Star Wars: The Black Series Rebel Fleet Trooper

 If there was a let down about this figure, it would be the most obvious thing about it: this is an army builder background character, a guy that literally stands in the background of scenes unless he’s being directly murdered by Darth Vader. But, that one rogue point may not be a bad thing per say, but rather a new hopeful glimpse at the direction of the line in general.

The Rebel Trooper is a real good figure, a testament to what the Black Series is capable of, and delivers on with every release, even though occasionally it’s hard to see. Like the Imperial Death Squad Commander of a few years’ back, the Rebel corollary is just a trooper, so it would seem that this is the Rebel army builder of the line thus far. The figure comes with three accessories: a helmet, a blaster, and the Death Star plans from the end of Rogue One.

A lot of parallels can be drawn between this figure and the aforementioned Death Squad Commander: for instance, this is a generic figure, not based on anyone, really, but essentially a Rebel troop builder figure. You could do worse for one that this, as the entire figure is really nice, with a good, clear face sculpt and a generally excellent buck. The trooper has the same in-and-out shoulders that a Marvel figure like the Silver Surfer has, which would allow this Rebel to two hand his blaster in front of him, like when the Tantive V is captured and the Rebels line the hallway to attempt to repel the invading Imperials. This extra joint is expertly hidden by the troopers’ vest, which also does inhibit motion a little. The vest is the thing that makes this extra shoulder work, and it’s a shame that more Black Series figures don’t employ it. But, it is an unsightly joint, and without something like the vest on the Rebel Trooper to obscure it, it would ugly up a bunch of figures pretty quickly.

This figure is sturdy and solid. There is a real heft to the trooper that is just missing from some members of the line, and when one encounters an example that is this hefty, it is always noticeable. It’s possible that this response on my part is due to having recently handled a bunch of Black Series figures that are less stocky and firm than this one, but the trooper just feels weighty and satisfying in hand.

"I'm totally going to make it!"

The accessories are nice, although not terribly exciting. The helmet is a good piece, similar to that of the Imperial counterpart, but not a repainted version. No, an all original part that slips on and off with ease. The blaster is the Rebel blaster that has come with a few figures at this point, and it is still a solid weapon. The trooper has a holster that the blaster stores in, and the figure is capable of bending its arm to the degree that it can be posed as though it were drawing the blaster, or had its hand on the grip. That is a cool pose for an action figure, one that looks good and gives a real sense of capturing action and motion. The small data tablet is pretty cool, and links the Rebel troopers appearances in both Rogue One and A New Hope which is a neat toy centered narrative touch.

"If this is a counselors ship, where is the ambassador?"

The Rebel Fleet Trooper is a good Wave-filling figure, a good army builder, and a possible good sign of the health and direction of the line in general. Released with Bespin Han Solo from The Empire Strikes Back and Tobias Beckett from Solo, this trooper felt out of place and pretty random, another of those toys that we had known was coming, but seemed to have been coming for a while before it was finally out. The whole mini Wave that this toy came in felt weird, like a filler Wave to release figures that were already set to release but didn’t have a solid, six figure case assortment to fit in to. Maybe toys like this trooper are signs that, instead of being random, and instead of building up to a scene full of characters or a particular moment of the Saga, maybe the Black Series  was intended to be the collector focused line, leaving the 4” scale for the kids and indicating that more and more 6” figures are coming, and that we as collectors are the target audience for that. A sign that the line isn’t just always going to be faces from the movies, but maybe we will eventually actually get 6” versions of cantina aliens and such, the way high quality and well-articulated 4” figures used to give us back around 2007 to 2012-ish. Maybe a figure like this one indicates that the plan is to make the Black Series THE full, comprehensive collect line, which would mean we’ll see all manner of characters in it. There was a time when that would have been just a statement, but these days, with my personal valuation of the line having moved from picking up the ones I want to gotta having them all, the idea is much more exciting than it would have been a year or 18 months ago.