{"id":24363,"date":"2013-08-02T00:41:17","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T05:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24363"},"modified":"2013-09-01T20:30:38","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T01:30:38","slug":"star-wars-black-03-sandtrooper-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24363","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars Black
#03 Sandtrooper Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Oh, Star Wars. What am I going to do with you? You\u2019re cool, but you\u2019re not my most favorite thing. You have plenty of collectors. Do you really need one more? Did you really have to finally make your case in the six-inch scale? Did you really have to be such great figures? <\/p>\n

Well, I shouldn\u2019t use the plural yet. I don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll all be great figures. I have one so far. A Sandtrooper. I have Wave One in my BBTS POL, so I didn\u2019t need to buy any today when I found Wave One at TRU. But, hey, it\u2019s a Sandtrooper. I can have two of those, right? Right? <\/p>\n

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The Sandtrooper may not look like the sexiest figure from the first bunch. He\u2019s not even a unique character. But the base figure, the Stormtrooper, is just as iconic as anyone in the wave, if not a little more so. He\u2019s been sitting on my desk since the photo shoot and I\u2019m a bit mesmerized by him. First of all, he\u2019s so \u201cbig\u201d. Except not really \u2013 he clocks in at the expected 6\u201d, but it is weird to finally see a Sandtrooper in my preferred scale.<\/p>\n

I know there have been some awesome troopers in the smaller lines \u2013 I have a pretty exceptional 4\u201d Shadow Trooper somewhere, still unpacked from the move.<\/p>\n

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But, see, that\u2019s the thing. I\u2019ve been here in the new place for about half a year. I still haven\u2019t unpacked any Star Wars figures. Part of my collector brain wants to know what I\u2019m doing buying Star Wars figures. The last Star Wars figure I bought, Darth Malgus, has never been opened. The one before that was some pink girl with a silver suit and a big head. Again, never opened. So as I\u2019ve been contemplating Star Wars Black\u2019s 6\u201d figures. I\u2019ve been cautious. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no tinge of guilt this evening. This Sandtrooper rocks. <\/p>\n

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I know because I haven\u2019t been able to put him down all day. I could (& probably will) nitpick a detail here or there, but I\u2019m not kidding when I say just about everything is working in concert to make this a great figure. <\/p>\n

The sculpt, looks awesome even with all the smooth surfaces provided by the source material. The edges are well defined and the details appear to all be there. In fact, while we\u2019ve gotten used to companies having to make some considerations due to the buck system, that\u2019s not completely the case here. Sure, the Sandtrooper does subsidize the Stormtrooper, but now that we\u2019ve seen the Stormtrooper (Series 3) we can spot a couple small differences that show Hasbro is trying to get these figure right.<\/p>\n

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The belts will be different, but that\u2019s easy. But there looks to be other details that show that the Stormtrooper & Sandtrooper will feature unique upper and lower torsos just to get the minor differences right. And one part that really surprised me was the left knee pad. It\u2019s a \u201cV\u201d on the Stormtrooper and a diamond on the Sandtrooper. It\u2019s silly, small little detail and it blows my mind that Hasbro spent the money on it. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s something 6\u201d collectors are much used to anymore. <\/p>\n

Two other pieces are included to make this guy a Sandtrooper are the backpack and the shoulder pauldrons. Both pieces look sharp and are removable. The backpack even neatly plugs into a small circle area on the armor to maintain functionality and accuracy. It\u2019s pretty neat. <\/p>\n

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Articulation is where the figure really shines. I have a bad habit of not posing the figures well in some of the reviews and, looking at the pics, I\u2019ve gone and done it again. I assure you though that this guy can move. His articulation is just about everything I want in this scale. The head is on a hinged-ball-joint, there are standard ball-joints at the shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles, there are swivels at the biceps and thighs, double-hinges on the elbows and knees, and finally a mid-torso joint with fantastic range. The shoulder armor blocks the shoulders somewhat, but it\u2019s not bad and everything else works fantastic. The head and torso have great range. The double-hinges open up all four limbs for great poses. The ball-wrists allow for some great poses including two-handed poses on the three included weapons. The ankles are the new \u201cit\u201d thing where pegs go into the lower foot, greatly increasing their effectiveness. He\u2019s a blast to play with. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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And that\u2019s where I have to stop at a minute and really marvel at something. The earliest 6\u201d Batman & DCSH figures looked pretty, but had a few flaws. Mattel had to find their footing to get the sculpt & articulation balanced. What they learned was then applied to MOTU and that has helped that line be really consistent for five years. <\/p>\n

