Clone Trooper - SW [DV/ROTS] - Saga Legends (SL02)

A mighty army is being created on Kamino, an army of Clone Troopers engineered and trained to be super-soldiers loyal to the Republic. Their first real battle takes place on Geonosis, where they are deployed to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala from their Separatist captors.

Send in the clones! That must have been what the top level executive ordered the Hasbro boys’ development team for the 2013 Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] line. Understandably, clone troopers are a big deal for younger Star Wars fans. And today there may be almost as many adult collectors who purchase them as well. But Hasbro has changed the format on how they’re approaching action figures for the younger markets now. Figures have been reduced to a mere five points of articulation and come mildly accessorized with only one weapon. They’ve even reduced the size of the packaging. Two things resulted from this new approach. Firstly, the MSRP on a kids’ action figure has gone down to $5.99 and secondly, they have carved out a big portion of the buying public (adult collectors) who just simply cannot get on board with these newly designed action figures. Admittedly they have a retro feel to them and for that we have to give kudos to Hasbro. But this doesn’t mean that we will all jump on board with them.

One of the first characters on tap for the 2013 Saga Legends line was the Clone Trooper from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones. This all-new figure with five points of articulation doesn’t have that bad of a sculpt at all. Besides being designed with feet that look a tad too large, the Clone Trooper (SL02) action figure may serve its purpose well in both kids’ and collector’s collections. Molded in a very static pose, the Clone Trooper can’t be manipulated into an infinite array of positions, but the proportions are good enough to fit in as background characters for various dioramas and display shelves. And for less than $6 each, they’re affordable and give collectors a new way of army building. Think about it, the squadrons of stormtroopers we saw in Episode VI were just a matte painting and they were static by definition. So these upright clones may serve a purpose after for adult collectors specifically. The choice will have to be yours.

The head sculpt in particular for the phase I Clone Trooper is done very well. And the overall figure is fairly proportionate to the super-articulated Clone Trooper (VC45) figure we received in The Vintage Collection. That being said, it’s no secret how limiting the figure is. You are stuck with essentially a few different poses that look realistic without appearing too fabricated or desperate. It’s evident that this clone, no pun intended, is a template for the others in the Saga Legends and Mission Series lines. Hasbro has brought no fewer than four clones (phase I as well as phase II) into the introductory waves of these collections total already. It’s evident that they’ll be making good use of this sculpt from here on out. This means they will likely get boring very quickly for adult collectors. But if it’s the kids they’re trying to engage with these, then that’s a wager we will have to see how it gets played out from the sidelines. Clone Trooper is absolutely a decent action figure. It totally looks like a vintage Kenner Episode II Clone Trooper. That may be the only selling point it needs.