Imperial Death Trooper - RO - 12-Inch Figures

The elite soldiers of Imperial Intelligence, Death Troopers are encased in specialized stormtrooper armor with a dark, ominous gleam.

Here we go again. The Force Awakens line and the Rogue One line are pretty much at a 1:1 ratio as far as getting the same formats and types of multipacks of Star Wars action figures. We had a Build A Weapon line in The Force Awakens collection. Now we have a basic Rogue One action figure line. We had a 12-Inch Figure collection in The Force Awakens line and now we have a 12-Inch Figure line in the Rogue One collection. The main characters from Rogue One are seemingly being crafted and released in every format. They isn’t too much diversity in the line and it’s getting boring fast. With just a smattering of aliens and background characters, the Rogue One line is overly repetitious, more than we ever anticipated, and we’re not sure if Hasbro is going to be able to maintain interest in the toy line doing the same things over and over again. In the 12-Inch Figures line, Hasbro has made figures that cannot do much to recreate realistic battles thanks to the dumbed down articulation, but at least they look cool and hopefully that will be enough to start a whole new generation of collectors latch on to this prized franchise. And it’s been proven that these figures are great for those will inhibited moto skills, whether it be age or disabilities (that’s not a sarcastic sentiment – it’s the truth).

In short, because Hasbro uses a digital file process to make different types of action figures in different scales, you’re going to see a great deal of similarities between the 12-Inch Figure version to the ones from the basic figure line. The biggest difference is the 12-Inch Figures versions come with swivel wrists to help with holding weapons a little easier and the additional articulation is appreciated. Obviously, collectors of any age aren’t going to army build 12-Inch Figures, but these large-sized action figures are collectible in their own way and may merit the space they take up on the shelves. Although we don’t see kids and collectors defaulting to the 12-Inch Figures line, people are buying them likely due to their simplicity and fair price. We don’t think it is that much a novelty to collect larger sized action figures in this day in age, but if you look across all brands, there is a “bigger is better” mentality that the public seems to be falling for because again, these are selling. Aside from certain markets, we also don’t see kids foaming at the mouth for Star Wars toys now. Kids are into electronics and when it comes to toys, they likely are into LEGO – something buildable and a little more interactive.

The Imperial Death Trooper has seven points of articulation. This includes a ball-socket head, two swivel shoulders, two swivel wrists and two swivel hips. This is about as simple an action figure of this size and caliber can be as far as its articulation is concerned, but it seems to work alright in this case. The sculpt is beyond excellent. It’s mostly bright shiny black and has been accented with very finely sharpened details. The figure is without any real uniqueness like no identifying insignias for example. We must admit that seeing all of these great sculpts makes our hearts ache to see them in super-articulated fashion. We think highly articulated 12-Inch Figures would be sublime to see once again. But we hope that the Walmart exclusive The Black Series 3.75” line really takes off and gives Hasbro reason to make more and more super-articulated figures from Rogue One in different scales. This figure comes with a  blaster pistol that fits excellently into both of the Imperial Death Trooper’s hands. We’re very happy with this figure aside from its most obvious issues. And we look forward to his (or her) role in the film!