41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper - TVC - Basic (VC145)

Celebrate the legacy of Star Wars, the action-and-adventure-packed space saga from a galaxy far, far away, with this collection of premium, highly-detailed 3.75-inch scale figures and vehicles. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.)

The adage that is now cliché in the Star Wars toy line, “third time’s the charm,” is more applicable than ever. It has taken Hasbro THREE TIMES now to perfect the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper. And what better time to ensure everything is in place than for The Vintage Collection release? In 2013, Hasbro released The Black Series [Phase I] 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper (#12) figure, and it became one of their most screen-inaccurate action figures of all time. With a zany gray chevron pattern running along the perimeter of the action figure’ parts with a strikingly all-white background, the first version of the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper didn’t meet collectors’ expectations at all. To their credit, Hasbro quickly addressed the figure’s awful paint operations and released an “international-only” correction. But the correction wasn’t a full correction. While a significant improvement, complete with battle-worn details, the figure still missed important parts that remained white when they should have been updated with gray color flashes. Now we’ve reached this figure’s third release (same sculpt – same everything). And Hasbro got it right, thankfully. Aside from a bucket that is still much too large, this is our definitive release of the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper action figure. There is no other way to state it. Thank the Maker it is part of The Vintage Collection! Numbered VC145, the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper is 100 spots away from its "base" figure, the 2011 TVC Clone Trooper (VC45) figure. We find that to be a cool coincidence.

Throughout the years, we’ve gone through a fair share of 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper action figures. Each successive release showed improvement from the previous release, and collectors appreciated the enhancements with each new release. Our first version came in 2005’s ROTS Clone Attack On Coruscant TARGET exclusive Battle Packs set (and this set saw re-release multiple times throughout the years). The figures in this Battle Packs set weren’t super-articulated, but they served a purpose. Thankfully, Hasbro decided to make things better for collectors with the release of the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper in 2005’s ROTS Clone Trooper To Stormtrooper [Version 2] Evolutions set. The new version of this character was a tremendous update, but his helmet was oversized and came off of the figure’s head easily. But Hasbro made us feel overjoyed with 2008’s The Legacy Collection Clone Trooper (Coruscant Landing Platform) (BD 17) figure. Aesthetically, it looked the best up to that point. And Hasbro utilized the popular 2005 ROTS Clone Trooper (III 41) figure to make it. Still, the deco was better on the Evolutions figure. The Black Series [Phase I] 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper (#12) figure supersedes all previous versions thanks to its astounding articulation system borrowed from 2011’s TVC Clone Trooper (VC45) figure, but past versions have lackluster deco. The inclusion of "photorealistic technology" sets the bar high for this figure, and he's never looked better, even if he has too much color in the lips. Oh, and the "off-white" or "bone" color of his armor gives it a lived-in look instead of the "bright white" versions we've received in the past.

The Vintage Collection version corrects all past sins of the figure’s deco. They even managed to find the perfect gray colored paint to ensure screen-accuracy and authenticity. It's fantastic to see this figure upgraded in this manner. We're also happy to see the ankle joints changed to "white" to better match the armor. They were colored black on past versions. But there are still some of the original issues that never got resolved still present, like the figure’s lack of an antenna and the figure’s badly oversized helmet. This time, the helmet is a tad smaller and made from a hard plastic material. It has no pliability and fits on the figure's head more tightly. It looks much better. For us, the updated deco makes it a bit easier to overlook what is still physically wrong with the figure, but others may not be so amenable. If we’re ranking this figure by assessing it as a whole, and not separately what’s good about it and what’s bad about, we’d have to score it at about “excellent” for our purposes. You may not forgive some of the mistakes that remain, and perhaps deco should have never been an issue, to begin with, but at least they grabbed the bull by the horns and updated what they felt needed fixing. We’ve always been fond of the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper battalion. They were one of the most visible types of Clone Troopers in Revenge Of The Sith, and it was cool to see them work side by side with the 212th Attack Battalion under Clone Commander Cody. We firmly believe that this is the “last hurrah” for a 3.75” super-articulated 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper action figure. There is perhaps no other reason to revisit this character. At least the last version is part of The Vintage Collection!

Our samples were provided by Entertainment Earth. Be sure to place your order today for them!