AT-TE Tank Gunner - TSC - The Episode III Greatest Battles Collection (2 of 14)

These elite clone trooper specialists received advanced training under ARC troopers on Kamino. They have specialized skills to operate the AT-TE (All Terrain Tactical Enforcer) tanks and other armored vehicles.

There were so many clone trooper concepts that never made it to the final version of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. If you ask us for our opinion, we think that George Lucas tried to fit way too much into the final Star Wars film that he ultimately had to make some sad cuts that had originally been intended for the film. There were so many necessary wrap up points Lucas and company had to include that great battle sequences like the Battle of Kashyyyk, the Battle of Felucia and Order 66 were so heavily edited and never turned out the way the storyboards had intended these scenes to look. That’s just our two cents, but if you look at books like The Art Of Revenge Of The Sith for example, you’ll see many clone trooper concepts that were generated on paper and ultimately stayed there. It’s quite evident that Hasbro had access to these early concepts because so many of the Clone Trooper action figures that made up the Revenge Of The Sith line were never seen in the film. Take for instance the AT-TE Tank Gunner. We never saw this phase II clone trooper in Episode III. We did however see the vehicle he piloted. It’s a shame he didn’t have a bigger role in Episode III. As an action figure, the AT-TE Tank Gunner has some moments, but once you analyze it carefully, you may realize it’s not everything you want it to be.

Originally part of the popular Revenge Of The Sith toy line, the AT-TE Tank Gunner has been added to The Episode III Greatest Battles Collection. This collection of figures is intended to get out some of Hasbro’s greatest efforts back to retail (and to help pad the basic figure line as well). For us, the AT-TE Tank Gunner is about 50% awesome and 50% extremely disappointing. Depending upon the way you utilize this figure in your collection can determine just how important it is to you. When placed on the included environmental Kashyyyk/Felucia action figure display stand, the AT-TE Tank Gunner is actually quite impressive. Hasbro developed a new technology included for the first time with this figure and it comes in the form of ball-jointed hips. We really haven’t seen this too often if at all in the basic figure line. They are extremely functional and very practical for posing the figure is a multitude of ways. We really wish that Hasbro included this update to the other Clone Troopers action figures in the Revenge Of The Sith line. Not only does this figure come with ball-jointed hips, the AT-TE Tank Gunner comes with ball-jointed knees and ball-jointed ankles. What you get from this beautiful system of articulation is a figure with a nearly infinite array of movement throughout its lower body. It’s its upper body where you’ll lose patience thanks to mostly swivel articulation. Unfortunately where AT-TE Tank Gunner succeeds is diminished by how it fails in the shoulders and elbows.

While a complete disaster in the Revenge Of The Sith line, Hasbro updated the paint operations on the AT-TE Tank Gunner’s face so he is no longer cross-eyed. This is a wonderful enhancement because the head sculpt is rather excellent and you’re able to appreciate it a great dela more now that the paint operations have been updated. We should note that this figure has a great deal of versatility (if you can get past the upper body articulation). The figure comes with a removable standard clone trooper helmet and a special AT-TE Tank Gunner helmet covering. With some finagling, you can get the AT-TE Tank Gunner portion onto the phase II helmet and it’ll stay firmly in place (within reason). Another way of describing this is that you can get many different iterations of this figure thanks to all of its accessories. You can even “make” the plain white infantry phase II clone as well. As far as accessories, the AT-TE Tank Gunner comes with a DC-15 blaster, a Biker Scout blaster and a removable pauldron/harness combination piece that is difficult to remove from the figure but possible. And don’t forget about the removable helmet topper. Despite the figure’s limitations, we actually like it. But we also have to admit that it’s just that we’re very disappointed that Hasbro decides to make a figure half excellent and then half “annoying” (for lack of a better word). If you just choose to have this figure as a display piece, it will probably suffice. But we would love to see Hasbro update this figure in super-articulated glory. We may be waiting a long time for that however.