Clone Commander Gree - R - Saga Legends (SL15)

Clone Commander Gree leads the 41st Elite Corps during the Clone Wars.

Where Hasbro made great positive strides when it came to AT-AT Driver, Jedi Temple Guard and the Rebels characters in wave 2 of the Rebels Saga Legends line, they sadly took greater leaps backwards with regards to figures like Clone Commander Gree and (to a lesser extent) Plo Koon. As an aside and for the record, this is the very first time Clone Commander Gree has been released with the title “Clone” in his name. Typically this designation has normally been reserved for Cody. Gree is usually just "Commander Gree". (Your useless trivia for the day.) Any way, Clone Commander Gree functions mostly as an enigma for the Rebels Saga Legends line. Did any of us really need another new phase I simply articulated version of CC-1004 with even worse paint applications? We would respond with a resounding no. But for one reason or another Hasbro felt pressed to tool new parts to design a character from The Clone Wars that likely most of us have in multiple ways already AND with super-articulation no less. We find it perplexing. Sure, Hasbro is clearly taking characters from across the entire Star Wars saga that we already have in multiple iterations, but Clone Commander Gree just sticks out like a sore thumb to us. You would think that we would be happy about any clones that get entered into a basic figure assortment, but we really feel that Clone Commander Gree has too simple of a color scheme for a simply articulated line. The final product leaves a lot to be desired.

You may think that Clone Commander Gree just reuses existing tooling, but that is only partially correct. In fact, upon extremely close inspection of this figure, it’s our assessment that this figure is almost an all-new figure, save for the arms which have clearly been reused from the original 2013 SW [DV/ROTS] Clone Trooper (SL02) figure. Even the head sculpt is different from earlier releases so most of this figure is all-new. To expend time, money and energy tooling an all-new sculpt is fine, but why waste it when you’re not going to decorate the figure in a beautiful way. As far as we’re concerned, Clone Commander Gree has a paint job that’s a joke. This isn't is being harsh either. The green color flashes aren’t even screen accurate in shape and pattern to the character in The Clone Wars television show. And as a clone that spent quite a bit of time NOT wearing a helmet, it may be frustrating to kids and collectors who want to see the face behind the mask. After the super-articulated version of him was released in The Clone Wars (red line look and Shadow Of The Dark Side line look), we don’t foresee too many collectors needing a new version with terrible paint operations and five points of articulation in modern packaging. It just doesn’t make sense to us. Perhaps it’s inaccurate to state unequivocally that Clone Commander Gree “isn’t popular” but this Saga Legends figure won’t help that argument at all.

Again, there are a ton of clones Hasbro has neglected from all five (six) seasons of The Clone Wars. Why are we wasting time double-dipping? With the VERY few slots a line look gets anymore, we feel that Hasbro MUST produce as many characters that would be first time offerings to kids and collectors (along with the standard basic evergreen characters) to make the lines as successful as possible. Clone Commander Gree just doesn’t grab us as an action figure that will reap success for Hasbro. It’s literally a very boring action figure and doesn’t come with half of the accessories that the original version did. We honestly just don’t know who is going to be taken with this release. In fact, it is Clone Commander Gree and Plo Koon that are the easiest to find at retail at this point. But we strongly feel it’s because we didn’t need either in the line for a very long time. These are two The Clone Wars characters that just don’t have the notoriety and popularity of so many others. It’s our assessment Hasbro didn’t make the wisest decisions tooling new sculpts for them in place of many other more popular (and much needed) characters. We wish we had nicer things to say about Clone Commander Gree. We suppose he isn’t the worst action figure ever created, but he is boring beyond belief. And until the Saga Legends and Mission Series figure have more impressive paint operations, we’re going to complain about it until the cows come home.