Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I Guess They’re All Clones Now: The Legacy Collection Snowtrooper Is Erratic, But Cool!



The Good: Good sculpt, Fine accessories, Amazing articulation.
The Bad: Cloth skirt is clean, Face does not look right.
The Basics: The facial details and cloth aspects of the Legacy Collection Snowtrooper figure rob it of perfection, though it is still pretty awesome!


I have not been wild about some of the changes in the Star Wars Universe since the animated Clone Wars series began. Chief among them is the idea that the Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers and Speeder Bike pilots the Empire used in the original Star Wars Trilogy are all, in fact, clone troopers. Why this bothers me is simple; it means the galaxy is not subjugated by the baser needs of their own citizens and perhaps an oppressive economy, but rather from without from an artificial army. I raise this point at the outset of my review of the 2009 Legacy Collection Snowtrooper figure because this is the first Snowtrooper figure I have had that has a removable helmet. Unfortunately, between the head that is below that helmet and the clean cloth skirt on the figure, the Snowtrooper is robbed of perfection. Still, it is a pretty awesome toy and well worth picking up.

For those unfamiliar with Snowtrooper, where were you for the Hoth battle?! Snowtroopers were deployed on the frozen planet of Hoth at the outset of The Empire Strikes Back (click here for my review of that film). Snowtroopers are white-clad shock troopers of the Empire specially outfitted to survive in the cold of Hoth.

The Legacy Collection Snowtrooper is not a new figure; in fact, this is one of many Legacy Collection recasts of figures released before. Kenner even did a Deluxe Snowtrooper (click here for that review!). This Snowtrooper is superior, but it is hardly flawless.

Basics

The Snowtrooper figure is well-detailed and that actually leads to one of the problems with it. The Snowtrooper is a 3 7/8” tall white-armored trooper with what looks to be very warm gear covered in armor. The military trooper is clad in a white helmet (that looks unfortunately like a Klan hood), which may be removed. The Snowtrooper was released in 2009 as part of Hasbro's Legacy Collection with the Droid Factory bonus. The very common soldier is cast in fairly stiff, hard plastic.

This toy is a fairly impressive sculpt, except for the face. When the helmet is removed, the human (clone) head is revealed. This is intended to look like a tanned Clone warrior, but this looks neither like Jango Fett nor the actor who portrayed him. The hair on the character looks good, but the skintones are monotonal brown and the eyes are painted somewhat sloppy – though they are white, brown and black, which is good. The head is the only part of the Snowtrooper that looks human and it is unfortunately small compared with the buff body of the rest of the Snowtrooper.

What makes the figure worth getting is that the costume is pretty incredible. For the first time, looking at this figure, I noticed that the Snowtrooper’s outfit is actually a heavy cloth outfit which is then covered in white armor. This Snowtrooper has a somewhat “assembled” look to it and as a result, the Snowtrooper looks durable and ready for action. He also looks like he has seen some action. The Snowtrooper has rust-colored highlights on the leggings, so he looks like he has actually been out in the field. There is also wear on the front breastplate, as well as painted details on the buttons on the plates as well. The costuming details are incredible, including how the flexible portion of the helmet is colored a little more pink than the clean white backpack.

And that is the problem with the Snowtrooper; the clean parts. Hasbro needs to commit to a clean Snowtrooper or a dirty one. This Snowtrooper has dirty armor, boots and helmet, but a clean white backpack and skirt (the Snowtrooper has a half-cape from the waist down that is very skirt-like).

Accessories

Snowtroopers, shocktroopers for frozen wastelands the Empire simply must have, comes with only two accessories in addition to the droid part: the blaster pistol and a backpack. That is a blaster pistol and it is common among many of the Imperial figures. The pistol is cast in black plastic and has the holes in the barrel that are pretty decent detailing. The 1 1/2" blaster has a grip that easily fits in the Snowtrooper’s right hand, though it can fit in the left hand, too. The blaster has a scope molded into it, but lacks any coloring details.

The Snowtrooper also comes with a backpack. The backpack is white, about 1” tall and presses into the Snowtrooper’s back. It might not be an exciting accessory, but it finishes the figure off well. Unfortunately, the backpack is clean and white and looks unused, making it contrast the rest of the armor it is plugged into.

This figure was part of the "Droid Factory" line of the Legacy Collection figures and the basic premise was that for every six figures you bought, you'd get a seventh which would be assembled from parts in each of the six toys in the collection. The Snowtrooper comes with left leg of the HK-50 droid. This is a skeletal humanoid droid (it actually reminds me of a Terminator with an insect head!) and the leg is articulated at both the knee and the ankle!

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and the Snowtrooper is amazing in that regard. This Legacy Collection figure has impressive articulation as well as decent balance! Flatfooted, this is a very balanced toy and it is hard to tip the Snowtrooper over. Also, the Snowtrooper comes with fourteen points of articulation, many of which are not just simple swivel joints. The Snowtrooper has joints at the ankles, knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, forearm, neck, and waist and he twists at any of those points. The shoulders, elbows AND knees are all ball-and-socket joints with hinge joints, offering unreal amounts of articulation! The head is on a ball joint, which allows the clone trooper to nod up and down as well as look left to right, at least in a limited fashion!

And for whatever improbable poses one might find where he will not remain standing, there are playsets with foot pegs which fit into the holes in either of the Snowtrooper's feet.

Collectibility

The Snowtrooper is part of the 2009 Legacy Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was fairly common and because there are other Snowtrooper figures, this was something of a pegwarmer. Even so, it has at least retained its value after a year.

The Snowtrooper is BD55 in the Legacy Collection.

Overview

The Snowtrooper is a wonderful figure that fans are likely to want, despite the coloring irregularities. After all, one can never have too many Snowtroopers and this one is the most posable, making it an asset for play and display. Just don’t take the hooded helmet off!

For other Legacy Collection figures, please check out my reviews of:
BD17 Princess Leia (Slave Leia)
BD39 Jawa with Security Droid
BD41 The Utai
BD42 Jeremoch Colton
BD50 Wing Guard
BD52 R2-X2

8.5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.





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