Clone Trooper (Kamino) - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (TCW01)

The Republic Clone Troopers represented the future of galactic warfare. So symbolic were they of the times, the galaxy-wide conflict that saw their debut took its name from their ranks: The Clone Wars.

The Black Series [Phase IV] line appears to be taking the 6” line to new and excitingly unprecedented levels. Things like “butterfly” shoulders and tightened up joints seem to be the new normal from now on, and those two updates are enough to change the landscape of the line. Hasbro is also revisiting characters in new lights. Instead of dusting off the sculpts from yesteryear, they’re creating modern tooling to include better-than-ever articulation and mobility that wasn’t possible in the past. Creating a new “buck” for a popular Star Wars characters will receive a mixed reception from the collecting community. Many collectors want uniformity in their collections, and that’s understandable. Who wants two Stormtroopers or multiple Clone Troopers of varying scale? Trooper building uniformity is enormous, and it’s become a stumbling block for passionate collectors. That said, the Clone Trooper (Kamino) figure must be accepted as the new template for the phase I and phase II Clone Trooper action figures. Now, we won’t claim the action figure is perfect. But the enhancements are overwhelming, and we know the 6” collecting community will find favor with it.

Clone Trooper (Kamino) is an all-new figure. At face value, you might not note how Hasbro approached the Clone Trooper sculpt, but it’s quite different from the 2014’s TBS [P1] Clone Trooper (#14) figure. Firstly, let us state from the start that the new bucket is excellent. The Clone Trooper (Kamino) might now have the best paint operations on the helmet, but its design is divine. Correctly scaled to fit the figure’s body, the new helmet shows us that Hasbro paid close attention to what they screwed up on older models of the Phase II Clone Trooper. Interestingly, there is an unpainted “clone head” underneath the helmet. Hasbro has plans to make the most of this sculpt with future releases. But the addition of a ball-socket head with a reverse ball-socket neck give the Clone Trooper (Kamino) figure an impressive range of movement just in the head. Also, new to the Phase II Clone Trooper tooling, the incorporation of “butterfly” sliding joints incorporated with ball-jointed shoulders give the figure optimal movement. The shoulders don’t roll back as far as we’d hoped, but you do get additional movement thanks to the complex articulation in the shoulders.

The angle you can pose the arms at the elbows is also mind-blowing. Hasbro developed ball-jointed articulation that attains sharp angles we’ve never seen possible until now. We don’t think we’re exaggerating when we say that the elbows achieve 45 degrees. Do you remember when we were thrilled to get 90-degree angles of an action figure’s elbow? Well, the sky’s the limit now. The upper body joint is smooth as butter. The joint no longer click and sticks and keeps its position with ease. And the ball-socket hips are so tight, yet they move easily to pose the figure as you desire. The Black Series 6” figures will no longer sag on a shelf because their hips are slipping out. Gone are the double hinge-jointed knees (thanks to the Maker) and instead of a complex ball-jointed point of articulation that allows for a wide range of movement that is impressive beyond measure. Interestingly, the knee armor is attached to the thigh armor, but the knee is armor is detached from the ball-jointed knees. This articulation approach allows you to spin the knee as you need for action poses, while the knee armor plating stays in place to help with the figure’s aesthetics. Armored figures tend to look chunky and clunky. But Hasbro engineered near-miraculous features into this character’s articulation. We can’t wait to see what clones they plan to release using this template moving forward.