Imperial Stormtrooper - RO - Basic

Stormtroopers are the faceless legions of soldiers serving the Galactic Empire. Encased in white armor, stormtroopers are loyal Imperials who undergo training that strips them of any sense of individuality.

If there is one Star Wars figure that Star Wars collectors are particularly territorial over, it would have to be the Imperial Stormtrooper. Things are beginning to look a whole lot more “Original Trilogy” right now thanks to the very first Star Wars standalone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. So with this film comes the return of characters that first introduced us to the greater Star Wars universe. After the mixed reception of The Force Awakens, it appears that all Star Wars fans are anticipating great things from Rogue One and that the look, feel, and PLOT of this film has a very traditional feel to it. If it doesn’t, Disney is making a huge mistake. But no matter the outcome of the film, one thing that is remaining consistent when compared to The Force Awakens line, is how the Rogue One line is being approached. The controversial 5POA format is front and center. And all-new characters and ones that look familiar are being done up with this simple approach. So this means the figures may or may not look fantastic, but will be unable to do anything meaningful in a play situation. So, when we look at a figure like the Imperial Stormtrooper, we weep. Here is a prime example of an excellent, albeit imperfect, action figure. It has a beautiful sculpt and pretty neat accessories, but the figure is unable to look like what a real Imperial Stormtrooper should be. So it’s bittersweet, with a heavier weight leaning towards the spectrum of bitter.

It’s fact. The Imperial Stormtrooper has a lovely sculpt. The helmet proportions are almost perfect. The helmet looks great from every angle: front, back, left, right. The band above the “eyes” is separated by a thin white area which creates a version of the Imperial Stormtrooper we prefer seeing, versus when the black line and visor are touching. We can’t find any differences between the design of this Imperial Stormtrooper’s armor when compared against the ones we see in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Hopefully that was intentional, and the characters in this film are meant to be seamless with those from Episode IV. There are some missing paint details. For instance, the belly dots have been left unpainted, but in all fairness, Hasbro has been hit or miss with remembering this detail throughout the years. It’s almost expected at this point that this detail would be overlooked. We’re not accepting of it of course, but we’re equally not surprised that they forgot about it again. For extra play value, the Imperial Stormtrooper comes with a few gimmicks that we don’t feel work too well. But Hasbro is intent on bringing additional play features with the 5POA action figures. (We’d just encourage them to add these gimmicks to additional weapons and leave the figure whole.) He comes with removable battle-damaged chest armor (with an articulated/removable belly plate) to make it look like the figure was shot, and an interchangeable chest plate with an officer’s pauldron worked into the piece as well.

The Imperial Stormtrooper also comes with an E-11 looking blaster. There are already discussions that these weapons are different and we’d have to agree, but we’re not experts in Star Wars weaponry, and we’ll just leave it as “different looking.” All in all, we believe that this figure will be a hit. And that is for multiple reasons. The Imperial Stormtrooper is going to being a lot of nostalgia back to longtime collectors. You can’t fault the figure as not looking good because it does. In fact, the Imperial Stormtrooper borders on beautiful. But it is equally frustrating. Most collectors have no use for simply articulated trooper figures. Why Hasbro can’t give these characters super-articulation and then reserve the 5POA for background aliens and B characters is beyond our comprehension. And there is play value here for younger fans (even though we don’t think the figure needs things like this.) Hasbro is focused on a new generation of collectors, but they can capture this audience while making adult collectors happy as well. The brand seems to be diminishing in volume with each Star Wars media event. Many of the products peg-warm, and it just feels that you can never find anything at retail. The launch of the Rogue One line was certainly better than The Force Awakens. But we’re already seeing some scary trends (that we’re not really to address as a real concern right now) that retail is just sick of the Star Wars brand and aren’t dedicated to making it a priority in their various stores. We’ll see.