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Toy Reviews / Clone Trooper to Stormtrooper Evolutions
« on: October 11, 2005, 08:33 AM »
Couldn't see a review on this here so I thought I'd post mine. Its long but you get more than the usual one pic I take 
The evolution of the galaxy's most powerful army is captured in these figures! The Clone Troopers fight for the Republic, to try and save the galaxy from chaos. But secret plans change their loyalties, and they help the evil Sith to take control! No longer known as Clone Troopers, they are now Stormtroopers, the loyal soldiers of the Emperor, enforcing his harsh will throughout the galaxy!
Packaging-Star Wars Evolutions
Sculpt
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
So, first up is the Clone from Episode II. The main bulk of the sculpt is new, with perhaps recycled legs and arms, but who cares, as long as there good sculpts. The torso is new though, and oddly doesn't feature the seperate belt as on other Clones. The belt is all the same part as the chest armour which also means theres no waist articulation, but more on that later. The armour does have good details though, and will look great with other Clones. Perhaps the best part is the removable helmet (I'll cover the helmets in the accessories section) with a young clone face underneath. Its a new head sculpt and resembles Bodie Taylor from AOTC fairly well. Its cool to have a decent figure with a removable helmet though as I think previous attempts have never been that good.
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
At first glance, this figure looks recycled from the #33 Clone Commander in the main line. Thats not the case as this guy is completely new. In some ways, its actually better than #33 as it has more accurate detailing and more attention paid to reference material. Firstly, the 'skirt' is smaller and doesn't come round the front of the legs, making rook for better movement. Its also improved considerably by having seperate straps sculpted below the belt, unlike on the #33 where it was all one piece. There are also holsters for the blasters, but these are a different shape and size to #33. The shoulder pauldron is also better, again, with more accuraracy. The head sculpt underneath the helmet is borrowed from the #38 AT-TE Gunner figure in the main line. Its a really good likeness and its cool to have a young face in the previous figure and then the older one with this.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
The sculpt on this figure is basically the VOTC Stormtrooper, but there are some differences. Firstly, the belt has been changed and doesn't have the usable holster on the back of the figure. This figure has a new one with the odd thing hanging off but generally less detailed. The other noticable change is the torso. Where the VOTC Stormie had a ball jointed waist, this has a solid piece, much like the Episode II Clone in this set. The back has been slightly retooled aswell to allow for the backpack to slot in. The helmet sculpt is superb, easily the best yet but it is hindered on its balljoint by the shoulder pauldron. To make him look forward, it leaves a large amount of the ball showing from behind and it would have helped if they'd painted it black. It also would have been great if they'd given this figure a removable helmet too, not sure what head they should use but it would have been awesome. Overall though, easily the best Sandtrooper out there.
Paint
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
This Clone has the yellow markings, making him a Commander within the Clone forces. The stripes are applied well, but sometimes with bleary edges where it could be a bit sharper. But obviously, the thing to talk about is the weathering. Its looks great and thankfully, like on alot of figures, its not been overdone. They did it well on the #41 SA Clone in the main line, by adding subtle amounts to look realistic. Its done in black and looks pretty random. He also has dirt all over his lower legs and that looks great too. One problem though: it seems they forgot to weather the back. Turn him over and hes clean as a whistle which just seems a bit lazy. Even the dirt on the boots doesn't go all the way round!
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
This figure has the same pros and cons of the Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars in that the weathering is great but they haven't done the same on the back. The scuff marks are done in the same technique along with the boots, although they have a different shade of brown for the dirt. A great touch though is the weathering on the skirt, it loots grimey and stuff which is cool as the #33 Clone didn't have this. Another thing he has which #33 didn't is the stripe on his chest goes all the way to the top. The red commnder had this line too short.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
A slightly simpler paint job for this figure, but better overall. He has weathering, and it looks great but on close inspection it does look alot more like water than sand. That sounds odd but its hard to explain, it looks like hes been in a sewer rather than a desert. Its passable though and thankfully they remembered to apply the same weathering to the back. The helmet has a light splattering of dirt which looks great but also less delicately applied details compared to the VOTC Stormie, but still good.
