"Quick Draw" Clone Trooper

Height: 10cm to top of helmet.

Articulation: 21 total points of articulation: ball-jointed neck; 5 points in each arm- double-jointed shoulder, double-jointed elbow, swivel wrist; 5 points in each leg- swivel hips, double-jointed knees, double-jointed ankles. "Quick Draw" action: feature raises right arm when legs are squeezed.

Accessories: Blaster, Blaster Rifle, Left Shoulder Armor x2.

Colors: Molded white, and black(weapons). Painted black, silver, gray, blue(helmet detailing) and brown(rifle stock).

Release Data: Released April 2nd, 2005 for an MSRP of $5.99. This item is still in production as of this writing (April 10th, 2005)

Gallery: 7 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

Every once in a while, I buy a Star Wars figure. I like the films- all of them, to various degrees. And obviously, I like toys. It would seem to be a no-brainer to own Star Wars toys for me. And I do own a minor number of Star Wars figures- mainly in the 12" line.

Why? Because I had the original 3-3/4-inch figures from Kenner in my early childhood- the ones with 5-point articulation, neck, shoulders, hips- sculpted in a pose that even then put me in mind of rigor mortis. Eventually, in more recent years, the poses got better, but the articulation, not as much. The figures could swing their arms and bend their legs, so as to fit in their vehicles(sold separately), but little more. Certainly, they were not articulated to the degree of some of the 1/6 scale figures and, later on, Japanese toys that I'd begun to collect in the meantime. Even so, if something in the small scale looks neat, I'll pick it up once in a blue moon, and articulation be damned.

Of course, it's pretty common knowledge that the last of the Star Wars films is coming out this year, and of course, there are toys. Lots of toys. When I spotted the new Clone Trooper sporting elbow joints that were clearly visible while the figure was still in-package, I decided it might be worth a look to see if Hasbro had gotten the concept.

The Head

The new Clone Trooper helmet design is naturally midway between the Clone Troopers of Episode II and the Stormtroopers of Episodes IV-VI. The helmet is the head, and sits on a rather large ball-joint. There's ample clearance for a nice degree of tilt in any direction you could want, and completely unrestricted swivel.

The Arms

The arms are nicely jointed- not what an MSiA fan's grown accustomed to, of course, but pretty nice all the same. The shoulders and elbows are both a combination of hinge- and swivel-joints, and have a range only limited by the shapes of their sockets. This limits the elbows to slightly less than a 90-degree bend, and the left arm can't quite level out because of the limitations imposed by the detachable shoulder armor. However, in a surprisingly good bit of engineering, the Clone's "Quick Draw" arm isn't restricted by the necessities of the action feature- it turns freely, without even a click. Nice! The wrists swivel 360 degrees, and it has no problem holding either of the included weapons in either hand.

The Torso

Sadly, the torso lacks anything resembling a waist joint, in order to accomodate the action feature. Lacking anything else of note to say about it, this seems like a good time and place to mention that the proportions are very nice on this sculpt, most noticably in the body- it doesn't really sport "heroic" or powerful-looking proportions. It's shaped pretty much like a real human being, and that's fairly unusual in terms of an action figure's build, even in supposedly "realistic" lines like 1/6 scale figures. Those always look far more muscular than most real people ever will.

The Legs and Feet

The legs are also quite good, with one thing I'd perceive as a failing: the hips are plain old swivel joints, just as they've always been. Nothing wrong with that, really- the knees are also a combination of swivels and hinges, as are the ankles, and you can still get a surprisingly good range of stable poses. I would like a bit more forward range in the ankles, but what's here isn't bad.

Given the articulation of the rest of the figure, though, a ball-joint hip or another hinge-swivel combo would give it quite a bit more freedom to pose. The Quick Draw feature may be at fault here, since it's the kind where you squeeze the legs together to make the Clone Trooper raise his right arm. That feature works rather well, and as I mentioned, doesn't interfere with the movement of the right arm in the least. I am concerned about how secure the right leg is, though- I have a set of Bill and Ted action figures who both lost their right leg to over-use of a similar feature. That having been said, I doubt I'll be using it much on the Clone Trooper.

Paint and Detailing

Paint is fairly minimal- all the details and black areas are painted onto the white figure. The deco is pretty sharp overall, especially the tiny details on the helmet, though there does seem to be a bit of smudging around the face. The other minor issue is that the right elbow and knee joint are underpainted, and white shows through at the edges. Of course, it's likely that the left side will come to match them, since all the joints good and tight, and are going to see a fair amount of friction.

Articulation gets 8/10

Sculpt and Deco get 8/10

Accessories:

-Blaster

The smaller of the two Blasters included amounts to a fairly large handgun. The detail is pretty nice- not as crisp as most MSiA weapons, but also a fair bit smaller than most of those. Also, it's made of somewhat more rigid plastic, and should be better at keeping its shape. Mine is very slightly curved, though- examine the figure carefully before you buy, if possible, because if your Blaster is severely bent, I imagine it'll stay that way. No paint applications here- it's solid black plastic, which is perfectly in keeping with the appearance of most Star Wars firearms.

-Blaster Rifle

Much more imposing than the first Blaster, this is best used as a two-handed weapon. The arm joints are capable of supporting the rifle in a single hand, but it looks awfully unwieldy. There's a cylindrical piece on the bottom of the rifle which makes an excellent secondary handgrip, and I figure was designed to be used as such. Unfortunately, due to the shortness of the stock, the rifle can't quite be shouldered, but you can get a similar pose that looks quite nice, if nothing else. The rifle seems pretty close to perfectly straight, and even has a spot of brown paint for the non-functioning stock.

-Left Shoulder Armor

You have a choice of two: plain white, or stamped with the Imperial logo. While this is a rather neat feature, I'll probably have to wait until I see Revenge of the Sith to see if it serves any purpose. All I can say that it does for certain is restrict the range of the left shoulder. It's a nice idea, and certainly allows collectors to amass a version of uniformly-decorated Clone Troopers, but I wonder if the design might have been served better by having paint variants instead of option parts. It would've sold more figures, I'm sure.

Accessories get 7/10

Closing Remarks:

The Clone Trooper was a pleasant surprise. Those who've stayed on top of the Star Wars line probably won't be as thrilled with it as I was, but hopefully should find it a fine addition to their collections all the same. I'd like to see better hips, and a waist, but otherwise there's much articulation to be had here, and the action feature is implemented without interfering with the figure much, if indeed at all. Simply put, it's the best Star Wars figure I've ever owned, and the best figure with a leg-squeezing action feature I've ever owned too.

I just plain lucked out on the Clone Trooper, as the store where I purchased it had it on sale for $5. At that price, it's definitely worth it, as an impulse buy or as an addition to a larger collection. At the MSRP of $5.99, it's still worth it, and a unit of reasonable size can be assembled for relatively little. It's a Very Good figure, and it's enough to make me want to take a second look at the small-scale Star Wars line for the first time in quite a while.

-RAC 04/10/2005