Q and A of the Day: Day 46

Welcome to our next Q and A of the Day post! This column will be published daily, weekly, monthly, or just based on how many questions I get emailed – but no more than one a day. Feel free to send in your questions and I will put them in the queue. Click through for Q and A of the Day: Day 46. Topic: The best Stormtrooper action figure

Q: A lot of talk about stormtroopers lately. I know right now the VTC 41 is on the top of your list. Where to you rank the Tantive IV, VOTC, Black series etc.? Have you ever thought of ranking them? Also is the 2011 SL trooper the same as the trooper in the recent Target vintage 3 pack?? (John A.)

A:I have personally never thought about ranking the Stormtroopers in the Star Wars line. Each new sculpt is so different from the next, I feel we have our definitive release somewhere amongst of all of the parts. To say that the VC41 figure tops my list may be a bit of an overstatement, only because I am ultimately dissatisfied with it. I am old school, so if it isn’t Han Solo or Luke Skywalker underneath the helmet, the helmet better not be removable as far as I am concerned. I suppose if you couldn’t touch them and only look at them, the VC41 may be my first choice, but had Hasbro retooled The Black Series Stormtrooper (#13) figure to give it a torso without a survival backpack slot in it, and a better painted (or even a newly sculpted) helmet, it would be the absolute definitive release for a Stormtrooper, since it comes with ball-jointed hips (a must for me for any army builder). I can tell you that I loathe the VOTC sculpt. You have heard this before from me, but the legs are a nightmare (essentially useless) and the bulky arms prevent any real meaningful motion in the upper body. I do find the Capture Of The Tantive IV Battle Packs Stormtrooper a bit charming. He looks fantastic, but doesn’t have a waist joint and has the same problematic slit on his back. I am not gushing over the new 2013 Saga Legends (SL11) Stormtrooper either. I think there are issues in the sculpt of the helmet and I just can’t get into five points of articulation when considering what is the best modern Stormtrooper out there.

To answer your third question, the 2011 SW [SOTDS] Stormtrooper figure (which is idential to 2009's LC Stormtrooper (BD46)) is NOT the same figure as the one that’s in the Special Action Figure Set TARGET. The 2011 Saga Legends figure is the VOTC sculpt, whereas The Vintage Collection 3-pack is the same figure as the Sandtrooper that came with the Dewback With Imperial Sandtrooper, a 2009 Legacy Collection Walmart exclusive. This figure also differs from The Black Series Stormtrooper because the TBS figure was updated to include the belt from 2007’s TAC Imperial Stormtrooper (30 20) figure. Are you royally confused yet? The STormtrooper has been one kit-bash after another. Since Hasbro seems to be unable to pick the cream of the crop to design a definitive figure for us, perhaps it would be best if they start from the ground up again: i.e. an all new sculpt.

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