Shoretrooper Captain/Bistan - RO - Two-Packs

Relishing the thrill of action, Bistan fights to ensure the freedom of fellow lakaru, taking on enemies like Imperial stormtroopers. Specialist stormtroopers stationed at the top secret Imperial military headquarters on Scarif. Shoretroopers patrol the beaches and bunkers of the planetary facility.

It feels like beating a dead horse, but Hasbro MUST improve case assortments. Had they thought carefully planned what Two-Packs should make up a wave, the Shoretrooper Captain/Bistan Two-Packs set would have been in our hands months ago. That’s not to say we’re not overwhelmed with gratitude for Adam Pawlus and Entertainment Earth for picking up this Two-Packs set as their exclusive. Otherwise, it might have just ended up on Hasbro’s cutting room floor as another great set of figures that just ended up getting canceled. Generally speaking, if Hasbro doesn’t have enough products in a line to fill a case assortment without repeating them, they should probably hold off releasing that case assortment to retail until that case assortment is diverse and well-rounded as possible. Poor case ratios brought the Two-Packs line to a screeching halt, and most retailers didn’t see anything beyond wave 2. There are other reasons why this Two-Packs set didn't arrive. The next wave contained mostly repacks. And the single new set in that case assortment had been packed five times. But there is more. The single new Two-Packs set wasn't new at all. It contained figures that were previously released in The Force Awakens line, albeit with a few changes. That’s pure insanity. And we wonder why we almost didn’t receive this Shoretrooper Captain/Bistan set? The set has its share of issues but overall feels like a great addition to your Rogue One collection. You’re probably going to want to get multiples, so you have more than one Shoretrooper Captain too.

Thankfully, the Shoretrooper Captain/Bistan has been worth the wait. While far from perfect thanks to rushed paint operations, collectors get two well-sculpted and nicely detailed action figures that help to add to and complete their already existing Rogue One action figure collections. This is the first time we have the Shoretrooper Captain in any scale, and admittedly it is probably the neatest-looking of all the Scarif Stormtroopers. His colorfully detailed armor has been executed beautifully here. He has flashes of bright blue on his chest, and a variety of color bands have been added to his arms. Based on 2016’s RO Shoretrooper figure, it has been repainted to turn into a Shoretrooper Captain and comes with the standard blaster rifle that the others have received. These two characters share relatively identical uniforms and armor, so this was a simple yet smart reuse of a previously existing sculpt to bring us another unique character into the Rogue One lineup. It would be absolutely amazing if Hasbro could make all three Scarif Stormtrooper types in every scale, especially since they have the digital files and already-existing sculpts to do this relatively easily. While we were absolutely excited to get Bistan, we have to admit that getting the Shoretrooper Captain feels a little more rewarding as it is so nice to complete a battalion of the Scarif Stormtroopers without having any missing ranks. These are fantastic-looking Star Wars characters, and they feel great in our Star Wars collection.

Bistan is great to own for various reasons too. What Star Wars fan doesn’t adore the various aliens in the Star Wars films? We didn’t get to see him too much in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but that doesn’t matter when it comes to action figures. Background aliens and obscure characters got to the front of the line when it comes to toys for most longtime collectors, and Bistan is no different. Our sample has some rough paint operations on the face/head and we find this disappointing as you can imagine. But the rest of the figure is looking pretty good. Hasbro added multiple colors to the figure to decorate him in a believable manner. We’re not sure if we can say this figure is screen accurate. The figure looks too pudgy when compared to the onscreen character. But this action figure might be good enough for the majority of Star Wars collectors. He comes with 10 separate accessory pieces, but four of these pieces need to be assembled into a harnessed heavy blaster cannon. These large off-screen accessories are nothing new for the Two-Packs line. Things like this are meant to add the play value for younger Star Wars fans. Thankfully, Hasbro has tooled believable weaponry that looks like it could have been in Rogue One somewhere. The cannon fires two projectiles. The projectiles also break down into two parts each: the stem and the tip. Bistan also comes with a blaster rifle, but again, we don’t know if its screen accurate or not. We know we don’t remember seeing it. Overall, this is a winning set. It’s nice to know it didn’t get canceled.

This sample has been provided to us by Entertainment Earth.