Stormtrooper - R - 12-Inch Figures

Stormtroopers are Imperial soldiers who track down any Rebel freedom fighters who oppose the Galactic Empire.

The Rebels television show is in full swing and there is enough merchandising at retail now to make you nauseous. That’s really a good thing though because if the branding is out there, all this stuff really advertises the show which hopefully attracts more and more viewers who will make it part of their TV time. Collectors know all too well how the basic figure line as changed. And new products are being added to the line left and right and it has been one whirlwind after another trying to organize it all. The not-so-affectionately-labeled “shampoo bottles”, which have entered our collective consciousness in 2013, show no signs of slowing down. There are already a ton of them available in the Rebels line and it looks like they’re here to stay for a little while longer. Newly dubbed the Hero Series line, this newer 12-Inch Figure format will continue to bring simply articulated action figures in a much larger scale. At least Hasbro is no longer molding the weapons into the hands. That was a huge issue for everyone.

One of the obvious choices to produce in this scale is the Stormtrooper. And if you can accept the level of articulation he is, the sculpt is not half as bad as you might think. The plastic is very shiny (which works to its favor for us) and the details etched into the plastic are nothing short of impressive. The figure has great posture and can stand easily when unassisted (a basic for action figures if you ask us). There is an admirable amount of articulation worked into this simply tooled body and the inclusion of swivel wrists really give this scale the necessary punch to make it a better and more fun toy. We’re not saying that it’s an ideal large-sized action figure, but it certainly could be worse. The head sculpt also has a wide range of motion and we’re sure that if you decide to get the other characters in the Hero Series line that you could absolutely make a pretty neat display environment, if that’s your bag. But these figures, at least in the case of the Stormtrooper, have one glaring issue that we can’t get passed.

We are having major issues with the paint operations. And it’s not how neatly or cleanly they’re applied. It’s that they’re NOT applied. If you look at the Stormtrooper 12-Inch Figure, you should be able to notice just how many missing paint operations he has. How does this slip by quality control. When you look at the other figures in this line, it seems for the most part that all the colors are in place. But why would the Stormtrooper, when technically there is only one other color to worry about here, be missing all of the VERY important black detailing that is necessary to give him his shape and form? We are at a loss for words. These are kids toys. We get it. But the Stormtrooper looks half finished almost to the point that perhaps it came off of the conveyor belt too abruptly. Interestingly, the 2014 SW [DV/ROTS] Stormtrooper 12-Inch Figure also had the same issues, so we’re inclined to believe that this might be intentional. Either way, if Hasbro can add the missing details, this toy could look a whole lot better.