{"id":32500,"date":"2016-02-08T04:50:49","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T10:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=32500"},"modified":"2016-02-09T01:29:02","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T07:29:02","slug":"star-wars-week-black-series-imperial-forces-4pk-review-ee-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=32500","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars Week! Black Series Imperial Forces 4pk Review (EE Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> We\u2019ve got a special review today thanks to our friends over at Entertainment Earth. Today, you won\u2019t be looking at pictures I took of my stuff! You\u2019ll 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\u2019s pretty exciting to me and I\u2019m not even eligible to win it! For the full details, check out this post<\/a>. There are several different ways to enter, so be sure to head over to that post get your name in!<\/p>\n

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\u2019s really interesting about him though is that he doesn\u2019t have a 3.75\u201d figure yet. How does that even happen?<\/p>\n

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The other thing about the four pack is that there isn\u2019t any new tooling to be had. Normally, I\u2019d crow about that a bit, but this is one of those instances where it simply doesn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n

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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\u2019s sillier than that. Any Stormtroopers I had as a kid were second hand figures. I didn\u2019t 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\u2019s the most loaded with accessories. He\u2019s got his pauldron & backpack, of course, but he\u2019s loaded down with all three of his guns from the initial release. Oh, and he\u2019s dirty. If you\u2019re into that sort of thing. To read more specifics on this mold, including articulation and sculpt details, check out my August 2013 Sandtrooper review<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Lt. Oxixo, I\u2019m still wrapping my head around him. He\u2019s probably fourth in the four person set, but only because he\u2019s 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\u2019ve 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\u2026 <\/p>\n

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 \u201cOXIXO\u201d in it, but it appeared to have ended up with \u201c00000\u201d instead. I thought that was odd. His right shoulder patch is also a solid silver circle. I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s accurate or if it should just be the Imperial symbol. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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R2-Q5. I feel like every Star Wars collector likes to curate a droid subset, particular an astromech one. In that regard, getting this guy in a big multi-pack is hair-pulling, but at least it\u2019s a great set, particularly thanks to him. R2 just looks slick in black & bronze and then you add in his backstory as Palpatine\u2019s personal droid? Awesome. I kind of view Q5 & R2 playing games for the fate of the universe. Yes, the little guy is still too\u2026 well, little in the 6\u201d scale, but he looks sharp. If anything, I would\u2019ve like to see a few more accessories mixed on him. R2 had a lot of custom options that could carry over to Q5 here. Of course, I don\u2019t know where any of those R2 accessories are, so maybe it\u2019s for the best. For more specifics on this figure, check out Vault\u2019s 2013 R2-D2 review<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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And that brings us to the Crimson Stormtrooper. The only non-canon guy and yet he\u2019s the one that seems to be pulling fans the most in. The main reason is because the Stormtrooper is iconic and amazing. And he looks so good in white that he\u2019d have to look good in pretty much any other color, right? If you said no, you\u2019re wrong. Just look at this guy in all his cherry goodness! I mentioned before that he appeared on that Star Wars Galaxy magazine cover, but I should also add that he\u2019s been kinda of adapted further as a Magmatrooper. Like this guy could just walk around Mustafar watching Anakin whine an OBI-Warn deal with it with extreme prejudice. I don\u2019t really have much more to add. He\u2019s a freaking red Stormtrooper! If you want to read more about the specifics on this mold check out the initial review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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I hadn\u2019t made this set a priority yet, but having it pass through my hands for just a few days has only made my desire to own one myself that much stronger. It\u2019s a terrific army building set and I just need to get out my wallet and head over to EE and pick it up for myself. It’s currently in stock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s because this one is going to belong to one of you. As a reminder, I have opened and photographed these figures so this isn\u2019t an MIB giveaway. The figures are in great shape and I\u2019ve handled them as minimally as possible during the shoot though, so you\u2019re in for a treat if you win. Head on over to this post to get all the details!<\/a> <\/p>\n

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