Star Wars: The Black Series Amazon.com Exclusive Stormtroopers

Here’s the Amazon.com exclusive 6” Black Series Trooper pack. This went up for preorder in September, and arrived today.

For starters, the box is very nice. All four of these Stormtrooper repaints come in a book-style box, with the grey on black Black Series artwork. The set consists of a battle damaged Original Trilogy Stormtrooper, the yellow Clone Trooper Commander, a Phase II Clone Trooper from Revenge of the Sith, available for the first time in this set, and a First Order Stormtrooper Officer. Each one comes with the standard weapon loadout for the figures.

Battle Damage, Clone Commander, Phase II and First Order Officer

Damaged and Original

 The OT Trooper is the one I was expecting the least of, but I think upon first getting him out of the box, he may be the nicest looking. His armor is more of a shiny white than the matte white of the original release Trooper, and even a little bit brighter than the trooper Han and Luke armor. Like trooper Han and Luke, this one also feels less grainy than the original release Trooper does; he is smoother, and the overall appearance is just a step above the regular figure. Aside from the plastic, the only actual difference is the battle damage on the armor, four splotched blaster marks on the chest, shoulder and helmet. Not sure why: that armor never does seem like it can withstand any blaster fire….

Plain and Rainbow Flavored

The yellow Phase I Clone Commander leaves the foursome short only the blue lieutenant, and I hope that one gets a release somewhere down the road. Part of me wants to say that there probably won’t be one, but hey, this is a Star Wars toyline, so it’s really just a matter of time. As is the case with Clones, this one is different because it has a different color of paint on the armor, denoting a different rank. One thing I do have to say about the Phase I Clones is that that little bit of paint goes a long way in making them look better. The plain Clone is very . . . plain, since that original Clone design is so barren of details. The paint on the armor makes all the difference, as even the regular Clone looks better next to the officers, thanks to their paint. This was the one figure out of this set that I really was excited for, and I do hope a blue one comes out eventually.

Phase II - New Hat!

I was also real excited about the Phase II Clone, since this is the first time that figure has been made available. This figure is literally the Phase I Clone with a different head. This is a good time to say that this box is basically exactly what an exclusive set should be: rather than put out some character or figure that lots of people will want, fill an exclusive set with variants or slight modifications, like the yellow officer and this guy. I spent $80 on this set, and that’s the Black Series norm of $20 a figure, but they aren’t figures that would be flying off of shelves in stores or leaving holes in your collection if you missed out on. This is a good exclusive set. Oh, yeah. The Phase II helmet looks real nice.

 

An Officer and A Regular Guy

Finally, the First Order Officer rounds out the set, and is basically the First Order Trooper with the orange shoulder pad, borrowing from the Sandtrooper Commander playbook of orange pauldron = commander. The First Order Officer, like the general release First Order Trooper, comes with two blasters, each of which can peg into a slit on the right thigh. This takes the place of the big saddle bag holster the OT Troopers and TIE Pilot have, and it looks pretty cool. The elbows of the First Order figures don’t have the same range of motion that the Clones or OT Troopers have, which is kind of a letdown as it impedes poseability. They can’t hold their blasters in front of them or reach for their belt buckles. It is a different elbow joint than the one found on the First Order Pilot, as his can bend much deeper and moves more freely side to side. Overall though, the First Order Troopers are pretty nice, and the Officer from this set is the nicer of the two.

This set isn’t going to offer anything new or mind-blowing or essential for your Black Series collection, but it does offer some nice additions. If you’re army building, or an Imperial collector like myself, this is certainly worth the price, although now that it’s out, I imagine that price is going to start going up on the secondary market. At $80 I think this is a great purchase if you’re interested; more than $80, and it may be a tougher purchase to justify to yourself.

 

No, Uppy! No!