Star Wars: The Black Series Entertainment Earth Exclusive Troopers

The second of the exclusive box sets, the Entertainment Earth set comes in a far less nice package. I know, I know. I’m not really a guy that makes a big deal out of packaging, but consider the following points: the Black Series boxes are really

nice for mass retail packaging. Secondly, with the book box the Amazon exclusive set came in, there could be nothing but disappointment with this regular, four wide arrangement. Again, this is really only a turn off in light of the Amazon set, but after this initial bummer, this set of figures is just fine.

The set consists of four figures, straight up repaints this time, three of which have some kind of Expanded Universe connection. The four figures are Lt. Oxixo, who was apparently shot down during the Battle of Yavin; a Crimson Stormtrooper, available here for the first time ever as a figure zomg!; R2-Q5, an astromech who contains the Emperor’s personal secret information and was part of a plot to turn all the Death Star II droids against their masters; and a Sandtrooper Sergeant. All of the figures are very nicely done.

Lt. Oxixo is a very minor repaint of the OT TIE Pilot. The major difference or identifying feature is that the forehead crest of the helmet has been painted with a silver triangle, and that’s pretty much all. I’ve talked about the TIE Pilot before, and this guy doesn’t give me much to say that would be new. It would have been nice if this guy had a removable helmet, a la Troopers Han and Luke, to at least make him clearly different from the regular Pilot.

R2-Q5 is a new mold experience for me, since I’ve never seen an R2-D2. To be honest, if the R2-D2 cost $20, for its size and features, I’d pass on it any day of the week. This is a cute little mold, with moving legs and a full, 360 degree range of motion for the head. The third leg (lololololo) lowers by turning the head all the way around, so the astromech can take that three leg/wheel stance, which is pretty cool; the feet pivot and everything for that leaned back posture. He’s got two panels on the torso that open and little arms extend from them: one is a gripping claw, and the other is clearly R2’s phallic interface tool, the one he inserts into every port and outlet wherever he goes. There are a number of panels on the top of the dome that are removable, and I do know that the regular R2 comes with some parts that can attach to those spots; R2-Q5 does not. That’s a bit of a letdown as well, and it almost feels like I have an incomplete toy, missing parts. I like the astromech mold, but it just seems lacking here. He's cute, and fits in your pocket. Here he is, in my wife's pocket.

The Sandtrooper Sergeant is a Sandtrooper with a white shoulder pauldron. He comes with the same weapon loadout that the Sandtrooper does. His armor is slightly weathered, which is nice as it adds some detail to the figure overall. The package mentions that these Troopers are the hazardous environment arm of the Imperial military, and that is a nice acknowledgement over the idea that they just patrol desert planets. I’ve always thought there had to be more to these guys than just desert detail, and it is nice to get even a slight confirmation of that. 

The Crimson Stormtrooper is a similar hazardous environment unit, this time an extreme temperature one. Their red armor is apparently designed to handle and protect against the high heat and temperatures of volcanic environments. This is a very nice looking figure, and as I’d said with the Imperial Shock Trooper, a little bit of difference goes a long way on OT Trooper armor. This is certainly a nice looking Trooper with just enough paint detail to keep it from being ‘just’ a red Stormtrooper.

This figure feels a lot like a chase variant or something of that nature, and that brings me back to something I’d said with the Amazon exclusive set. This is the kind of thing that this type of exclusive should be: some obscure character or variant, totally unlikely to make it to or at mass retail. If I’d seen this at a store, I’d probably have thought “Oh, a red Stormtrooper,” and I’d have bought it, because I collect Troopers. But there is no need for this at the retail level. Even if this were like one per case or something like that, I just don’t see a whole lot of purpose for a general release figure with this connection to the universe. But, it is also good that it came in a set, because I’m not sure that a single packed Crimson Stormtrooper would have been enough to get me to commit to exclusive prices by itself. This set, much like the Amazon one, was around $90 at preorder, and for four figures, again, that’s a great price. But if this were like $30 by itself due to being an exclusive, I most likely would have passed.

Just like the Amazon set, this is a cool collectible, and a good way to add some numbers to your Imperial ranks. But unlike the Amazon set, there is nothing in this box that is new or unique, mold-wise. If it were to come down to one or the other, I have to say the Amazon set is a better deal, because at least with that box, you get the Phase II Clone, which is unavailable anywhere else. I like these figures, and I’m happy with them, but perhaps because nothing was really new here, or perhaps just because work hit the end of semester chaos patch, the urge to sit down and write on them had really been missing for the first week or week and a half after I’d gotten them delivered. These are great for an Imperial collector such as myself, but if you pass on them, I’d have no ability to argue that you shouldn’t.