AT-TE Tank Gunner - ROTS - Basic (III 38)

These elite clone trooper specialists received advanced training under ARC troopers on Kamino. They have specialized skills to operate the AT-TE (All Terrain Tactical Enforcer) tanks and other armored vehicles.

There were so many clone trooper concepts that never made it to the final version of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. If you ask us for our opinion, we think that George Lucas tried to fit way too much into the final Star Wars film that he ultimately had to make some sad cuts that had originally been intended for the film. There were so many necessary wrap up points Lucas and company had to include that great battle sequences like the Battle Of Kashyyyk and Order 66 were so heavily edited and never turned out the way the storyboards had intended them. As a result, many clone trooper concepts that looked great on paper stayed there. It’s quite evident that Hasbro had access to these early concepts because so many of the clone action figures that made up the Revenge Of The Sith line were never seen in the film. Enter the AT-TE Tank Gunner. We never saw this clone trooper in Episode III. We did however see his vehicle in the film which may be part of the reason that Hasbro felt this character needed to be realized in action figure form. AT-TE Tank Gunner has some moments, but once you analyze it carefully, you may realize it’s not everything you want it to be.

AT-TE Tank Gunner is about 50% awesome and 50% extremely disappointing. But depending upon the way you utilize this figure in your collection can determine just how important it is to you. Set up on the included environmental action figure stand, the AT-TE Tank Gunner is actually quite impressive. Hasbro developed a new technology included for the first time with this figure and it comes in the form of ball-jointed hips. They are extremely functional and so practical for posing the figure is a multitude of ways that we wish they included on the other clone troopers in the Revenge Of The Sith line. But not only does this figure come with ball-jointed hips, AT-TE Tank Gunner comes with ball-jointed knees and ball-jointed ankles. As you can imagine, this system of articulation is wholly responsible for giving this figure an infinite array of movement throughout its lower body. It’s its upper body where you’ll lose patience. Unfortunately where AT-TE Tank Gunner succeeds is diminished by how it fails in the shoulders and elbows. Riddled with swivel articulation, you’ll nearly go mad trying to attain a fully natural pose. Unlimited movement in the lower body with static movement in the upper body ultimately isn’t collector friendly.

Something also went wrong in the paint operation department. AT-TE Tank Gunner has the worst (and most humorous) eye paint we have experienced in the line too date. He actually looks like he is trying to make a “funny” face due to his crossed eyes. It’s actually a shame because the head sculpt is rather excellent. But on a more positive note, this figure has a great deal of versatility (if you can get past the upper body articulation). The figure comes with a removable standard clone trooper helmet and a special AT-TE Tank Gunner helmet covering. With some finagling, you can get the AT-TE Tank Gunner portion onto the clone trooper helmet and it’ll stay firmly in place (within reason). The figure also comes with a DC-15 blaster, a Biker Scout blaster and a removable pauldron/harness combination piece that is difficult to remove from the figure but possible. He also comes with Felucian-like environmental base which nicely complements him. We actually like this figure very much, it’s just that we’re very disappointed that Hasbro decides to make a figure half excellent and then half “annoying” (for lack of a better word). But if you just choose to have this figure as a display piece, it’s really all you need. But we would love to see Hasbro update this figure in super-articulated glory. Who knows when that will be however.