Clone Trooper (501st Legion) - TVC - Basic (VC60)

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It’s time to face the music. Let’s be honest: the 501st Legion is one the most popular, if not the most popular, clone battalions in the entire Star Wars saga. Sadly, Hasbro found a way to screw it up in the basic figure line. Whether it’s an incorrectly shaped color flash on the helmet or stripes that do not match the color of the rest of the blue on the armor, we can’t seem to get a “perfect” one for our collections. Granted, 2007’s TSC Commander Appo (SAGA 064) was probably the closest we ever came to a perfectly decorated 501st Legion clone trooper, but even that one fell short because the vertical hyperbolic pattern on its chest didn’t go all the way to the top of the chest armor. As you can see, collectors can be picky, but it’s only because we have high standards for quality. Hasbro has stepped up to the plate finally to give us a rather brilliantly painted Clone Trooper (501st Legion) action figure. Still, you can bet that collectors will find something else much more egregious to cry about with this figure. And they have every right to complain. Hasbro ruined what would otherwise be our definitive 501st Legion Clone Trooper helmet, which is ill-fitted and much too big for the clone’s head as well as the rest of its body.

What makes this frustrating is that Hasbro opted for the cheaper route by dusting off the previously used soft and rubbery removable helmet, which we have seen since the Evolutions subline debuted in 2005. Instead of developing a new, smaller helmet, they opted to use the 2005 model, and the results are less than impressive. The Clone Trooper (501st Legion) figure looks ridiculous at many angles. How does something this egregious pass by quality control? It baffles us. It’s upsetting to see something miss the mark because of laziness. Maybe it’s not something to constantly clamor about, but we take it to heart when a figure comes so close to perfection but falls short due to Hasbro’s shortcuts. We would have even preferred to see Hasbro use the removable helmet from 2005’s ROTS Tactical Ops Trooper (III 65) figure (the original 501st Legion Clone Trooper) and recast it so it would match The Vintage Collection version. That particular helmet is scaled down to match the figure’s revised size. What’s even more surprising, perhaps, is that Hasbro developed an all-new helmet for the phase I clone, so why did it slip by them to update a proportionate phase II helmet? We still say it’s unacceptable laziness.

Helmet issues aside, we still are fond of this figure. The application of the blue color flashes is excellent. For the first time in years, Hasbro has included broken strokes of color to represent the harsh environments battles create. There are damage marks and carbon scoring, especially throughout the chest area and the parallel lines running down its legs. It looks impressive. The blue color used here resembles the same shade seen in Episode III. For years, we were getting different colors of blue for every last 501st Legion Trooper that Hasbro released. Now, we will have some uniformity in the end. What’s especially important to us is the inclusion of ball-jointed wrists and hips. We are amazed at how much these premium points of articulation enhance the figure. The last time we received ball-jointed hips on the 501st Legion was with 2005’s ROTS Tactical Ops Trooper (III 65). However, we now have upper body articulation to match the impressive lower body articulation we’ve known for years. The Clone Trooper (501st Legion) figure isn’t perfect, but it’s a step above what we currently have been given. We hope Hasbro finds a way to revise the helmet during mid-production. Because if they can, we will have one amazing Phase II clone body template for our collections.