Star Wars Troop Builders III (Sandtroopers) - SW [S - P1] - Multipacks (Exclusive)

Fans asked. Hasbro listened. And beginning with the Star Wars “Saga” line, Hasbro released “Trooper Builders” to the collecting community so we could develop our armies relatively fast. Not all that Hasbro produced excelled. Getting four of the same figure hardly qualifies as “troop building,” but in 2003 they upped the ante quite a bit with the Star Wars Troop Builders III (Sandtroopers) set. Thanks to their various officer rankings designated by a differently colored pauldron, Hasbro cobbled together a set of four unique figures for this four-pack and delighted collectors almost everywhere. Based on 2001’s POTJ Sandtrooper (Tatooine Patrol) figure, four clean and all-white Sandtrooper action figures make up the Star Wars Troop Builders III (Sandtroopers) multipack. One is screen-inaccurate, but none of us cared. The one with the “gray” pauldron is not in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, although, one could argue that the gray could be either be a dirty white pauldron or a dirty black pauldron. There are three Sandtrooper officers. Black represents a corporal. White represents a sergeant. And orange represents a squad leader (or sometimes a commander). This four-pack is a bit weak when it comes to deco, but many collectors are less concerned with that because it seems more important to get all three Sandtrooper types utilizing the same sculpt.

As previously mentioned, the Sandtrooper figures in this set utilize the sculpt of 2001’s Power Of The Jedi Sandtrooper (Tatooine Patrol) figure. It’s an oddity that the figure in 2001 came with a gray pauldron then, and it’s still odd here. But the base figure is a tremendous step forward in Hasbro’s attempt to bring a modern and accurate Sandtrooper action figure. It’s not aging that much a couple of years later. With a thinner body and an accurate helmet, the figure still holds up well. Hasbro left off any paint operations giving the Sandtroopers in this set a lack of screen accuracy. We’ve never seen a “clean” Sandtrooper before, so this is the greatest setback of this Trooper Builders set. Articulation is also not up to par for these types of characters either. The figure doesn’t mean our expectations of what a stormtrooper/sandtrooper should have in terms of articulation. Eight points of swivel articulation are not acceptable anymore, especially since we have super-articulated Clone Troopers in the Star Wars toy line now. Each Sandtrooper comes with a removable survival backpack and an E-11 blaster. So, interestingly, they look like clones of each other, save for the differently colored pauldrons. In all honesty, these Sandtrooper figures aren’t that bad. They’re certainly tremendous upgrades from the 1995 The Power Of The Force “2” [Red] figure. We do believe that collectors will be thankful for this release and fully embrace what Hasbro accomplished here.

The third set in a line of who knows how many will come with the future, the Star Wars Troop Builders III (Sandtroopers) set comes packaged in a white mailer box and is an online exclusive. Various online retailers sold this set and the Fan Club had it for order as well. With an MSRP of $17.99, the price is fair considering we’re getting four unique figures in this set. Getting four identical figures with no changes among them seems less fair at $17.99 for some reason. We don’t believe the previous sets interested collectors nearly as much as this set did. And the Star Wars Troop Builders III (Sandtroopers) multipack sold out twice online in a short amount of time. So, Hasbro was thinking in the right way by releasing a pack of Sandtroopers. We do feel strongly that over time this Sandtrooper action figure will age out. Hasbro opened up a can of worms by releasing a stunning super-articulated Clone Trooper action figure in the Clone Wars line, so collectors are going to expect the same treatment for Original Trilogy troopers too. The Star Wars Troop Builders III (Sandtroopers) is the best “troop building” four-pack so far in the line. We think better packaging would have helped, but we’ll take them any way they come.