Range Trooper (Holiday Edition) - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Celebrate the season with specially designed Star Wars figures from The Black Series!

Hasbro took The Black Series 6” line into uncharted territory for 2020 with the exclusive line of Holiday Edition figures. They’re about as interesting, delightful, and festive as they are perverse, garish, and, quite frankly, tasteless. But no matter your position on them, we imagine that if you love Christmastime that you’ll find favor in this sub-line of characters. And we must admit that we have a morbid curiosity if we’ll see additional characters added to this framework for 2021 and beyond. Hasbro developed five “Expanded Universe” characters for the Holiday Edition subset of 6” figures. Some of the figures include new tooling, surprisingly, and Hasbro paired some of the characters with unconventional weapons. And each comes with a miniature character like porgs, also decorated in holiday festivities, while others come with a new take on D-O or Babu Frik. If you decide to appreciate this mini collection at face value, we bet you’ll find that most of these entries into the line are cute and worthy of consideration into your Star Wars collection. But there will undoubtedly be scrooges or grinches that will see the Holiday Edition The Black Series 6” line as a complete waste of Hasbro’s time and collectors’ money. Our opinion is somewhat agnostic. We see these figures’ charm, but we think it was partly an unnecessary stretch for Hasbro to take the 6” figures down this route. Lets’ take a closer look at the figures and determine what is exclusive to what retailer and so forth.

Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) is Amazon’s exclusive figure. Based on 2014’s TBS [P1] Stormtrooper (#09) figure, Hasbro colored the armor green with red enhancements, as well as striped boots and an “ugly sweater” pattern on the chest armor. The “ugly sweater” image features an Imperial AT-AT and an X-Wing fighter flying above it, separated by a string of Rebel Alliance insignias. The scene is reminiscent of a Star Wars Atari game due to the harsh block patterns and “dot-matrix” decorating, giving it a classic yet disjointed image. We don’t understand the point of the Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) weapon. Is it a hockey stick? Is it some snow removal device? Is it an accessory for an intergalactic winter game? Or is it a weapon to fend off the Rebel Alliance in the season of supposed good cheer? We’re not sure, but it’s a thoughtful combination of parts. The paint operations are gorgeous on this figure, even If the red and green clashes in your eyes, and when fully outfitted, the figure looks rather remarkable in bright light. The Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) figure comes paired with what we’re calling a “snow porg.” It's a repaint of the figure from 2018's TBS [P3] Porgs set. Looking quite similar to an arctic snow owl, Hasbro painted the porg figure all white and added black paint for its eyes. It interacts with the Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) figure nicely. And it seems like they’re a match made in heaven.

The Sith Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure is the newest of all sculpts in this year’s collection and is a Best Buy exclusive. Based on 2019’s TBS [P3] Sith Trooper San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, Hasbro opted for a green color palette for this figure. You’ll find a heavy concentration of red and white details throughout the midsection of the figure as well. It too has striped boots. To change things up a bit, Hasbro added the molded scarf from 2018's TBS [P3] Lando Calrissian (65) figure, and repainted it to be festive for this release. It is cast in red rubbery plastic so it is pliable as you place it on the figure. If you look carefully, the scarf has a snowflake pattern created out of six Sith Troopers’ helmets, and you find this design on each end of the scarf. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the “weapon” Hasbro decided to include with the Sith Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure. It comes with a megablaster, but Hasbro painted it the same color scheme as a NERF megablaster (white with orange details), which means this figure comes with a toy version of the weapon utilized by the First Order. That’s a brilliant idea to incorporate with this figure, and we have to give Hasbro props for coming up with it. Lastly, Hasbro repainted the Babu “Elf” Frik figure that came with 2019’s TBS [P3] C-3PO & Babu Frik TARGET exclusive set. Hasbro painted Babu Frik to look unrecognizable. And they used an “elf” theme coloring the figure to make it compatible with the Sith Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure. Collectors appear to get their money's worth with this figure set.

