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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| The specialized troopers of the 41st Elite Corps were deployed to Kashyyyk under the command of Jedi Grand Master Yoda in REVENGE OF THE SITH. The figure is a repaint of the Vintage Saga Collection's Biker Scout. After the overwhelming success of the CLONE WARS line's Super Poseable Clone Trooper in 2003 and the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection's Stormtrooper from 2004, the Vintage Saga Collection's Biker Scout was yet another army-builder appeaser figure. Although it accurately depicts the Original Trilogy Scouts' armor, with loads of detail and fantastic articulation, it's decidedly not identical to the 41st Elite Corps Troopers seen in ROTS. The helmet is noticeably different, and was even sculpted for the BARC Trooper that was included with the ROTS line's BARC Speeder Vehicle. But, looking to extend The Saga Collection beyond the 52 figures initially announced, Hasbro decided it was either repaint the Biker Scout as the Elite Corps Trooper, or not release it at all. While it's a great sculpt that rates a 9.5 out of 10 as the Biker Scout, as the Elite Corps Trooper it only gets an 8/10. |
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| Paint: |
| The original Biker Scout was primarily molded in white, with black, gray, and tan paint decos. As the Elite Corps Trooper, it's now a multi-colored affair, because of its forest camoflauge design. The head, two-part torso, and pelvis are molded in a light gray. The helmet has a metallic green on the visor, with alternating green, dark green, tan, and brown camo pattern paint apps. There are additional black paint decos on the helmet. The upper torso has alternating green, dark green, tan, and brown camo pattern paint apps, as well as a medium brown paint app to the neck area's undersuit. The pelvis has alternating green, dark green, tan, and brown camo pattern paint apps, as well as the medium brown of the undersuit. The mid-torso has a tan camo pattern paint app, with a few black paint decos to belt areas. The upper and middle arms are molded in medium brown, with light gray applied as the base of the armored areas. There are then alternating green, dark green, tan, and brown camo pattern paint apps, as well as some silver and gray paint decos to pouches on the arms. The gloves are molded in black, with a line of medium gray that encircles the top edge of each glove. The legs are molded in medium brown, with light gray applied as the base for armored areas. These are then given alternating green, dark green, tan, and brown camo pattern paint apps. The undersuit is given a medium gray camo pattern paint deco, as well. Although molded in brown, the shoes are painted gray, given some green and light gray camo paint decos, as well as small black paint decos on each shoe strap, and then have light gray soles. The two blasters are both molded in black, with no paint apps: 9.5/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| The Elite Corps Trooper has a pop-off ball-jointed head, with ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles, and waist. The hips are planer-cut, as are the forearms, at the seam where the gloves meet the body suit. Total points of articulation are fourteen: 9/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| The Elite Corps Trooper comes with a character-specific base, a DC-15 blaster, and a small hold-out blaster that fits perfectly into the holster on its right ankle: 8.5/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The same The Saga Collection card as the rest of the series, with a character-specific background image--in this case, the sandy beach of the Kashyyyk battlefront. The insert image is promotional art, and has The Saga Collection logo to the right of the character image. To the far left are the five orange-rimmed, white triangular arrows indicating the placement of the Exclusive Hologram Figure. The figure's name is just below TSC logo, with its collection number (Elite Corps Clone Trooper is Saga #065) just to the right. The cardback features the same promo shot from the insert, composited over the beach battlefront, and has text that explains the character's role in ROTS, along with the diecut display area for the Exclusive Hologram Figure: 8.5/10. |
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| Availability: |
| The figure first appeared at retail almost three months ago, but was fairly scarce because of the intense demand by army-builders; it's also available at most online retailers. Although packed into a later wave of Wal-Mart exclusive figures, this figure is still in heavy demand and sells out often within hours of being stocked at most stores: 6.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| Although not the movie-accurate sculpt that army-builders have been begging for, after two years they seem to be settling for this release. They're nice, and I've got the one that suffices to fill my collection. REVENGE OF THE SITH purists are still enraged, because the two troopers are significantly different, and are still making a lot of noise both online and at conventions about wanting this figure "corrrected" at some point in the future. Hasbro knows that Clone Troopers sell, and no doubt, at some point, we'll see that improved version. Meanwhile, this figure still pulls in a decent rating of 8.3/10. |
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