Equipped
with specialized weaponry like the DC-17m rifle, special tactical visors,
and Katarn-class body armor, the Republic Commandos can infiltrate the
deepest, darkest reaches of the Separatist strongholds. The Clone Wars
were won or lost, more often than not, due to the efforts of small, anonymous
squads of Republic commandos, working behind the scenes and deep behind
enemy lines to do what larger armies could not.
Oh, the
long-awaited Republic Commando mini busts have finally been released
by Gentle Giant Ltd.! It has been grueling, but they are completely worth
it. Sculpted and painted beyond expectations, the Republic Commandos
are the finest collectibles we have seen from Gentle Giant in quite some
time. The first time a collectible was attempted for this tough band
of brothers was also done by Gentle Giant, but it was in the form of
a faux bronze maquette which became a Star Wars Shop exclusive. It was
repainted in color a year later but it didn't capture the magic of the
original piece. But fans
wanted to get them in mini bust form and here they finally are. But the
edition sizes of each may not meet all of the demand and this is a terrible
shame because they are some of the best mini busts Gentle Giant has ever
created. And we don't say that these are the best yet because they are
the newest additions to the long, healthy line of mini busts. They are
some of the best because of their brilliant sculpts, stunning paint jobs
and excellent execution from prototype to finished product. This review
is about Boss, but we can't help but rave about the others here too.
Boss, the
Republic commando with the orange color flashes, is known as RC-1138 (Delta
Three-Eight) and the number 38 is painted on his backpack. "Boss" is
technically his nickname. Constructed in a attention-grasping pose, Boss
has a posture and attitude that is not seen too often in the mini bust
line. While we have see many clone troopers designed by Gentle Giant
with extended arms and pointing figures, never have we seen such "attitude"
captured in a polystone product before from them. His head is cocked
ever so slightly which brings the piece an unprecedented amount of threat
and prowess. With his gun pointing upwards, it's a safe bet that this
is a clone trooper you should not aggravate. While he looks bright in
spots, Gentle Giant did a phenomenal job to ensure that enough scoring
and scratching was applied to the armor to break up what started
off as a beautiful and solid paint job. The visor is painted especially
well and we almost swear we can see our reflection in it. The white
parts of the armor show signs of battle and have plenty of dirt and grit
from the elements of the various planets where they defended the Republic.
Limited to
only 1300 pieces, we bet that this mini bust will be quite a battle to
find. But Gentle Giant Ltd.. did something special for Premier Guild
Members in order to guarantee that the four individual Republic commandos
would be relatively simple to add into their collections. But even so,
these pieces were scoffed up by PGMs and the stock almost immediately
evaporated in minutes. So, in a nutshell, it may be wise to start tracking
them down as soon as possible before time makes their MSRP exponentially
increase. Boss is a mini bust that should please all collectors. The
Republic Commando video game has a lot of fans who still love these
characters. The 2006 TSC Republic Commando Delta Squad set by Hasbro was pretty good,
but can barely touch the wondrous artwork of Gentle Giant's mini bust
interpretations of them. And we think that Boss is one of the standout
commandos in the four piece set. A PBM exclusive, only a small amount
were allotted for PGM collectors, the rest are being held for that event.
It is really amazing how much better the high end collectibles are coming out and Boss is a fine example of Gentle Giant's best work yet.
