Sandtrooper (Desert Sands Detachment) - Militaries Of Star Wars - 1:6 Scale Figures

The Empire encompassed thousands of worlds, with countless climate and terrain challenges. Their stormtrooper ranks reflected this through specialized units trained and equipped to operate in specific environments.

The sandtrooper is a desert terrain stormtrooper. Sandtroopers are largely identical to standard stormtroopers except they have additional training in specialized areas. Their armor consists of an 18-piece anti-blaster cocoon shell with heat-reflective coating worn over a temperature-control body glove. The sandtrooper helmet features automatic polarized lenses, a built-in comlink and breathing filters. These stormtroopers are specifically designed for high temperature environments. Instead of depending on machinery that may not function in hostile environments, sandtroopers make use of local creatures for transportation.

The stormtrooper detachment dispatched by Lord Darth Vader to investigate a crashed escape pod on Tatooine just prior to the Battle of Yavin consisted of sandtroopers. They had heavy weapons, survival gear, and shoulder pauldrons denoting rank.

The Sandtrooper (Desert Sands Detachment) 1:6 Scale is another example of Hasbro coming through loud and clear in Sideshow Collectibles impressive 1:6 Scale Figure line. If you recall, the first Hasbro-inspired product was the Utapau Shadow Trooper. Excellently brought to life in larger scale courtesy of Sideshow, it’s nice to see them pay homage to the hard work Hasbro puts forth into their beloved 3.75” scaled line, even if some of the things replicated in one-sixth scale are technically mistakes. In the Hasbro line, we got plenty of Sandtrooper action figures. And in the earlier days, Hasbro treated us to four uniquely colored pauldrons of these desert troopers. Orange, white, black and gray all made their way, but gray was an error because there is no official Sandtrooper officer with this colored pauldron. The white pauldron, especially when dirty, was often mistaken for a gray pauldron. Sideshow Collectibles looked for a fresh new way to bring the Sandtrooper into the line.... again for collectors with the release of the Dewback 1:6 Figure Related Product and this was definitely the way to do it. Purists will be thrilled to know that Sideshow Collectibles was sensitive to your needs as well and an alternate sergeant pauldron was included as an alternate option for you with this figure too.

The “extra” sergeant pauldron is perfect because that is the type of Sandtrooper that rode the dewback in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. This way you’ll have a screen accurate Sandtrooper if and when you decide to pick up Sideshow’s Dewback 1:6 Scale Figure Related Product. (That’s a mouthful isn’t it?!) Interestingly, this is the best Sandtrooper that Sideshow Collectibles has produced to date (and it likely will be the last). We have never come across a Sandtrooper with tighter joints than what is presented here and it’s absolutely necessary for a figure to have this much rigidity when it has to wear a ton of equipment to throw off its balance when trying to pose it. The figure did fall over once or twice while we photographed it for our gallery, but the incidents of falling were far less than Sideshow’s previous efforts. (We are especially thankful for this.) The figure is loaded with every Sandtrooper weapon you could possibly want. From the standard BlasTech E-11 blaster to the more intricate BlasTech DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle or RT-97C heavy blaster rifle, you have a lot to play with here without it becoming sensory overload. Sideshow Collectibles kept the interchangeable hands in check here (something we’re particularly thankful for as we despise 100 different hands) and collectors only get one extra set to play with so you’ll have to make the most of them. (Don’t worry, they seem to interact very well with all the different guns.)

This particular Sandtrooper may just have the “cleanest” paint job of all the previous Sandtrooper 1:6 Scale Figures Sideshow Collectibles has released. It’s great that all look unique of course, but this one may look slightly out of place when standing next to the others. Now we have the Sandtrooper (Sergeant: Tatooine), Sandtrooper (Squad Leader: Tatooine), the Sideshow Store Exclusive Sandtrooper (Corporal: Tatooine) and now the deluxe Sandtrooper (Desert Sands Detachment). That’s four Sandtroopers in the 1:6 Scale Figure line. That’s a very impressive number of large-scaled figures that are relatively identical save for their unique accessories and pauldrons. (Oh, and technically we have two sergeants now.) Fans of Sideshow Collectibles 1:6 Scale Figures line have voiced their opinions that they are getting tired of clone troopers and now it seems the sandtroopers are getting a bit old. Admittedly, it is time for them to start delving into other characters from the Militaries Of Star Wars, particularly those from Episode V. We desperately want to see the AT-AT Driver and Snowtrooper as well as other Imperials that can be seen across the Original Trilogy like the TIE Fighter Pilot and Death Star Gunner. It’s time to break the monotony and we hope Sideshow Collectibles plaintively listens to our cries. Figures like the Sandtrooper (Desert Sands Detachment) are excellent, but it’s time to make things fresh.