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Similarly, this 6\u201d Star Wars line must have the benefit of everything Hasbro has learned from making Marvel Legends*. These are the very first figures in the line and they\u2019re awesome. There\u2019s no stumbling with this Sandtrooper. No odd thing I just have to accept. The learning curve came from ML and it\u2019s been put to good use here. The Sandtrooper doesn\u2019t even need to be this well-articulated, but he is and that makes me positive that the Jedi\u2019s or any martial arts-type characters that need to move are going to be fantastic. <\/p>\n

* – One other thing I thought was neat was the ball-jointed heads being inadvertently swappable. I know Hasbro isn’t consistent with size (and the trooper’s neck ball is so big it rivals the Hulk’s instead of a normal figure, but I’m excited at the prospect of swapping some heads around on these guys. Is a Sandtrooper Luke possible? Hopefully, I’ll find out soon…<\/em><\/p>\n

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Also included were three movie-based props. The blaster, the blaster rifle, and the heavy blaster rifle. The weapons all appear to be screen accurate and fit in either hand or, with the great artic, in both hands. I\u2019ve favored the smaller blaster so far, but it was pretty neat to get that iconic pose of the trooper cradling the heavy blaster in the crook of his arm too! The weapons were probably my one source of disappointment \u2013 they are a little too soft. The softness used on the accessories comes in handy on the backpack (and particularly the shoulder pouches connected to it), but I always worry that soft gear will droop over time, so some more solid weapons would be one of the few things done to improve these figures. <\/p>\n

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The paint was pretty solid on my figure. It\u2019s probably the one area that pales a bit because it\u2019s not as fantastic as everything else, but it is still pretty sharp. The helmet and armor details are a real highlight, but the black \u201cunder armor\u201d areas are a little sloppy. There just doesn\u2019t seem to be as much care given to those areas, but they\u2019re also at or near articulation points, so I can understand it not being as easy. I did have the black paint dry on my figure\u2019s right knee, which did freeze it up for a second, but it came free easy enough with a small white spot on the knee where the paint stayed stuck where it was. <\/p>\n

The dirty detailing is great though. I\u2019m excited to see a few more of the Sandtroopers and see if there are any vast differences, maybe some really dirty troopers to go with a relatively clean one like mine. It would certainly make for an interesting display if you could find a few with different levels of dirt. <\/p>\n

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Overall, I know this is another review where I sound gushy, but I assure you it\u2019s different. If I get really excited about the upcoming DCUC Huntress figure, that\u2019s partially because I just really want a Huntress figure and that one can have a few warts and I won\u2019t care. <\/p>\n

As a more casual Star Wars fan, I don\u2019t have that same affinity for a Sandtrooper, but he\u2019s won me over. To put it another way, I\u2019ve been touting NECA\u2019s Dutch as a figure of the year \u2013 he totally is \u2013 and I\u2019ve commented my disappointment that I would\u2019ve preferred that NECA had the Classic TV Batman license instead of Mattel. The figures would be better and we all know it. <\/p>\n

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That\u2019s not the case here. Hasbro, yes Hasbro, knocked this Sandtrooper out of the park. On their first try in this scale. I already thought this line had a lot going for it, but if they keep making figures awesome like this, they won\u2019t need to ride on the hype or past success. We\u2019ll just keep buying because the figures are awesome. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m still sure that I won\u2019t \u201cneed them all\u201d, but I will want a few more than I thought if they\u2019re all going to be this good. I can\u2019t wait for my BBTS shipment to get here with my other figures. It\u2019s a good time to be a 6″ collector. Star Wars has finally joined the 1:12 ranks. <\/p>\n

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For more Star Wars Black reviews, check out our
\n Star Wars Black Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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