Clone Troopers [Phase II] - ROTS - Deluxe

The clone army is the main force of the Republic. Their armor has been adapted to integrate with different environments and also designates special divisions. These troops are fierce, loyal and single-minded in battle.

Is it de ja vu? Or is just Hasbro’s sick sarcasm? We don’t know but we were not surprised at all when Hasbro announced that we’d be getting multiple sets of Clone Troopers in the Revenge Of The Sith Deluxe line just like we did in the Clone Wars line. OK, maybe the Clone Troopers three-pack Deluxe sets from the Revenge Of The Sith line are by far not the worst things Hasbro has produced, but there is no denying that they’re cheap and lazy. That’s not an attack on Hasbro’s character. They should amortize costs in all ways possible. That’s certainly what they did here. All three clones are, for lack of a better word, clones of the Clone Troopers from 2003’s Clone Wars line. This time all three clones sport new Phase II helmets, and for some strange reason, an all-new torso. (Perhaps this was to make them more screen accurate and not to illustrate any differences between phase I and phase II body armor.) The 2005 Clone Troopers Deluxe figures still sport the 2003 date stamp, but all are refreshed to either be screen accurate to Episode III, or interpretations of the concepts from Revenge of The Sith art books. Hasbro produced four unique sets, but there is quite a bit of overlap between them. Still, it’s nice to get these obscure clones in some fashion, even if the action figures themselves are far from perfection.

The first set includes three of the plain all-white phase II Clone Troopers. You get one standing (Clone Trooper [Phase II] [A]), one kneeling (Clone Trooper [Phase II] [B]) and one lying (Clone Trooper [Phase II] [C]). Each have unique, albeit simple, articulation. But all are static below the belt, Not one of the Clone Troopers have any articulation in the legs. These figures are meant for background diorama fodder. These aren’t true action figures in the typical sense. Yes, they come with simple movement, but most collectors have treated them as statuesque figures just to provide some depth to their clone armies. Sadly the figures aren’t sculpted that well and they have a cartoonish look and feel to them. We wonder if they’ll be able to inspire collectors to pick them up. We do believe that Hasbro cleverly decorated them to be enticing to collectors as three of the four different packs each contain an exclusively color-flashed Clone Trooper that is currently nowhere else available in the Hasbro Revenge Of The Sith line. Each Clone Trooper comes with ball-socket articulation in the head, two swivel shoulders and a swivel waist. And depending upon which hand is holding the gun, each figure has a swivel wrist. Their blasters are also sadly permanently affixed to their hands. This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of all for us.

Let’s talk about the exclusively colored clones. The Clone Troopers [442nd Siege Battalion] set comes with a kneeling 442nd Siege Battalion Clone Trooper. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro gave us a super-articulated version of this character with 2006’s TSC Clone Trooper (442nd Siege Battalion) (SAGA 057) figure.) The Clone Troopers [5th Fleet Security] set comes with a lying 5th Fleet Security Clone Trooper. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro gave us a super-articulated version of this character with 2006’s TSC Clone Trooper (Fifth Fleet Security) (SAGA 059) figure.) The Clone Troopers [7th Legion] set comes with a standing 7th Legion Clone Trooper. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro gave us a super-articulated version of this character with 2007’s TAC Clone Trooper (7th Legion) (30 49) figure.) In our opinion, it would have been much more ideal to include all three specially marked Clone Troopers in each set. Instead of just giving us one color-flashed Clone Trooper and two white Clone Troopers, our armies would have been a little more colorful and interesting. We understand they were following in the same footprints as the 2003 Clone Wars sets, but they should have tried something different here. Again, there will undoubtedly be collectors who adore clones and will eat up all four sets, but for us, they still come off as a little too bland.