Concept Stormtrooper Review

[Hellboy]

Well the new wave of figures has hit my part of town and I picked up the Concept Stormtrooper today so I'll give him a quick review for those interested.

My first impression upon opening was he didn't look as bad as the pictures made him out to be. His articulation is similar to the CTC Stormtrooper minus the articulated knees but with the addition of wrist articulation on his left hand only. His shield attaches to his arm so he can hold it and the blaster at the same time which I though was cool. The holster looks a bit strange as it is rather large and is attached to a belt that isn't molded to the figure. So basically you can move the belt around his waist but you can't take it off. This looks good and I'd like to see this method applied to any future Stormtroopers we might see. The saber is rather cool looking too sporting a thin white blade thats surrounded by a transparent light blue. I do have one minor gripe concerning the saber because the blue shell doesn't cover the tip leaving the white inner-blade exposed. I'll admit that I was one of the people who bagged on this figure and thought it looked rather poor but he turned out to be quite accurate and though he wasn't my choice in the Fan's Choice Poll I'm glad he was made.

Grade: B+

[Kidhuman]

Sounds good. Got a pic to post of him? I would like to see it other than the drawings and all.

[Hellboy]

Sorry kidhuman, I don't own a camera or I would post a pick. One of these days I'll break down and buy one but I'm not a big picture taking guy so the only time it would get used would be for posting pictures online so I've had a hard time justifying purchasing one. Plus it would cut into my SW toy fund and I can't have that.

[RussUAE]

I never wanted this figure originally - in fact I was pretty annoyed when he won the fans choice. But I have bought him and am actually impressed. He looks so much cooler than I was ever expecting.

I'm not opening him though (I keep a carded figure from each style of card - so this can be my Saga Gold card example). That said, I'm becoming very tempted to open the guy!

[darthzirock]

I, for one, was very pleased that this won the Fan's Choice poll. I like EU figures, and would love to see an entire series of Concept Art-based figures, such as Vader, Leia, Luke, Han, Obi-Wan, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3P0 from ANH, followed by Yoda, Lando, and Boba Fett in TESB, and The Emperor and Jabba the Hutt, as well as various other aliens (even the initial Ewok designs), from ROTJ.

The "glowing lightsaber" effect sounds great, and it really is the type of thing they should consider making a running change on for all future figures that sport sabers!

[plasticfetish]

Sounds pretty cool.
I haven't formed an opinion one way or another on this figure ... supposed I'd wait until I saw it first hand. I do like the idea of getting this concept figure. Gonna hope I find one soon ... should probably get out and look a little.

The "glowing lightsaber" effect sounds great, and it really is the type of thing they should consider making a running change on for all future figures that sport sabers!

Maybe I'm nuts, but I thought I'd read some place that they were going to switch to something like this for all figures. (Maybe it was a dream.)

[JediTricks]

Must have been a dream, Hasbro said they were switching to the integrated blade & hilt design that we've seen in sets like Dlx Ani w/ Geonosian and Ani Secret Ceremony.

Glad to hear people are diggin' this figure, I've always been on board for it so I can't wait to find one... or more.

[darthzirock]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I thought I'd read some place that they were going to switch to [glowing lightsabers] for all figures. (Maybe it was a dream.)

No, you are neither nuts (at least in regards to this topic) or dreaming. However, what Hasbro was talking about was the current change to the sculpted sabers that are all one-piece. See, the frosted plastic they use now supposedly catches the light better than the old, tinted, clear-plastic blades (circa POTF2-EI). Okay, I'll give them that--the new blades do look more "glowy" when put under enough light. The operative expression there being "enough light" ... you need to have them under a fairly bright source for the effect to really work. Also, some of the blades still are getting the old type of plastic: Yoda & Chian, Ashla & Jempa, and even Aayla Secura all feature translucent blades instead of the frosted ones. Fortunately, it looks like all the CW figures have the frosted blades--which looks really good in purple for Mace Windu. The blue used for the CW Obi-Wan and Anakin figures is a bit too dark, though. Look at the blades for Hanger Duel Anakin and Coruscant Chase Obi-Wan, and they are a lighter blue that looks much more vibrant under bright light. I'm not sure why Asajj Ventress' blades are more pinkish than red, like Count Dooku's or Sith Training Darth Maul's blades.

I think the glowing core saber blade for the Concept Stormtrooper is a one-time deal, because the manufacturing process is probably a bit more expensive. Hasbro might be willing to eat the extra cost on one figure, but if they were to do this on an ongoing basis, I bet we'd see the SRP go up a bit--at a time when collectors were already told they'd get a lower SRP, yet that never happened. Besides, while the glowing core might work for blue sabers, it might be a bit more problematic for other colors. But, I can dream, can't I?

[Turbowars]

Man I'm glad I read these Forums. I didn't realize the saber had an inner core, LOL. I found this wave on Friday morning and I have to say I was one of the big time baggers against this figure. Now I have to say it's one of my favorites. I even opened him and that's rare.

[Turbowars]

This guy has a package pose variation. Check it out!http://www.sirstevesguide.com/forums...ad.php?t=22212