Star Wars: The Black Series Commander Gree

 

At this point in the life of the Star Wars Black Series, there is no excuse to not have more Clone Commanders. Sure, there are only a few of them that have any actual character based on the films, but “The Clone Wars” show eventually offered characterization for so many Clones that it should not seem out of the realm of possibility that 6” figures of them be made. Revenge of the Sith offers us two Commanders who get names and dialogue, those being Cody and Gree. Cody was released some time ago; Gree here is a Toys R Us exclusive Force Friday release intended to help build hype for The Last Jedi.

Gree is a real extensive repaint of the Phase III Clone figure, previously available only as part of various online exclusive boxed sets. This would then be the first mass retail release of the figure, and then, “mass retail release” means exclusive to one store. What is it about this Clone that makes Hasbro think it can’t do well at retail, and this needs to be a perpetual exclusive?

By all accounts, this should be a fairly short write up. The basic figure is the Phase III Clone, which has received a lot of attention on the Coffin over the last two years. Gree presents only some slight remolding, and really only to the back of the torso, to accommodate a little larger backpack and antenna. Packed with the standard Clone arsenal of blaster and rifle, Gree also comes with a new piece: a pair of binoculars which he can hold with little difficulty, but cannot hold all the way up to his eyes.

The paint on Gree is fantastic. It is always incredible to see the Clone or Stormtrooper armor blossom as something totally new with some paint applied to it, but Gree takes that to an extreme. Sure, there is some remolding to the figure, like the backpack antenna piece, but it is more or less the same Phase III Clone trooper again. The extensive paint work turns it into a totally new one. It makes one wonder if other Kashyyyk-camo Clones would be likely someday. Future trooper releases have been mused about here plenty of other times, and this one should be added to the list of possible, but probably never going to happen ideas. It’s not clear why more trooper repaints don’t happen in the line, as it is pretty obvious that the Black Series, or at very least the 6” scale, is the size that Hasbro is moving its’ collector focused lines to: think the Marvel Legends line. Some people lament the apparent retirement of the 3.75” figure, and that can certainly be understood. But the 6” figures have turned out to be pretty good to collectors, and don’t appear to be going anywhere. Initially, the Black Series was intended to be more limited in scope, but look where it’s at now. Safe to say it’s not going anywhere.

But the paint. Beautiful. Thick and deep, multiple greens and browns; a real camouflage motif and not just a green or differently weathered Clone. The visor on the helmet is a shiny, metallic green, just like in the movie, that jumps off of the figure at you. It’s kind of a shame that this paint isn’t used more on the figure, but it is not supposed to be, so one understands.

The joints are the standard Black Series variety, and with the exception of not being able to raise his binoculars all the way to his eye, do not disappoint. The weapons aren’t exactly bare plastic, and look like maybe the attempt was made to hit them with a thin silver or metallic coat, but it doesn’t quite work. It is extremely hard to be critical of the paint apps for a figure that is just smothered in paint, but the weapons feel like they were left out, and thus feel a little weak in terms of the overall presentation. There are Black Series troopers who have painted weapons, and the Clone rifle specifically sometimes sports a few drops of color. These plain greyish ones are just a bit of a letdown. In no conceivable way is that intended to mean the figure is not great, or is not a worthwhile purchase; it’s just that with all the paint on Gree, why couldn’t the weapons get a splash? But, no bigs, honestly.

The presence of Gree and Cody in the line once more raises the question of whether or not other Clone commanders are in the plans. At the time of this figures’ release, we already knew that a Rex was coming, and by the time of this articles’ writing, Rex has been in hand for a few weeks. So there is not like there isn’t precedent for commanders, nor is it that there’s no market for commanders. Exclusives, be they in-store or online ones, cry out for these types of releases. Repaints are the absolute backbone of a toy line that offers the ability to army build, like every Star Wars toy line ever. With no experience in the industry whatsoever, the question deserves to be asked: how much could it cost to churn out a whole bunch of different colored Clones? The base mold already exists, so just run a few more batches of it and add some different colors to it. Simple, right? Maybe additional parts would be needed, but we’ve gotten three Clone commanders by now, and there’s no real reason to believe that future ones would not be successful.

The issue may be that the Black Series seems really dedicated to ignoring the Prequels. To some extent this is understandable.  While there are some interesting characters in them, most don’t have any substance to them, so they can be overlooked without much of a second thought. It is slightly odd though that Cody, Gree and Rex would be released and there’d be no other commanders in the pipeline. Cody and Gree had lines in Revenge of the Sith, and Rex is a superstar in the neo-EU of The Clone Wars. Long ago, the existence of both Cody and the Imperial Speeder Bike made some people think that Neo, the Saleucami commander, would be a certainty. (Ok, it was just me who thought that. –mr) Maybe Hasbro is waiting on an anniversary, like the 25^th for Revenge of the Sith in 2020, to do something like that, or to release more Prequel figures in general. Perhaps the nostalgia for the Prequels hasn’t yet kicked in. It could also be that no one cares about the Prequels, but the counterargument to that would be that this is a Star Wars toy line, where everyone gets a figure sooner or later. The Black Series seems to only now be branching out with EU characters like Darth Revan , while it promotes new movies and newer characters and periodically pumping out a new OT figure like the pending Skiff Guard Lando from Return of the Jedi, seen at NYCC a week or so back.

Commander Gree is a much better figure than last year’s Toys R Us exclusive Hovertank Pilot, and a figure that really feels like it lives up to the tag of being an exclusive. Which is good, as Toys R Us has it priced at $24, $4 above normal for the line. All of the paint makes Gree feel like he’s worth that extra $4 though, which is always a good thing when it comes to exclusives.