Clone Trooper (501st Legion) - TCW [B] - Basic (Exclusive)

The clone trooper forces are gathering together for their next mision – and they want you to join them! With your own Republic Army Identification Card, you can become a member of the most elite fighting force in the galaxy. Your destiny awaits – join today!

Wait a minute. Is this a 501st Legion Clone Trooper or an animated version of the Episode II clone trooper lieutenant? Actually, if you think about it now, it makes sense why we received so many "screen inaccurate" clone trooper officers before The Clone Wars was released. The clones in The Clone Wars only had the fin and visor colored. The "forehead" section was white. While The Clone Wars line is introducing some very cool new characters and awesome new clone troopers, it becomes a little confusing when an established character gets renamed into something it really isn’t. That being said, this Clone Trooper (Lieutenant) lookalike is one awesome action figure and to be technical, The Clone Wars Clone Trooper (501st Legion) figure is different as we have described above in that it doesn’t have that uninterrupted blue stripe on its helmet. Of course neither did some of Hasbro’s versions of the clone trooper officers, but again, this is probably the reason why. We digress. Released at a time when TARGET was being themed as the store to get all of the red colored clone troopers, Walmart focused on the blue ones. One of the best painted clone troopers in recent memory, we have never come across a clone where some many samples in the wild looked fantastic (as a group) as far as even lines and careful execution in the paint applications.

Clone Trooper (501st Legion) is such a simple action figure but he already ranks high on our lists as one of our favorite action figures simply because of his incredible simplicity. He is clean, well-painted and extremely well-accessorized. He has everything you'd want in a kid/collector action figure and in this instance you get to be a card-carrying clone member yourself. (It actually comes with an ID card.) And since we like to consider him an inaccurate animated version of the Episode II lieutenant, well, that just makes him extra special. A brilliantly clean version of The Clone Wars [Film/Season 1] Clone Trooper (No. 5) action figure, this mold has been used for quite a few other figures as well including the 2008 San Diego Comic Con exclusive 2008 TCW [B] Clone Trooper (Senate Security) figure. It’s a great mold thanks to super-articulation as well as nice and even proportions in the body. The joints all move extremely well and there really isn’t much to complain about at all, aside from lack of a great dirty paint job, as far as this figure is concerned. A very easy army-builder, we expect this to be a popular figure among kids and collectors alike. Inundated with ball-jointed points of articulation, this figure will absolutely help you accomplish your positioning goals in your dioramas. He has a great center of gravity which allows him to hold large and heavy guns with great ease too.

The Clone Trooper (501st Legion) was very briefly seen in The Clone Wars film and in fact he is only shown a handful of times and very quickly. He served as a background character alongside Captain Rex throughout the entire film. You really have to keep your eyes open to catch him otherwise you'll completely miss him. While you would expect him to be prevalent in the film, this is not the case at all. The packaging of this figure is definitely geared at the kiddies. Ast stated previously, it comes packaged with a special (and official we assume) Republic Army identification card that let’s you “join the clone trooper” ranks. This card can be easily removed form the front of the packaging and replaced. So carded collectors can stop sweating bullets over this. Or they could just open up the figure and fully enjoy him. The Clone Wars is full of colorful clone troopers and it seems that no end is in sight for what Hasbro may be bringing to us in the future. But our recommendation is to stay as far away as possible to the clones that look familiar to the ones we have seen in Episode II. There is a vast array of cool clone troopers that have yet to be attempted. So please try those next Hasbro! The Clone Trooper (501st Legion) is a figure that is very easy to quickly fall in love with but he doesn’t bring anything earth shattering to your collection. Loaded with accessories and possessing the capability to build your armies quickly, this action figure is definitely a no-brainer!