Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) - TCW [R] - Basic (CW04)

The clone troopers in the 41st Elite Corps are led by Clone Commander Gree and Jedi General Yoda. The troopers are equipped with specialized gear for combat on jungle worlds such as Rodia, one of the planets to which this unit is assigned during the Clone Wars.

Based on 2009’s TCW [B] Clone Trooper (212th Attack Battalion) (No. 19) figure, Hasbro quickly repainted/reworked the sculpt to make the Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) action figure which is part of the fifth and final wave of The Clone Wars [Blue] line look. Now it has been repacked in the very first wave of The Clone Wars [Red] line look which is actually pretty smart on Hasbro’s part. Why they haven’t reissued the plain white 2008 TCW [B] Clone Trooper (No. 5) is beyond us, but the Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) figure will have to suffice for army builders. At first glance, the Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) looks nearly identical to 2006’s TSC Clone Trooper (Sergeant) (SAGA 060) figure, save for a different shade of green. It is believed that Hasbro was in The Clone Wars mode as this figure was produced, and the missing color flashes was directly a result of that. As you can see the line that goes from the fin straight down the face is broken by white space (again, as seen on the erred 2006 TSC Clone Trooper (Sergeant) (SAGA 060) figure). It may be correct to say that we have a “realistic” Phase I Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) figure in The Saga Collection as evidenced by this “mistake” figure. As one of Commander Gree's finest, the Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) looks great and will be popular with collectors.

In all honesty, the Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) figure looks amazing next to 2009’s TCW [R] Commander Gree (CW09) figure. Since The Clone Wars has been focusing on the earliest events from the onset of the war, we are getting Clone Troopers in the phase I armor, and rightfully so. Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) figure comes with his standard DC-15 blaster and a large heavy blaster rifle which shoots a projectile that was definitely designed to make the kiddies happy. Collectors lose interest quickly in action features but the features on weapons are much more tolerable that on the figures themselves, so we count our blessings that Hasbro left the figure alone. We will just deal with the ridiculously large weapons. Hasbro has confirmed that they have eliminated the "dirty" applications on clone trooper figures going forward for cost reasons, but it is our opinion that the figures are starting to suffer. Since he is mostly white, he looks much too clean to be fighting in battles. We personally would like an occasional dirty wash on the clone troopers instead of large blaster cannons or what have you as this would create diversity in the characters based from the very "clone-centric" television series. Not every figure needs dirt and battle damage, but not every Clone Trooper figure should be clean either.

There are destined to be many more Clone Trooper flavors coming down the collector pike so we recommend bracing yourself for one after the other when this line really gets kicking into full force. The show promises that we should expect an unprecedented variety of Clone Trooper colors as the storyline progresses. The Clone Wars television show is really just getting started and we suspect that the clone trooper costumes will be getting more and more creative as time allows. And let us not forget that up to this point we haven't seen any of the phase II looks of the various clones yet either. It is certainly fertile ground for this franchise. Once again, we hope that Hasbro will consider sacrificing something else in an effort to bring back the dirty washes or unique battle-damage marks that are inherent to any clone trooper in the Star Wars universe. We feel that the Clone Troopers are looking a little too bland too quickly. Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps) is a very simple basic figure but he will do a lot for your displays that feature 41st Elite Corps themes that surround The Clone Wars. There is something special about their green color and while we are unable to say exactly what it is, we do know it makes an all-white clone look very cool. Now that you have a second chance at him, why don’t you consider army building him?