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Collectibles => Past Hasbro 3.75" Lines => Revenge of the Sith => Topic started by: Darth_Anton on June 1, 2005, 12:19 PM

Title: Clones and new sculpts. Is it necessary?
Post by: Darth_Anton on June 1, 2005, 12:19 PM
All of the new clones we get are new sculpts. This is one case where I'm of the opinion that Hasbro could just rehash the SA bodies for each one to give them all maximum articulation. Why do you supose this isn't already done? Do you even agree?

Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Gregorbian on June 1, 2005, 12:30 PM
I absolutely think that every clone should be made using either the #6 Clone Trooper or #41 Clone Trooper (or #33 Clone Commander if the figure has a skirt).   Clearly, Hasbro has shown that they are capable of making a great clone trooper with lots of articulation, so I have no idea why they would rework some clones to reduce the amount of articulation.

Why does Commander Bacara have such crappy articulation?  If they wanted to give him a quick-draw feature, it is inconceivable to me that they would not use the #6 Quick-Draw Clone.  What are they thinking?  I'm definitely going to do a parts swap when this guy comes out and then use the remaining body for some sort of dead and mangled clone. 
The Jet Pack clone trooper wouldn't have been such a rip off had they used a SA clone body. 
I really can't figure out the logic of giving us so many different clones with inferior articulation.   >:( ???
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Pete_Fett on June 1, 2005, 12:42 PM
I agree with Darth Anton - I'm completely confused as to why the sculpt varies between the SA Clone Trooper, the Clone Commander, Commander Bacarra, JetPack Trooper and the AT-TE Gunner - the base for all of them is a regular set of Clonetrooper Armor - after that they just get the add-on of the should pauldron or a skirt or in some cases both.

I haven't a clue why this wasn't what Hasbro did. It seems to me the more times they produce the SA Clone body parts the cheaper the initial cost per produced figure comes for the initial design cost that went into developing the SA Clone parts.

The skirt, shoulder pauldrons, visor and communication attenae could all have been snap-ons designed to work around the SA Clonetrooper body.

In fact - I'll have to double-check tonight, but I think the one thing that is consistent among all of the clones is their hands - so if you're going to do that, why stop at just the hands?
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Gregorbian on June 1, 2005, 01:11 PM

In fact - I'll have to double-check tonight, but I think the one thing that is consistent among all of the clones is their hands - so if you're going to do that, why stop at just the hands?

Not even the hands are the same ::)
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: CHEWIE on June 1, 2005, 01:55 PM
I don't know why either... if they have a perfect sculpt, why not keep using it?

 :P
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Jesse James on June 1, 2005, 05:35 PM
I agree Anton, and think the #41's the best sculpt to use (even with the slot in the back...  Hell just include packs for them even, even if not from the films...  it just makes the figure more fun and a nice new/different accessory).

I think the heads are the only thing to resculpt, unless there's an armor difference, at this point.  The AT-TE Gunner could even be reused to make a new Clone riding the BARC's (Neyo's group) or something.  I think Hasbro nailed the sculpt the first time around pretty good though...  So for Utapau grunts, or Coruscant, or most any variant of the Clone, the SA Body works pretty good.  Only the Commanders, and a few of the more specialized Clones would need a whole new sculpt (Gree's men on Kashyyk, obviously, would require a new sculpt, but hell, reuse it for a ROTJ Biker Scout!).
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Scott on June 27, 2005, 01:33 AM
I wasn't really bothered by the different sculpts until I cracked open Bacara today...then I was peeved.  Especially since the parts are not readily swapable

I'm not sure why they sunk all of the money they did in to figures that should be slight variations of each other.  I would guess the CGI models were all the same size, so why make different figure molds/parts for each Clone?

Especially when its so poorly done like Bacara is >:(
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Jesse James on June 27, 2005, 03:14 AM
I got Bacarra today too...   :-\

Not too swift...  However, after rethinking this topic I'd take ONE resculpt of the Clone...  Something that was only an improvement.  SA Clone articulation + AT-TE Gunner's hip articulation + removable helmet ala the TE Gunner...  A lot on one figure, but that'd be the only thing I'd want to see "new" in the basic Clone sculpt...

Beyond that, I still think the #41 Clone could be the perfect base, and would've made Bacarra worth something more than a one-time-buy kind of figure (or two if you want his accessories to make a SA Bacarra).  He's lacking for certain...  I'm not sure why certain figures are losing the leg articulation.  He has, the Neimodian Warrior, Wookiee Warrior...  Seems like a big step backwards to me, especially since the Wookiee's legs swivel even.  Bacarra's definitely the weakest of the Clones thus far though and I hope his grunts (when/if they arrive) are substantially better.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Darth_Anton on June 28, 2005, 12:46 PM
Irony is in the air. We complain about the new scuplts for the basic figure clones and the deluxe gives us the same deluxe sculpts that we don't want. ???
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Jesse James on June 28, 2005, 04:29 PM
Yeah, but they sucked.   
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Darby on June 28, 2005, 08:31 PM
Has anyone tried swapping some parts with Bacarra to make him more articulated?  I know his head and shoulder thing fits pretty well on the CC and on the SA Clone, but I'm not sure about the skirt.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Jesse James on June 28, 2005, 09:43 PM
I haven't, as I only got one Bacara when I was out (only saw one too), so I am not sure what may be possible...  I will say that action features tend to throw a wrench into swapping parts.  It may not be possible, or at least it may not be simple.   :-\
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: SilverZ on June 28, 2005, 11:56 PM
Has anyone tried swapping some parts with Bacarra to make him more articulated?  I know his head and shoulder thing fits pretty well on the CC and on the SA Clone, but I'm not sure about the skirt.

