Stand alone films Rogue
One and Solo have, if absolutely
nothing else, given us a few new Imperial units, such as the Deathtrooper,
Shoretrooper, and this Patrol trooper, which is essentially the highway patrol
officer of the Empire. Briefly (real briefly) seen pursuing young Han as he
races the streets of Corellia, this is, like the other two mentioned newbies,
an excellent addition to the Imperial ranks.
The Patrol Trooper looks like a modified standard
Stormtrooper helmet on top of a modified Biker Scout body, all the while
managing to look totally new. You never would have known this from his film
appearance, because in his literal second of screen time, the character looks
like a regular Stormtrooper. The body is bulkier, which makes the Patrol
Trooper seem pretty imposing, which is probably a good feature for what amounts
to be a cop to have, but simultaneously is saying something, considering we are
talking about a soldier of the Galactic Empire. That facet alone makes Troopers
imposing and intimidating, but this unit is even moreso.
The visor of the helmet is actually green, a sort of
metallic shade, but in practically all photos of the figure it just looks like
the standard black. The figure comes with two accessories, a bigger, better,
painted version of the pistol the Scout trooper carries, and a baton that is
held in a pair of loops on the belt and is able to wiggle around in them, but is
not easily removed. By “not easily removed,” I mean that it does not seem to
come out of this holster, and I am not bold enough to pull it out only to learn
that I now have a broken figure. The baton does not slip out or come too loose,
so I am comfortable just leaving it where it is. It doesn’t look like the
figure would be able to hold it anyway, as there is no clear grip. The pistol
is really nice, and while it feels a bit odd to get this excited over such a
small weapon, it is a huge improvement over the version of this blaster that
comes with both the Scout trooper and Royal Guard figures. The blaster stores
in a regular, functional belt holster, like the Guard, and not the useless
ankle holster of the Scout. The Patrol Trooper can also hold it in his hand,
again unlike the previous version of the accessory. A few drops of silver paint
completes the transformation of this weapon from the one I hated most from the
entire Black Series to one that I
like a lot.
But as much as I want to be totally in love with this
figure, it does have a pretty serious problem, one not unique to this specific
figure, but something that has been creeping across the Black Series in general over recent waves. That issue is the one of
overly tight joints, which are rendered functionally useless because of their
lack of movement. Elbows and knees in particular seem to be growing tighter and
tighter, with figures like Zuckuss and L3-37 and the Praetorian Guards and Beckett and the Rebel Fleet
Trooper being hobbled by joints that as very stiff and frankly concerning when
attempting to bend. In the case of the Patrol Trooper, the problem areas are
the elbows, which wiggle just enough to make you want to try and bend them, but
then offer so much resistance that one checks to make sure they are even possessed
of joints. After having this figure on my shelf for months, I can report in
full honesty that the arms have never been bent, instead the Trooper holding
the blaster out in a full, locked elbow position with the shoulder doing all of
the lifting. Poor guy’s going to tear up his rotator cuff or something. And
this is not an issue limited to my copy of the figure, as a friend of mine has
had the same experience with two (two!) Patrol Troopers, and even after heating
the joints and all of that good stuff has not found a solution that allows the
elbow to bend without it being a terrifying ordeal. Stiff joints happen to
figures the same way they happen to collectors as they age, but unmovable
joints are not good for anyone. To be clear, the problems on this figure are
not the same as the elbow or knee issues on New Trilogy figures like the First Order Stormtrooper or Phasma, both of whom have joints that are not fully
exploitable due to the way the limbs are designed, where the armor gets in the
way of deeper bends. These joints are just too tight, and I’m not sure what can
be done to address this in hand.
This is going to be a Trooper that doesn’t make it into
everyone’s collection, due to nonexistent screen presence and being barely
recognizable when it does happen. I personally knew to look for it in the movie
because I knew there was a figure version on the horizon. And it’s also not as
distinct as the Death- or Shore Troopers, both of which were new and obviously
new designs. There’s also the matter of distribution being crap for a lot of
toys more recently, and especially Black
Series figures, so this may be a hard one to find at retail. But it is a
worthwhile addition to your Imperial ranks, even if it just stands there due to
being essentially a $20 five points of articulation figure. I like this Trooper
quite a lot, but I am bummed by the lack of bendable limbs.
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