ARC Trooper Fives - TVC - Basic (VC172)

After years of “nothing” for toys from The Clone Wars, it feels awkward getting figures again from the now-classic television series at a mid-pace crawl. It feels like ALL of the action figures in The Vintage Collection will be entering the line at a crawl. But we’re getting some fantastic figures amid a messy rollout. Many have commented that Hasbro only expends all-new tooling for characters from the Disney Star Wars Entertainment umbrella. Although The Clone Wars started before the takeover, it’s been grandfathered into the Disney canon as a viable source of storytelling, and corresponding marketing, like toys and other media. The Season 4 episode of The Clone Wars entitled “Darkness on Umbara” made its debut a long time ago, but we’re now just getting ARC Trooper Five in 3.75” super-articulated status, nearly a decade after the episode first aired. And the results aren’t half bad. We’re not entirely sold on this figure, but there should be enough excellence here to make The Vintage Collection collectors happy. Multiple things will probably make them feel dissatisfied as well. ARC Trooper Fives is a straight repack of the figure from the 501st Legion ARC Troopers (Echo/Fives/Jesse} Special Action Figure Set, a “convention” exclusive for 2020. The tooling is all-new, and collectors should count themselves fortunate.

In the packaging, ARC Trooper Fives looks line a fine action figure. After all of these years, Hasbro still has trouble properly sizing the Phase II bucket, and the helmet on ARC Trooper Fives looks like it’s too big. It’s not as bad as the earlier Phase II Clone Troopers in The Vintage Collection, but a sizing issue still exists. We prefer ARC Trooper Fives with the helmet removed. The figure has more personality without the helmet on its head, but the detail in the “human clone” portrait is quite impeccable. That said, there are deco issues with it. For reasons unknown, ARC Trooper Fives has black hair and dark bronze eyebrows, and a goatee. What’s up with that? Aide from this strange paint application, the Photo Real deco looks incredible, and Hasbro miraculously affixed the “5” tattoo on the figure’s forehead perfectly straight. You’ll also find a lot of blue and gray paint throughout ARC Trooper Fives’ armor. A couple of spots have poorly applied paint, but mostly Hasbro did a fine job painting this figure exceptionally well. The gauntlets have some extra detail, and they look beautiful too. We’re particularly fond of the “striped” lower legs, shared with many ARC troopers within the Star Wars timeline. The pauldron accessory design is screen-accurate, and overall we know collectors will be thrilled with how the figure succeeds visually.

There is a small debate on whether Hasbro scaled this ARC Trooper Fives body slightly smaller than other Clone Troopers in The Vintage Collection. We notice a somewhat smaller stature, but nothing that’s overly noticeable or something we feel is emergent to remedy. Where ARC Trooper Fives fails, a little bit is with the articulation. It’s not because Hasbro didn’t give this figure a wealth of premium articulation, because they did. ARC Trooper Fives has 28 points of articulation, most of which are upscaled ball-jointed movement. The issue is that the molded belt/holster/kama combination piece, which is gorgeous, by the way, inhibits the movement of the ball-jointed hips, swivel thighs, and knees to utter disappointment. Thanks to the “rocker” ankles, collectors will find ARC Trooper Fives offers more flexibility than other action figures with the same encumbrance. Perhaps the most significant thing to focus on with this action figure is the number of accessories Hasbro included here. ARC Trooper Fives comes with four weapons, a removable pauldron, and a removable helmet with an articulated rangefinder. Overall, most TVC collectors will want to add ARC Trooper Fives to their collections, but they’re also going to want more clones from The Clone Wars added. As of the date we received this figure, Hasbro still hadn’t officially announced this figure as part of any case assortment.