Spacetrooper - SW [SOTDS] - Saga Legends (SL31)

Spacetroopers are high-ranking Imperial commandos who wear powersuit armor designed for space combat. These Zero-G Assault Troopers are considered "walking tanks" because of the extensive weaponry built into their suits.

Star Wars collectors are a very vocal bunch when it comes to voicing our complaints and grievances to Hasbro. And the ”older” we get, the crankier we get. Every now and again Hasbro listens to us and tries their best to remedy issues ranging from lack of availability, limited distribution or just plain not meeting demand. Perhaps the 2010 LC Spacetrooper (BD58) fits all of the previous criteria. It was intended to be a general release figure in the Expanded Universe wave of the Legacy Collection. But Hasbro canceled the Legacy Collection to start planning for The Vintage Collection and wave 6 (or wave 13 depending upon how you look at the wave designations) was relegated to a Toys R Us exclusive (first) and then remaining availability was available at online retail (second). Despite these efforts, the wave still didn’t meet demand and enraged collectors all around voiced dissatisfaction at seemingly heightened levels. Collectors wondered what would be next to secure all of the action figures from this wave for their collections. Hasbro has been overall noncommittal in their response about getting the figures from this wave back out at retail, but so far Cloud City Wind Guard [Utris M’Toc] (BD50) and now the Spacetrooper (BD58) are the only two action figures from this wave yet to be re-released. Perhaps this is either a good sign that the rest are coming or just something unrelated like Hasbro thinks these are good army builders. We’re not 100% sure, but we’ll take what we can get even if they have to come again via piecemeal. Hopefully the other figures from this great wave make it out again one day soon, although we will decidedly remain not too confident about this.

The Spacetrooper was edged into the third wave of the “Shadow Of The Dark Side” Saga Legends line and this figure is certainly more than welcomed by most. You won’t get a Build A Droid piece this time around, but you will instead get a figure that is in the best condition we have ever seen it. What makes the secondary (2011) release of the Spacetrooper the better figure are a couple of things. The updates and changes are, to quote Adam Pawlus from GalacticHunter.com, “different enough to make you mad”. But anger issues aside, an updated figure is something that thrills us. Making great figures better is the only way to go as far as we're concerned. The great news is that Hasbro enhanced the figure significantly (well, through our eyes at least). So if you found the Spacetrooper during the Legacy Collection era, you may be the one who is the actual sucker. For Hasbro has now molded the Spacetrooper in brilliant white plastic. There is no yellowing or fading at all. The overall dullness and discoloring found on the original release is now gone and in its place is a sterling and very clean action figure. They’ve also tightened up the paint operations in the black painted details as well as the silver, red and blue details (primarily on the back) as well. This effectively makes this figure a strikingly worthy candidate to add to your collection for the second time because you’ll appreciate just how clean he looks in 2011 versus 2010. The other enhancement is that the figure now comes with a gun (the 2010 LC version did not) which is a repaint of the weapon that came with 2009’s TLC Wioslea (BD 36) figure. (To credit Adam Pawlus again, he was the first to bring this to the cognition of the collecting body.)

We often don’t write about a figure that is seemingly a straight repack in the Research Droids Reviews column like most of the Saga Legends figures that see rerelease over and over again, but the Spacetrooper is an action figure that has been updated enough to be considered “newish” (another word learned from AP) for us. Trust us when we tell you that this figure is significantly cleaner than its predecessor. The differences are impressive. We also find the fact that the Spacetrooper was released in the Saga Legends line. This pokes big holes in Hasbro’s argument that the Saga Legends line is geared towards kids. The Expanded Universe wave of the Legacy Collection was made in numbers about the same as wave 7 of The Legacy Collection (the Attack Of The Clones wave – and we all know how hard that wave was to find) for the explicit reason that it was geared towards collectors. Granted, what kid wouldn’t want to play around with a hulky Stormtrooper? But for Hasbro to include the Spacetrooper in a kid-focused basic figure line is something that makes us scratch our heads. Perhaps a more fitting release for the Spacetrooper would have been in The Vintage Collection. If Hasbro is to remain consistent on their stance of what the Saga Legends line should encompass, then the “collector” figures shouldn’t be part of it, right? (We’re being sarcastic and trying to make the point that Saga Legends should be geared towards collectors more than it is. That means we’d like to see fans’ choice polls again with this line.) The Spacetrooper update is just that. You’ll absolutely want to replace your old version with this one! (Editor's Note: Adam, if you read this, thank you for the years of hard work, the inspiration and for being a good sport here.)