Sandtrooper - SW [Y/AOTC] - Movie Heroes (MH09)

Imperial Sandtroopers search Mos Eisley for the two Droids wanted by Darth Vader. Carrying blaster rifles, the Sandtroopers patrol the streets and question inhabitants as they try to locate C-3PO and R2-D2, who escaped from the Rebel ship Tantive IV when it was captured by Imperial forces.

In 2012, the Movie Heroes Sandtrooper action figure was ridiculed by the collecting community. Most of us couldn’t get past the fact that his weapon looked more like a leaf blower than a blaster rifle. Hasbro at the time was obsessed about adding light-up features to the figures in the Movie Heroes line. For most figures, this simply meant that Jedi and Sith characters would get light-up lightsabers. But this concept became more complex for characters that just carried around blasters. In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the Sandtroopers carried multiple different large heavy assault blaster rifles. Because these guns are larger than the standard E-11 blaster, Hasbro found a way to add some electronics to an exaggerated weapon on this Sandtrooper figure so that they could add the light-up feature here as well. The sheer morbid curiosity you’re going to have for this figure is probably going to force you to buy it. After all, 2012’s SW [TPM 3D] Sandtrooper (MH23) figure saw extremely limited release and was never commercially available in North America. Now it has been added to the 2013 Star Wars [Yoda/Attack Of The Clones] line revised with a new and improved paint job. Let’s go through all of the details together.

The Sandtrooper has been given blue painted details that are missed on the 2012 Movie Heroes version. You can see these updates on the figure’s helmet and the backpack. Whether missed or just forgotten, the 2013 Movie Heroes version is the most accurate of the two. If you ever come across loose samples of this figure in the future, you’ll be able to tell the two figures apart from each other. The Sandtrooper only comes with one removable accessory – the ranking pauldron. Even the survival backpack and the blaster are permanent fixtures here. The white pauldron denotes this is a Sandtrooper sergeant. Throughout the two different types of packaging given to the 2012 and 2013 versions of these figures, all three Sandtrooper officer types are represented. It allows us to believe Hasbro may have had plans to release the squad leader and corporal somewhere down the road, had this line continued. The Sandtrooper action figure will be one that kids will thoroughly enjoy, but we also believe collectors will be scrambling to secure one for their collections as well. This is the definition of a novelty figure. The thing that will grab your attention here is the light-up blaster rifle. Regardless of how you feel about it, it’s still an entertaining figure.

Sandtrooper comes with only six points of articulation, and most of that is swivel articulation. But the figure does come with a ball-socket head and a ball-jointed left elbow. These points don’t offer much to the figure in the way of movement, but we’ll take it over swivel articulation any day of the week. Although released originally in the 2012 Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] Movie Heroes line look, the Sandtrooper in the 2013 Movie Heroes collection is going to fall short in a few ways. If you collect the Galactic Battle Game cards, then you will be completely out of luck. The Galactic Battle Game has been terminated and all 2013 products will not carry it forward. Hasbro had one of their toughest years to date in 2012, and bad case assortments and incessant re-releases led the line into a bottleneck and gridlock. Also, we experienced the worst distribution of all time because the market was cluttered with repacks instead of introducing the new line look with all-new figures. As you might imagine, it led to a shockingly bad product year for collectors. The re-release of the Sandtrooper doesn’t completely ameliorate things, but it’s a start, and we appreciate the gesture by Hasbro. If you’ve had your fill with Sandtrooper action figures, however, this one might be a pass for you.