Phase I Clone Trooper Commander/Phase II Clone Trooper/Imperial Stormtrooper/First Order Stormtrooper Officer - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Phase I Clone Trooper Commander: Created in secret by Kaminoan cloners, the first Clone Troopers were deployed to protect the Jedi during the battle of Geonosis

Phase II Clone Trooper: As the Clone Wars drew to an end, Chancellor Palpatine issued Order 66, turning the Clone Troopers against their Jedi allies.

Imperial Stormtrooper: Under the tyrannical rule of the Empire, Stormtrooper legions ruthlessly crushed resistance across the galaxy.

First Order Stormtrooper Officer: Equipped with sleek armor and powerful weapons, the Stormtroopers enforce the will of the First Order.

As the collector Star Wars action figures get bigger, so do the size of the exclusives. It’s simply amazing to us that we’ve reached an era of collecting where multipacks with four distinct 6” action figures come to nearly $80 a pop. That of course isn’t a terribly priced set for what you get, but instead of $19.99 or $24.99 exclusive item (with four or five action figures each), now we’re paying three or four times that much just for larger scaled figures of nearly the same caliber. Amazon.com was the lucky retailer of choice to receive the “unnamed” Phase I Clone Trooper Commander/Phase II Clone Trooper/Imperial Stormtrooper/First Order Stormtrooper Officer four-pack. This beautiful gatefold The Black Series [Phase III] boxed set doesn’t bring all that new to the table, but it brings collectors specific characters that we need for the 6” scaled collection, well, except for maybe one, with very, very little new tooling and very, very little paint. This massive multipack is beautifully developed and even if you’re just a casual collector you’ll likely be interested in at least what 50% of this box offers, perhaps more. With a mix of characters from The Prequel Trilogy, Original Trilogy and, arguably, the Expanded Universe, the Phase I Clone Trooper Commander/Phase II Clone Trooper/Imperial Stormtrooper/First Order Stormtrooper Officer four-pack offers something for everyone. Clone lovers or clone haters, OT-only collectors or those only looking for new merchandise based on The Force Awakens: this set has it all and it will be worth your while to investigate it further. Let’s see if it offers anything to whet your taste buds.

The very first Clone Trooper officer offered in The Black Series 6” line was 2014’s TBS [P2] Clone Trooper Sergeant (#07) figure. It was an odd choice because these characters don’t even appear in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones with their helmets on their heads (only with the helmets removed.... and from a very far distance no less). Hasbro then briskly released 2015’s TBS [P2] Clone Trooper Captain (#13) a short while thereafter and as soon as this action figure was released we all immediately wanted to know when we would receive the Clone Trooper Commander and the Clone Trooper Lieutenant. Well, we can answer 50% of that question now. The Phase I Clone Trooper Commander has been faithfully created and nicely painted for the Amazon boxed set. Thank the Maker that the paint operations are very well doneand it’s our opinion that we don’t think that the first two Clone Trooper officers look as good as this one. Your mileage may vary. The paint operations are extremely well done. Now we just have to wonder when we’re getting the Clone Trooper Lieutenant. Then we’ll be happy. The only new tooling in the set can be found on the Phase II Clone Trooper. An all-new phase II bucket has been tooled for this release of this very obscure all-white Clone Trooper from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. While we’re thrilled to have a new template so Hasbro could make all of the remaining clones in the film which they likely will, we are still extremely disappointed that they didn’t open up this type of clone with a 501st Legion Trooper, Shock Trooper, 212th Attack Battalion Clone Trooper or our personal favorite; the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper. Obviously they’ll be coming soon now that Hasbro has a new template. Both of these figures utilie the body of 2014's TBS [P1] Clone Trooper (#14) figure (plus or minus new parts).

The only odd ball of this set is the Imperial Stormtrooper. It’s a repaint of 2013’s TBS [P1] Stormtrooper (#09) figure, but this time he has big blotches and smears obviously meant to represent some battle-damage. So whether this is just a poorly aiming Stormtrooper from the Death Star, or a Stormtrooper taken out by an Ewok, or more likely a Stormtrooper from the Star Wars: Battlefront game, all Star Wars collectors have a variant Stormtrooper to collect. While we don’t like the new battle-damaged markings, we do appreciate that Hasbro gave this Stormtrooper a shiny finish, something they egregiously left off of the original version. The only shame about this however is that you have to use a Stormtrooper with battle-damage in all of your displays if you wish to have one with better paint operations. The last figure is the First Order Stormtrooper Officer which is just a regular First Order Stormtrooper with an orange pauldron, the same one that came with the Toys R Us exclusive First Order Snowtrooper Officer. I guess we can expect a whole bunch of other officers with varying pauldrons in the very near future as well. A slightly repainted version of the 2012 TBS [P3] First Order Stormtrooper SDCC exclusive, you can see slight differences in the various paint operations on this “new” version. Aside from the packaging warping the figures legs which we’re hoping time outside of the packaging will allow them to return to their normal state, this is a very nice set. The paint operations aren’t bad and the figures come decently accessorized. And the MSRP isn’t jacked up either. We hope more sets like this are imminent. This is the new way collectors' items are going to be manufactured. And they're enjoyable. So you might as well make the most of them.