Commander Neyo - TAC - Saga Legends

Trained by the elite ARC Trooper Alpha, Commander Neyo receives the Emperor's instructions to enact Order 66 while on a speeder bike patrol with his general, Stass Allie. He and his wingman allow Allie to move ahead of them, then open fire on the unsuspecting Jedi.

The 30 (77-07) line from Hasbro was probably one of the best collection of figures collectors and fans ever received. Collector friendly, kid friendly and nostalgic on so many levels, the line celebrated a momentous anniversary event of the best space fantasy ever. Hasbro also wanted to make this event interactive and solicited feedback from the collective whole so we could partially stamp our mark on the line by voicing our opinions about what figures we wanted to see grace the store shelves again. The greatest hits Saga Legends line was the platform to do this and Hasbro held a poll hosted at Rebelscum.com for the top five choices in the very last wave of this line. Commander Neyo (CC-8826) was one of the winners. First released in 2007 as part of the TAC Treachery On Saleucami Walmart exclusive Battle Packs set, Commander Neyo was an action figure that really should have seen release as a basic figure a very long time ago before that. (Hey, we will take him any time than not at all.) But it really took quite some time to get all of the prominent clone troopers and clone commanders that were actually seen in Episode III as action figures. It was certainly worth the wait because we really got some amazingly designed action figures with great articulation and awesome paint jobs, but man did it take quite a while to get them all finally.

Commander Neyo is a retool of the 2003 CW Clone Trooper ('03 #50) figure. He of course has a new head and the bandolier is all-new as well. Sharp-eyed collectors will also noticed that his legs and arms have been slightly repositioned from the original 2003 figure, so this figure can almost be considered all-new depending upon your point of view. The legs were tweaked to better fit on the speeder in the Battle Packs set. Thankfully the revised pose is not dramatic and when he stands up it looks quite natural. New, rehashed, whatever – it just doesn't matter any more. Hasbro has designed some awesome and ultimate action figures lately and it would be our only desire that they continue to use them over and over to constantly bring us more awesome clone troopers. Commander Neyo is a figure that excels in all areas and while he doesn't have ball-jointed hips, he is able to pilot a BARC speeder as needed to blow Jedi from out of the air for example. A very perfect winner for the Saga Legends Fans' Choice group, Commander Neyo was just another entry on the roster of all the different clone troopers that saw release in the 30 (77-07) line. We still think that it would have been wiser to release the 91st Reconnaissance clone with the macrobinoculars. It seems that this one won't have too many opportunities in the basic figure line in the future.

Commander Neyo may have the slightest differences in paint color from the 2007 TAC Battle Packs figure, but he is absolutely intended to be a straight repack. We noticed very minimal differences, but not enough at all to classify him as a repaint. Every carbon-scoring mark and pretty much every other detail is exactly in the same spot on both versions of this figure. And we have to admit that we are so thrilled to finally have him released on a basic card back. And it was the perfect collection to do this for him since we love the TAC line look. Commander Neyo has battle-damage on his armor that we absolutely adore. It is simple, but quite effective to bring home the point that clone troopers really did see some action in the Clone Wars. We hope that Hasbro once again brings back the voting poll for the Saga Legends line. There is no better opinion about what figures we want to see than our own and Hasbro needs to give us the opportunity and stage to let our voices continue being heard. (Editor's Note: Hasbro took away the battle-damaged markings from the figure and re-released Commander Neyo as Saleucami Trooper (BD 20) in 2008's The Legacy Collection. This upset some collectors because they really wanted the other figure with the macrobinoculars up over the visor since it was a unique clone trooper. To date, the 2007 Treachery On Saleucami Battle Packs set is the only place you can get this figure.)