Clone Trooper - R - Saga Legends (SL08)

Clone Troopers are engineered and trained to be super-soldiers loyal to the Republic. Their first real battle takes place on Geonosis, where they are deployed to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala from their Separatist captors.

What’s a collector to do in the midst of an infiltration of action figures that can’t do much but stay in the static poses they were sculpted? And what if those action figures are clones who in the films and in other Star Wars Expanded Universe sources are in full action 100% of the time? The answer is simple: deal with it. The Saga Legends line has taken a sharp left turn and its now the new platform for Hasbro to bring budget Star Wars action figures to a generation of fans they don’t have it (and we imagine a few current customers as well). Hasbro sort of eliminated the “Saga Legends” and “Mission Series” titles from the Rebels line, although they do sport respective SL and MS designations anyway. Regardless, the new Saga Legends line is the new basic figure line for Rebels action figures and Hasbro is making a concerted effort to bring a few movie based characters into the line to help augment the focus on Rebels. It does seem like adding an Episode II Clone Trooper to the Rebels lineup is odd, but maybe Hasbro is banking that kids will want them since Stormtroopers are so prevalent in the show. Maybe that will be one of the selling points.

One of the first characters on tap for the 2013 Saga Legends line was the Clone Trooper from Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Now he is available again under the Rebels banner. This repacked figure with five points of articulation doesn’t have that bad of a sculpt at all, but he is TOTALLY limited on what you can do with him. Besides being designed with feet that look a tad too large (almost like clown shoes), the Clone Trooper (SL08) action figure may serve its purpose well in both kids’ and collector’s collections. Molded in a very static pose, the Clone Trooper can’t be manipulated into an infinite array of positions, but the proportions are good enough to fit in as background characters for various dioramas and display shelves. And for less than the average super-articulated figure, they’re affordable and give collectors a new way of army building. Think about it, the squadrons of stormtroopers we saw in Episode VI were just a matte painting and they were static by definition. So these upright clones may serve a purpose after for adult collectors specifically. The choice will have to be yours. We’re certainly not fully approving of this just to reiterate. But it is what it is.

The head sculpt in particular for the phase I Clone Trooper is done very well (visually speaking). And the overall figure is fairly proportionate to the super-articulated Clone Trooper (VC45) figure we received in The Vintage Collection. That being said, it’s no secret how limiting the figure is.  It cannot do a fraction of what the super-articulated version can do. You are stuck with essentially a few different poses that look realistic without appearing too fabricated or desperate. But good luck trying to make this Clone Trooper run or pose with a gun. It just ain’t happening. It’s evident that this clone, no pun intended, is a template for the others in the Saga Legends and Mission Series lines. Hasbro has brought no fewer than four clones (phase I as well as phase II) into the introductory waves of these collections total already and more are sure to come in the future. It’s evident that they’ll be making good use of this sculpt from here on out. This means they will likely get boring very quickly for adult collectors. But if it’s the kids they’re trying to engage with these, then that’s a wager we will have to see how it gets played out from the sidelines. Clone Trooper is absolutely a decent action figure. It totally looks like a vintage Kenner Episode II Clone Trooper. That may be the only selling point it needs.