We’ve got a special review today thanks to our friends over at Entertainment Earth. Today, you won’t be looking at pictures I took of my stuff! You’ll be looking at pictures of what could be your stuff! Entertainment Earth has graciously provided one of their exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series Imperial Forces four-packs for me to review and then to giveaway to one of our lucky readers. It’s pretty exciting to me and I’m not even eligible to win it! For the full details, check out this post. There are several different ways to enter, so be sure to head over to that post get your name in!

Since I fall on the casual side of the spectrum when it comes to Star Wars fandom, I was probably most surprised that most of the figures in the four-pack actually appeared in the movie, albeit in very small ways. The Sandtrooper Sergeant is there on Tatooine searching for the droids. Oxixo pilots a TIE fighter above Yavin. And R2-Q5 can be found trolling around the second Death Star. The Crimson Stormtrooper is a little more obscure, first appearing on the cover of a 1995 Star Wars magazine. What’s really interesting about him though is that he doesn’t have a 3.75” figure yet. How does that even happen?

The other thing about the four pack is that there isn’t any new tooling to be had. Normally, I’d crow about that a bit, but this is one of those instances where it simply doesn’t matter. These are rank & file troop serving in a massive oppressive regime. Uniformity is the name of the game. The set is a great way to fill out your army building desires while simultaneously getting figures that, through paint, are slightly or heavily modified from their original, standard release.

The Sandtrooper Sergeant was the figure I started with because the Sandtroopers hold a silly special place for me. The Sandtrooper was the first SWB I bought, but it’s sillier than that. Any Stormtroopers I had as a kid were second hand figures. I didn’t have a white Stormtrooper until POTF2 in the 90s. I just like their grit. The Sergeant cracks me up a little because his pauldron has stayed clean though. Sarge here also stands out because he’s the most loaded with accessories. He’s got his pauldron & backpack, of course, but he’s loaded down with all three of his guns from the initial release. Oh, and he’s dirty. If you’re into that sort of thing. To read more specifics on this mold, including articulation and sculpt details, check out my August 2013 Sandtrooper review.

Lt. Oxixo, I’m still wrapping my head around him. He’s probably fourth in the four person set, but only because he’s the most similar to the initial release of the TIE Fighter pilot. I had originally thought he was a toy creation, found in a Battle of Endor multi-pack a few years ago, but I’ve since learned he was actually at the Battle of Yavin and his strange, palindrome name comes from his helmet in that scene. I do like this figure quite a bit, but I love TIE Fighter Pilots, so…

The main difference here from the initial release is the buttons and control panels on his uniform are painted differently, as is the belt buckle and the silver stripe on his helmet. The silver stripe should have the “OXIXO” in it, but it appeared to have ended up with “00000” instead. I thought that was odd. His right shoulder patch is also a solid silver circle. I’m not sure if that’s accurate or if it should just be the Imperial symbol. Continue to Page 2…