The Good: Good articulation, Good sculpt, Good accessories, Great coloring detail.
The Bad: None yet . . .
The Basics: As my Clone Army grows, the Saleucami Trooper helps the generic forces from looking entirely monolithic, which is pretty cool!
I'm on the fence about the whole "clone trooper" thing. The clone troopers in the last two Star Wars prequel films were the predecessors to the Stormtroopers and were intended to be a monolithic fighting force. So part of me believes that figures like the Saleucami Trooper - and the appearance of such variants within the films - are just an advertising ploy on the part of Lucasfilm and Hasbro to make more money. After all, why are there so many specialized fighting forces in the prequel movies and not in the original Trilogy (though there were Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, and Biker Scouts). I mention this because the clone troopers seem to get a lot of chances for self-promotion and uniform highlight, like the red and maroon highlights that appear on the armor that defines the Legacy Collection Saleucami Trooper.
For those unfamiliar with the Saleucami Trooper, these were the clone troopers stationed on Saleucami in Revenge Of The Sith (click here for the review of the film!). These were the maroon and red highlighted troopers, seen mostly on speeder bikes. When they received Order 66, they turn their guns on Stass Allie. So, bully for them.
The Legacy Collection casting of the Saleucami Trooper is exceptionally articulated and recreates the murderous clone soldiers with additional padding and markings on their armor.
Basics
The Saleucami Trooper is incredibly detailed both in the sculpt and the coloring, both for the figure and his lone accessory. The buff, armored Clone Trooper stands 3 3/4" tall, like pretty much every other Clone Trooper action figure. The Saleucami Trooper was released in 2008 as part of Hasbro's Legacy Collection with the Droid Factory bonus. The Saleucami Trooper appears on the Stormtrooper helmet-shaped card with the rounded plastic bubble.
This toy is a very cool sculpt, though it is pretty hard to get a Clone Trooper sculpt wrong, given how Hasbro has been making them for years! This sculpt is the standard white-armored soldier with knee and shoulder pads molded in and a harness/belt accenting the chest piece. This figure's helmet is not removable.
As for the coloring, the Saleucami Trooper is good, though this is a very clean version of the Saleucami Trooper. He is clad mostly in white armor with the red circle symbol for his division on his helmet, chest and right thigh. His left shoulder is similarly maroon and outside that there are only black or gray accents around the helmet, glows and joints of the figure. It looks exactly like it is supposed to.
Accessories
The Saleucami Trooper, combat veteran that he is, comes with only one accessory: a blaster pistol. The blaster pistol is a clone trooper staple and this version is the 1 1/4" long blaster with the flattened barrel end which allows the Saleucami Trooper to hold the gun in a two-handed grip and look realistic while doing it! The gunmetal color the blaster makes it look good and more weathered than the rest of the figure, which is a nice touch.
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 Saleucami Trooper comes with right leg section of the MB-RA-7 droid. This is a silver-gray leg that has joints at the ankle and knee. This sets MB-RA-7 up to be exceptionally articulated, especially for a protocol droid. This piece is monotonally colored, but looks good for a clean droid.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and the Saleucami Trooper is amazing in that regard. Not only does this Legacy Collection figure have great articulation, but he looks good while having increased flexibility! The Saleucami Trooper is solidly built, has great balance, and is exceedingly flexible.
The Saleucami Trooper comes with fourteen points of articulation, most of which are not just simple swivel joints. The Saleucami Trooper has joints at the ankles, knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and bust and he twists at any of those points. The shoulders, elbows, ankles AND knees are all ball-and-socket joints and the head is on a ball joint, which allows his to nod up and down as well as look left to right. This Saleucami Trooper figure has more dexterity, balance and poseability than the earliest clone troopers.
For added support, should one wish to make improbable poses with the figure, there are playsets with foot pegs which fit into the holes in either of the Saleucami Trooper's feet.
Collectability
The Saleucami Trooper is part of the 2008 Legacy Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was not incredibly common, but the Saleucami Trooper is essentially a clone trooper so minimalists might not want one. While this was not overly common at the time, the same mold has been used for subsequent Saleucami Trooper figures including the ones in the battle pack "Betrayal On Saleucami."
The Saleucami Trooper is BD20 in the Legacy Collection and is one that is ideal for collectors looking to make a massive and diverse Clone Army!
Overview
The Saleucami Trooper is a great action figure for those looking to flesh out a Clone Army or a more extensive series of Imperial troops!
For other Legacy Collection Build-A-Droid figures, please check out my reviews of:
GH4 EVO Trooper
BD7 Bane Malar
BD35 Pons Limbic
BD40 Captain Needa
BD43 Ugnaught Engineer
10/10
For other Star Wars toy reviews, please visit my index page!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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