Clone Trooper (Holiday Edition) may be the brightest of all of the figures released in this collection. It’s a GameStop exclusive. Based on the Phase II Clone Trooper tooling released years ago, Hasbro decided to use it one more time for the Holiday Edition sub-line. The figure is entirely red, save for the top of the helmet, the shoulder armor, and the gauntlet armor. The figure also comes with striped boots and an ugly sweater like the Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) figure. Coincidentally, the Clone Trooper (Holiday Edition) “ugly sweater” pattern on the chest armor is an anachronism. Obviously, the characters in this line aren’t meant to represent their on-screen counterparts within the Star Wars timeline. In this case, the Battle of Endor has been retconned into the Prequel Trilogy. The “ugly sweater” pattern features the second Death Star surrounded by Imperial TIE fighters and separated by a chevron pattern, double lines, and snowflakes. While chronologically incorrect, we can easily let the oversight go since this character doesn’t exist in the Star Wars timeline. The Clone Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure comes with a candy cane-inspired version of the weapon that came with 2020's TBS [P3] Knight Of Ren (105) 6” figure. It’s a fascinating take on weaponry, but it’s quite festive at the same time. It seems that it could be used for good or bad, and we believe that it’s one of the most “holiday looking” accessories in this entire line. Clone Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure also comes with a “porg-quin” wearing a red scarf.

Snowtrooper (Holiday Edition) may be the boldest of the bunch. It is exclusive to Walmart and, to date, has been one of the most challenging figures to locate at retail. Based on 2016’s TBS [P3] Snowtrooper (35) figure, Hasbro went with an almost equal mix of red and green to decorate the figure’s outfit. The jumpsuit underneath is red, while most of the armor parts are green. The figure’s survival backpack is also cast in green plastic. Hasbro attempted to recreate a scarf pattern around the figure’s head. It almost works, but it may have been better if they weaved a soft-goods scarf with a color block pattern to tie around the figure’s head. The Snowtrooper also comes with white stockings with red stripes and black shoes. We should also mention the gloves are black as well. The Snowtrooper comes with a weapon not too different from the Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) figure. Again, is this a hockey stick, some magical staff, or a weapon to fight the Separatist Droid Army in Winter Wonderland? We find it odd that Hasbro decided to use the weaponry that came with 2017's TBS [P3] Elite Praetorian Guards (50) figure for the Snowtrooper (Holiday Edition) release. (They utilized the heavy blade from another Elite Praetorian Guard for the Imperial Stormtrooper (Holiday Edition) figure as well) Snowtrooper (Holiday Edition) comes with a standing “porg-quin” wearing a green scarf. Again, we love the pairing of these small creatures with the Holiday Edition characters.

Finally, the Range Trooper (Holiday Edition) is the most easily identifiable of all five figures. It’s a TARGET exclusive. Intended to be a Star Wars version of Santa Claus, the Range Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure also comes with a remarkable interpretation of D-O, which we’re calling “Ru-D-O-lph.” Based on 2018's TBS [P3] Range Trooper (64) figure, Hasbro tweaked the tooling a bit to make it compatible with the other figures in this sub-line. The Range Trooper comes with a mostly-red outfit, including the coat and pants with black boots. Hasbro also decorated the helmet to look like a Santa hat the best they could, but it works. Interestingly, Hasbro tooled a “rubbery” fur collar for the Range Trooper this time. The soft-goods are gone for this release, so Hasbro expended new tooling dollars to develop the Range Trooper (Holiday Edition) figure. The figure comes with an “ice” version of the weapon with the Sith Trooper San Diego Comic-Con exclusive release. It’s another odd addition, but it more or less works. But the highlight with this figure is “Ru-D-O-lph.” Hasbro repainted D-O from 2019's TBS [P3] Rey & D-O (91) two-pack brown and gave it a red “nose.” They also painted the antennae black to recreate antlers for the figure. It’s simply adorable. We believe the Range Trooper (Holiday Edition) release is the highlight of the collection. Each Holiday Edition figure set has an MSRP of $24.99 and is exclusively available at the noted retail outlets.