Clone Trooper (7th Legion Trooper) - TAC - Basic (30 49)

Clone troopers are the bulk of the Republic’s military might during the Clone Wars. They’re the perfect soldiers: focused and efficient, even when they are ordered to instantly change from allies to enemies upon receiving a single command.

Fans were treated to rough images of what the clone troopers would look like in Revenge Of The Sith when The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith was released. Interestingly, none of the clone troopers featured made it into the film. This is interesting because they developed a popularity that rivaled the clone troopers that did make it into the film. And most importantly, they all made it into the action figure line. Since it was a time when clone fever was at an all time high, all the figures sold extraordinarily well and proved to Hasbro that no clone should be off limits. But three of these concept art clones started off life very roughly in the Hasbro line as statuesque deluxe figure with extremely limited articulation. The Clone Trooper (442nd Siege Battalion), the Clone Trooper (Fifth Fleet Security) as well as the Clone Trooper (7th Legion Trooper) all saw first release as terrible pre-posed clone troopers in Hasbro’s 2005 ROTS Deluxe line. While we all bought them up rather quickly, we had buyer’s remorse moments later. But we just wanted to fill our collections with as many clone troopers as possible. We all probably should have known better that all three would get upgraded to super-articulated status, but patience is not a virtue that we have.

In retrospect, we are a bit blue that these clone troopers didn’t make it into the final version of the film because they are truly unique and look amazing. But at least they have their place in the Expanded Universe now and are at the very least sourced from Revenge Of The Sith concept art. Because we like our figures consistent, the only drawback for us is that Hasbro decided to use a different mold for the 7th Legion clone trooper than they did for the other two clones. While they don’t look terrible lined up next to each other, the 7th Legion clone trooper is the slightest bit shorter and because he has a removable helmet, it is bigger than the others. Still, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have this figure added to our collections. Not only does the figure have a great super-articulated sculpt in addition to a removable helmet it has the most beautiful weathered wash on it. It would take you quite a few minutes appreciate how much detail is in this wash. And it completes this figure perfectly. Clone Trooper 7th Legion Trooper is a repaint of 2006’s TSC Combat Engineer Clone Trooper (SAGA 068) (which also is another concept art clone trooper from the book). This is a great clone trooper sculpt to use over and over again because it is super-articulated and has the flexibility of a removable helmet for extra display and play value.

If we were to nitpick about this figure, we aren’t crazy about its portrait. The clone head has that freaky “looking up” characteristic and we personally find it annoying. And the skin on his face is dark. But we find that most clone troopers have a much too dark complexion. But if you too are not crazy about the head, the helmet covers everything up very nicely. It isn’t a terrible drawback, but it is something that bothers us a bit. The McQuarrie Concept figure made all the noise in 2007, but we have been getting concept art figures since the Power Of The Jedi line (2001’s Deluxe Darth Maul comes to mind first). We think it’s a small shame that Hasbro doesn’t designate these other figures as “concept art” figures because that’s what they truly are. There are many artists out there that should get credit for there work as well. The 7th Legion clone trooper completes the trilogy of updated ROTS deluxe clones. It would have been nice for Hasbro to squeeze this figure in The Saga Collection to be with the others and it would have been nicer if they utilized the 2005 ROTS Clone Trooper (III 41) figure as well. But this doesn’t mean that this figure doesn’t rock as is. He does and we couldn’t be happier that he was a candidate for the 30 (77-07) line. Late is incomparably better than never and we will take clone troopers whichever way possible. And if there are any more clone troopers out there Hasbro, please make them for us.