The Mike Wong theory is intriguing.
