Rebel Trooper [Gunner] - TSC - Basic (SAGA 046)

Running changes of figures are becoming more and more prevalent in the Star Wars basic figure line. But it seems that when it came time to bring a running change in The Saga Collection, Hasbro took an all-new approach. Instead of simply adding a new head sculpt to make a new Star Wars character, they’ve reinvented the Rebel Trooper (SAGA 046) figure a little bit more to make it a completely different type of Rebel, a gunner to be precise. The Rebel Trooper (gunner) running change may be the better of the two figures and there is even a possibility it’s meant to represent one of the many gunners from a deleted scene from Return Of The Jedi. Then again, you can clearly see this Rebel Trooper seated behind Lando Calrissian and Nien Nunb during the Battle Of Endor. The Rebel Trooper variation is an exact copy of the standard Rebel Trooper (SAGA 046) (the black guy), but a clever repainting and additional cord hanging from his head almost makes them look unrelated to each other.

The Rebel Trooper (gunner) action figure suffers from all the same problems as its counterpart. The annoying and limited arm articulation just feels completely out of place when the figure has premium ball-jointed leg articulation. The revised portrait that includes the communications cord is a nice touch and almost makes this Rebel Trooper look like a Rebel pilot more than anything else. It’s quite possible he is Airen Cracken, but this action figure also looks a lot like the character that we mentioned earlier in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, Lieutenant Blount. Conceptually, this running change figure is a great figure. Collectors always love to get thrown deleted scene characters here and there in the basic figure line. And this action figure sort of serves that purpose. It’s a shame we didn’t see the gunners better than we did in Episode VI. It would have added a lot more character to the Rebel Alliance during the Battle Of Endor.

Although Hasbro does release multiple Rebel Troopers action figures based on Endor throughout the many Star Wars action figure lines, they really haven’t been too consistent with how they deliver them. The figures in The Saga Collection are another great step in the right direction, but they in no way can be considered definitive (or close enough to definitive) until the arms and parts of the upper body are retooled to be pose-friendly. But getting diverse members of the Rebel Alliance all from Endor is also quite opening. We’re sure that as kids we didn’t pay attention to every last detail in their uniforms to realize how many different types there were. We can leave that burden to Hasbro who appears to have made almost every last version possible thanks to the longevity of the basic figure line. Let’s hope that there will be a revisit to all of the different types soon. It’s definitely time to get some quality Endor Rebel Troopers into the basic figure line. We’re close, but close isn’t good enough.