ROTS #65: Carded 501st Special Ops Clone

[Luuuuuuke]

I'd give him a B- grade. He's got all the problems the AT-TE gunner has, including those wonky elbow joints and wobbly ankle, hip and knee joints. He comes with a stand which is good, because he damn well needs it.

Having said that, he's pretty good looking. His paint is more detailed than with the Jedi Temple Assault set clone, though mostly because of the two thin strips going down the side of his legs.

His shoes up to his ankle are dusted up which actually looks okay. But for some reason it makes his feet look smaller and as the AT-TE mold kind of already has the look of a big-headed, big hipped clone, this isn't exactly appealing.

His helmet does come off which is a plus, and it fits pretty well. His elbow joints are a pain in the arse to maneuver and the left elbow frankly pops out quite a bit on the first one I opened.

There's something vaguely dynamic looking about this clone (he looks a bit sleeker than the AT-TE gunner), and the "damage" looks pretty good actually, but he's no more than a solidly above average clone. He's got the same face as the AT-TE gunner underneath.

[mastermatt24]

Is he crosseyed?

[plasticfetish]

Is he crosseyed?

Hah! That's a really good question.

Yeah, is he?

[Luuuuuuke]

He certainly looks crosseyed at first glance But I think it's more that he's looking up at something and he "looks" crosseyed. He's identical to the AT-TE gunner under the helmet. Actually the more I look at him the more I like him. The SA mold would have been better, but he looks less robotic than he would with the Quick Draw mold. He looks better around the shoulder to head area than the JTA clone.

[mastermatt24]

OK thats good- would he look a lot better with pupils? (I was able to fix my cross-eyed gunners by drawing in pupils with a mechanical pencil)

[Luuuuuuke]

I suppose if you can fix the cross-eyed gunners by drawing pupils you can do so with this one. They're identical. By the way, so far these stand better than the AT-TE gunners. I'm not sure why that is since in many ways their molds seem identical, but I haven't had many problems keeping them upright. I thought I would.
And they look WAY BETTER with a rifle. That little detail makes a big difference in the way they look. Unfortunately they only come with crappy little blasters.

[decadentdave]

Well after months of waiting, I finally scored several of these for my Clone armies and, well... I must say I'm disappointed.

I was expecting a repainted Clone Trooper #6, like the Red Shock trooper and the 501st Clones in the Jedi Temple Assault Battle Pack, but to my surprise it is a repainted Clone Tank Gunner with removeable helmet. As much as I like a removeable helmet with the Temeura Morrison head sculpt underneath, I much rather would have preferred the ball-jointed helmet on this one instead of the fatter removeable one. Also, the figure is "dirty" and not as "clean" as the K-Mart Battle Pack. The other thing that annoys me about re-using the Tank Gunner body is that his right arm is permanently "cocked" which bothers me to no end, not to mention the pin-stripping down the legs. He looks more like he's ready for Nascar.

Hate to gripe about this one since this was "supposed" to be my favorite Clone Trooper to be released to date but the Commander Gree Clone which was the re-paint of #41 Super Articulated Clone Trooper, takes the prize for best sculpt. I would have preferred this body sculpt for my beloved 501st for maximum poseability. My only hope is that at some point Hasbro will do an "army builder" pack similar to the Entertainment Earth exclusive Clone Trooper 3-packs and he will get repainted on that body. Sigh...

[Bacta Beast]

I have to chime in and agree with you! I am terribly dissapointed! The fist photos I saw of this figure were from the San Diego Comic-Con where the prototype they used for the display was utilizing the #41 super-posable body. Of cousre i knew better once I saw the "official" Hasbro pics. But having it open really is a big let down. It probably wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't one of the more memorable and important squads in the movie. But these are the guys that helped Vader clear the temple for Pete's sake! Show some respect! Plus the way Hasbro is positioning them in the package, is causing damage to some of the knee joints!

[sith_killer_99]

Yeah, that's why I bought 2 extra JTA packs. I still don't like the #6 Clone as much as the #41, but it's preferable to the "cocked arm" Tank Gunner.

[decadentdave]

Now I know why everyone is switching out white Clones in the Jedi Temple Assault Battle Packs. Can you really blame them? In fact, I'm thinking now this is a good reason to do the same. I know it is a rotten thing to do but this is really all Hasbro's fault. Let's stick it to them for a change!

As Sheriff Lucas Buck would say, "Never let your conscience be your guide."