Clone Trooper Army [Lieutenant] - CW - Deluxe

Begun the Clone Wars has!" – Jedi Master Yoda
On the remote planet of Geonosis, the growing conflict between the Republic and its foes explodes into all-out war. The Republic's Jedi Knights lead a massive Clone Army into battle on hundreds of planets. The Separatists, led by the powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, fight back with their own formidable droid armies. As this terrible conflict rips across the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi are swept into the turmoil of war and the rising shadow of the dark side.

Virtually indistinguishable from one another, Clone Troopers are identical in physical appearance, mental capability, and stamina. Part of a clone army, they are grown in the cloning facilities of Tipoca City, a luminescent city of industry emerging from the raging seas of Kamino. Although clone troopers share the same modified genetic code, their genetic structure has been altered to make them less independent than their genetic host, and their growth has been accelerated to twice the normal rate of a human. Grown and trained specifically for military combat, the Clone Army was mysteriously commissioned ten years earlier.

After countless requests by Star Wars collectors to Hasbro for them to make Clone Trooper army-building sets, they finally listened and made them a reality for the Clone Wars line. Although none of the Clone Trooper Officers made an appearance in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, some of them made periodic appearances in various other sources of the Clone Wars multimedia event. Their absence didn’t matter to collectors. We were all so desperate to see the various rankings of the Army Of The Republic in action figure form that collectors were eager to receive anything Hasbro supplied to us. So, for the 2003 Clone Wars line, Hasbro produced the Clone Trooper Army three-pack set. And then they surprised fans with four variations of the set. Throughout the 2003 calendar year they released a set of all-white infantry Clone Troopers, a set that featured a Clone Trooper Captain (with the red color flashes), the Clone Trooper Commander (with the yellow color flashes), the Clone Trooper Lieutenant (with the blue color flashes), and the Clone Trooper Sergeant (with the green color flashes). While not ideally articulated, the Clone Trooper Army sets filled a long-awaited void for Star Wars collectors. And they sold very well.

Across the five Clone Trooper Army Deluxe sets exist four unique sculpts of the included and featured Clone Troopers. For ease of identification purposes, we are designating the Clone Troopers as follows. Clone Trooper [A] is the kneeling Clone Trooper. Clone Trooper [B] is the standing Clone Trooper. Clone Trooper [C] is the laying Clone Trooper. And Clone Trooper [D] is the sprinting Clone Trooper with macrobinoculars. It’s interesting to see all five sets together and how Hasbro decided to divide up the four sculpts across them and see which ones to reuse or repaint to give us all of the Clone Trooper officers. The Clone Trooper [Captain] utilizes the Clone Trooper [C] sculpt. The Clone Trooper Commander utilizes the Clone Trooper [D] sculpt. The Clone Trooper [Lieutenant] utilizes the Clone Trooper [B] sculpt, and the Clone Trooper [Sergeant] utilizes the Clone Trooper [A] sculpt. As you can see, Hasbro manages to use a unique sculpt for each Clone Trooper officer, a gesture that collectors appreciate. With the Clone Trooper officers featured and a generous supply of infantry Clone Troopers repeated behind them, the Clone Trooper Army sets offer a quick backdrop for those zealous for an instant Clone Trooper army.

All four sculpts of Clone Troopers are decent representations of the characters we see in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones as well as those seen in other sources of entertainment like books and comics. The figures provide collectors with an accurate silhouette of the members of the clone trooper army, but they are also very limiting when it comes to their articulation. Clone Trooper [A] and Clone Trooper [B] come with six points of articulation each. Clone Trooper [C] comes with five points of articulation. And Clone Trooper [D] comes with a more impressive eight points of articulation. In a very disappointing move, Hasbro permanently attached all of their weapons to their hands (both left and right hands hold the guns depending on which Clone Trooper it is). Non-removable accessories should NEVER be part of an action figure’s approach, so we’re very disappointed that Hasbro did this. In a better move, Hasbro tooled the macrobinoculars for Clone Trooper [D] as a separate accessory, but sadly, it’s difficult for the figure to hold them thanks to the wide grasp of his right hand. Overall, the Clone Trooper Army Deluxe sets offer a “quick fix” for your army-building needs, but until we get all of these characters with super-articulation, collectors won’t be fully satisfied.