I've done a full conversion. I took the head, shoulder pauldron, skirt, and left hand from Bacarra and transplanted them onto an SA clone body. Everything works well except for the head, which sits a tiny bit too low on the socket for my taste, but overall I'm happier with the SA Bacarra than the Quick Draw Crapfest version. At least Hasbro is being consistent with part sizing so novices like me can do these easy swaps:

(http://www.jedidefender.com/jbrinkley/bacara_comp.jpg)
(Sorry for the crappy shot. SA on left, QD on right.)

Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Darby on June 29, 2005, 12:08 AM
That's great!  Does the skirt come right off?  I'm looking at mine and not seeing a notch like on the CC.  And I wonder if the head would ride any higher on the #6 clone or even the jet pack one.  Great job.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Jesse James on June 29, 2005, 01:33 AM
There is a belt "buckle" mechanism (peg/hole) just like on the Red Clone Commander, and the skirt should THEORETICALLY come off...  However...

Hasbro saw fit, at least on my figure, to glue the belt to his waist and his ass cheeks.  Why, I do not know...  Kind of defeats the purpose of making the belt have the removable feature/buckle and all that, but hey, it's Hasbro.  They're goofy.

BTW Jared, your Bacara rocks and I'm not hell bent on doing that too.  The way the helmet rests on the neck doesn't bug me in the slightest.  May do that headswap real quick just to see if I'm just not seeing the crappiness.  :)  Looks cool by me though.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: CorranHorn on June 29, 2005, 01:42 AM
Tydirium, what did you do to get the belt off the SA Clone, I would think keeping it on would hinder the skirt from Bacara.

I totally agree with everyone's assessment of how Hasbro handled the Clones for ROTS. Here's a company who in the last few years has made it a habit to re-use parts over and over again, in the ROTS line alone there's at least 4 figures which are re-treads of figures from the SAGA line, hell one of them is a re-tread of a POTF2 figure. So why not just go out, use the one SA Clonetrooper sculpt and use it for the basic grunt, the Commander, the gunner, etc... The one time where fans would be happy with a re-tread and Hasbro screws it up. Bad timing for Hasbro to pay attention to us....
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: SilverZ on June 29, 2005, 02:39 AM
I cut off the SA Clone's belt. But Bacara's is such a cheaply painted mess it detracts from the figure. It's of bootleg quality paint.  ::)

Jesse, the biggest issue is that when you turn his head towards his left shoulder, the helmet pushes against the pauldron and levers the head up off its socket.

I don't get the constant reinvention of the clone sculpt, either. Bacara isn't even the same as the #6 clone! He doesn't have knee articulation. Why they'd remove that from a figure that shares the same action mechanism as a previous figure is just whacky.

In all these revisions, the only advance I've seen over the basic SA clone introduced in the CW line is the hip articulation on the AT-TE Gunner. My ultimate clone sculpt would be the SA version with that hip articulation added and a slightly higher neck post that has a smaller ballsocket, painted flesh-tone above the turtleneck of the body sock. The goal being a neckpost that accomodates both a normal headsculpt like the AT-TE Gunner human head as well as a non-removable style helmet (basically the same helmet used on the SA and #6 clones, but with a more solid core that snaps onto the smaller ballsocket).
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Darth_Anton on June 29, 2005, 12:35 PM
I was going to do the same exact thing Jared, thanks for showing me I won't be wasting my time. :D
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Scott on June 29, 2005, 12:39 PM
Is the belt on #41 removeable?  I thought it was sculpted on
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: SilverZ on June 29, 2005, 06:10 PM
It’s a separate piece you just cut off with an exacto.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Commander CuDa on June 29, 2005, 07:25 PM
what parts can move on the Bacara ? And what parts wont move ? I got 2 of them but I wont open 1 for sure. Im just curious.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Jesse James on June 30, 2005, 03:18 AM
Well if ya have 2 open the other one and find out then. :)

It doesn't have knee joints, and it's left arm is limited in movement a bit, but the right arm, ankles, and neck all move like most of the other Clones can.
Title: Re: Clones and new sculps. Is it necessary?
Post by: Paul on July 1, 2005, 12:14 PM
I was messing around with the "Conversion" last night myself.

Removed from Bacara (the WORST Clone yet as far as Articulation and sculpt)..:

Hands
Helmet
Shoulder Pad
Skirt

I came across the same problem everyone else did.  The helmet sits too Low if he looks to his right.  And I had to cut the belt of an SA clone.

I know it just echos sentiment from everyone else, but if they would have just made all clones and variants out of the SA body we would have been better off and they would have possibly made more money..but wait now that I have to re-dress all my Gunner and Commander Bacara's on SA bodies, perhaps their plan was genius.... ::)

I say that #41 and the Target Clone are the standard by which all clones should be judged and Bacara and Jet Trooper Clone at the bottom of the bell curve.