Imperial Forces 4-Pack MiniReview

[Jayspawn]

Finally! After MONTHS of waiting, looking, waiting, looking.....something new finally appeared in stores! And since it's been a while since I've seen anything new, I'm a little rusrty at the review thing- but hang in there!

Imperial Forces 4-Pack (Toys'R'Us Exclusive)

I'm gonna do this review a tad differently because it's a 4-Pack and I'll do each figure individually.

Darth Vader Likeness It's perfect. Looks just like Vader from the movies. Not much else to say. Sculpt/Detail Both are excellent. It's new but its not because it's a remade version of the POTJ Vader Emperor's Wrath. This figure however has a little more detail- mainly on his chestplate. It does look better. The gloves and helmet are molded solid black and look very clean. Accessories Vader comes with his lightsaber. Hey, he doesn't need anything else! Playability I'd say this is one of the best Vader figure to play with. Articulation Our remade Dard Lord has 7 points articulation. legs, waist, head, shoulders, right forearm and wrist. 5/5.

AT-ST Driver Likeness It's hard to base a likeness on the figure. It's ok, but the figure looks like he's very concerned about something. Sculpt/Detail The figure has the body of the SAGA Imperial Officer and a new head. The outfit passes o new only because it's different colors. It's still a good sculpt though. The only minus is the Imperial symbol on the left shoulder- looks imcomplete and rather like a flower. Articulation Suprisingly he has 10 points articulation. Head, waist, legs, shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Accessories Since the pack comes with a number of extra accessories you could give him a blaster or a rifle if you wanted to. Playability He's a cool figure and he fit's inside my AT-ST Walker like he's supposed to. Cool stuff! 4.5/5.

Stormtrooper Likeness Not much to say other than it's perfect! Sculpt/Detail Back to old favorites- it's a remade COMMTECH Stormtrooper that we all love! The paint and sculpt are all next to perfection except for one small area. There's a lot of detail in the helmet area and it gets a tad messy around there. Some of the other packs in the store had some messy looking Stormies. Articulation My favorie part of these figures, the Stormtrooper has 10 points. Head, waist, shoulders, elbows, legs and knees. NOTE: The neck joint is different this time. The head only moves side to side and not up and down like Commtech Stormie. Also the arms are sculpted differently- they are sculpted up to his waist (ex: Imp Officer, Jedi Duel Obi-Wan) and does not have ball joint shoulders. Bummer. Accessories The pack comes with rifles and blasters and he can hold either one pretty well. Playability He's a great figure and looks good with other Stormtroopers. He also stands holding his blaster in ready position which also looks good. 4/5.

R4-I9 Likeness I don't remember him in the movies but he sure looks good! Sculpt/Detail Alas, we have another great remake of another cool figure. Mainly, the POTJ R4-M9. He's completely repainted but looks like a different droid. The paint job on mine is very clean. Articulation This R4 has 7 points. Head, middle leg, middle leg foot, shoulders and feet. You can pose him standing up, rolling, leaning, any droid position. Accessories He doesn't really have or need any. Droids are self sufficient. Playability He's great! He does what we need him to, and he can hang out with that other Imperial droid we got in the POTJ line and fix stuff! 5/5.

Extra Accessories The 4-Pack comes with a bunch of extra accessories we can do whatever we want with. Here's what we get: 2 Imperial Blasters (POTF kind), 2 Rifles (the kind that Dengar, 4-LOM and Dewback Sandtrooper have), a Mouse Droid (from Death Star Droid pack-in), Imperial Interrogator Droid (from Imperial accessory pack), a blaster rack (from Commtech Stormie) and that big ol' Imperial tripod cannon that the POTF2 Snowstooper had and all the pieces to put it together. Wohoo! Extra accessories are great! What else do we need? 5/5.

Value I picked it up at Toys'R'Us for $19.99. Worth the price- yes! It has characteristics of things we've all seen before with a new touch. 3 of the figures in the pack are army builders. And it breaks down to $5 a figure which is good. 5/5.

OVERALL Great set! We (I) had to wait a long time to find anything new which is a real drag and pretty uninspiring. The figures are cool and we got a bunch of extra accessories we can divide up as we please. I think these sets are a great idea and I'm looking forward to TRU's Hoth Pack. 5/5.

Bring it on Hasbro!

[INDIANA]

Vader's head just looks wrong. It was molded out of flat black plastic and just looks different from the rest of the figure.

The AT-ST driver's head is the POTJ Rebel Fleet Trooper's. Hasblow didn't even go the extra distance to paint the chin strap all black.

The Stormtrooper's neck gap bothers me. Again, how much did Hasblow save by not painting the vents (?) on the lower front of the helmet?

The Imperial blasters problem. POTF2 are too big. POTJ are too small. The blaster that came with the deluxe Clonetrooper is IMO a perfect size, right between the other two.

Overall, the paint jobs suck. I picked through 15 to find one set and I was NOT being too anal. I had the same problem with the 2 Sandtrooper sets I picked up. 7 out of the 8 had crap paint jobs I ended up touching up just to be passable.

This set could have been better thought out. Hasblow should hire a few of us to give our input and get better results for everyone. I had intended to buy 2 of these sets but was not impressed with it at all.

[Jayspawn]

Yes it seems you wern't.

[keithfite]

I was going to leave a review on this but it looks like Jayspawn took care of it. I totally agree with him. This is a fun set. You get Darth with a lightsaber, AT-ST, Stormtrooper, R4-19, and a mouse droid. You get four clear stands, blasters, a gun rack for the storm trooper blasters, Imperial interogation droid, and a huge imperial gun on tripods that has a fireing missle and a wire witch plugs in to the generator. And the generator opens so you can store stuff in it. If you can get this set you should. Its really cool. It looks very good in the box. I opened mine but I might get another to keep MOC. I cant wait for the other TRU packs. This one is good.

[Jayspawn]

Thanks keithfite! And I agree with him.

[bigbarada]

When I bought the POTJ EW Vader back in 2001 I thought, "This would be the best Vader figure ever without all the see-through plastic and lightning bolts crap." I'm glad to see Hasbro was thinking the same thing.

The Imperial R4 looks cool also. I'm just not sure if these two figures are worth $19.99 (I have no interest in the Stormtrooper or AT-ST Driver).

Well, if I find one, I'll definitely buy it (provided I have the funds). I just won't drive myself crazy looking for it.

Question:
Does the Vader have the metal-hilt/removable blade lightsaber that came with the Saga Bespin Vader? Or is it the regular solid plastic one?

[Jayspawn]

It's the regular Plastic solid one. It has the little areas detailed like Emperor's Wrath and Dagobah Vaders.

[bigbarada]

Well, that's cool I guess. Is Vader really as dull-looking as the Collector's Database photo makes him look? In fact, everything in there looks kind of flat and lusterless, when they are usually pretty shiny.

[Jayspawn]

Most every color of Black in the set is a flat black. It looks odd at first- but then I remembered, Vader looked a little flat in "A New Hope." Its different- but looks kinda cool.