Articulation
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
This Clone has 13 points of articulation and they are ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, hips and ball jointed knees and ankles. Its basically what we expect now with all these ball jointes, and it does help alot with posability. But, and its a big but, wheres the waist artic?? If, for whatever resaon they can't give him a ball jointed one, then at least the standard waist swivel would have been easy to do? Apparantly not, and its a pity.
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
Ok, ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, waist, hips and ball jointed knees and ankles. Thats 14 and its good that he at least has the waist joint. Apart from that though, hes exactly the same as the other Clone, so good articulation all round.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
Once again, 13 points and they are a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, hips and ball jointed knees and ankles. Just the same as the first Clone but again I really wish they'd put a swivel waste in. In this case, you can excuse them for not including the ball jointed waste as it wouldn't work too well with the backpack attached. But still, swivel would have been nice. You can still get some good poses though the rest so its not all bad.
Accessories
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
Accessories are where these figures get really good. For this Clone you get two helmets and a blaster rifle. The first helmet is just the standard Episode II version with yellow stripes. The second is that of the Clone pilots and is a very cool extra. This one in particular has some nice detailing on the wires that come from it and so on and its so cool to be able to basically have a different Clone depending on your preference. The other helmet is good too, but unfortunately lacks some crispness in the sculpt due to it being made from a soft plastic. The blaster rifle is all new with a much smaller and delicate sculpt. I'm happy that its perhaps more accurate to the films, but as they've been using the other sculpt for so long this one looks kinda out of place next to them. Still cool though.
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
With this Clone you get his helmet, the smaller blaster rifle and two even smaller ones which can be holstered. The helmet, like the others is made from a soft plastic which leads to it looking slightly off. I guess though that this is unavoidable with removable helmets. The annoying thing is that the helmet can't do down all the way on his head as its obstructed by the shoulder pauldron. This then means his chin sticks out from underneath and I really wish Hasbro had spent a bit more time on perfecting that aspect. The blasters a good though and the medium sized one is extra special. Like the rifle for the previous Clone, it has been redone to be smaller and much more film accurate. It looks great but again suffers from the problem that it looks too different from the original sculpts which by now you probably have alot of. The two little blasters are good, but hard to get him to hold, and feature the same gun metal grey colouring and weathering.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
For this figure you get his backpack and blaster rifle. The backack is new, and is slightly different from the previous sculpts on other Sandtrooper figures. They could have just reused one of those but I'm sure they noticed some inaccuracy so decided to fix it. The blaster rifle is really cool, one of those huge ones that look like they could blow a hole in the Death Star. Again, its a new sculpt with a nicely added strap with it's own pattern deatiled on. The gun also uses the same colouring as the other weapons in the set.
Final Thoughts
Although that took awhile to write, it was worth it. This is undeniably a very good set of figures, and what most collectors have wanted for years. Considering they could have just put out a pack with plain white versions of each and people still would have loved it, you can tell alot of effort has been put in to make these figures different. But then you wonder, if they put all this effort in, why can't they iron out the problems? Lack of waist artic and weathering not finished? I'm not quite sure why, but this is till a must buy. Oh, and enjoy the pics!
8/10
The evolution of the galaxy's most powerful army is captured in these figures! The Clone Troopers fight for the Republic, to try and save the galaxy from chaos. But secret plans change their loyalties, and they help the evil Sith to take control! No longer known as Clone Troopers, they are now Stormtroopers, the loyal soldiers of the Emperor, enforcing his harsh will throughout the galaxy!
Packaging-Star Wars Evolutions
Sculpt
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
So, first up is the Clone from Episode II. The main bulk of the sculpt is new, with perhaps recycled legs and arms, but who cares, as long as there good sculpts. The torso is new though, and oddly doesn't feature the seperate belt as on other Clones. The belt is all the same part as the chest armour which also means theres no waist articulation, but more on that later. The armour does have good details though, and will look great with other Clones. Perhaps the best part is the removable helmet (I'll cover the helmets in the accessories section) with a young clone face underneath. Its a new head sculpt and resembles Bodie Taylor from AOTC fairly well. Its cool to have a decent figure with a removable helmet though as I think previous attempts have never been that good.
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
At first glance, this figure looks recycled from the #33 Clone Commander in the main line. Thats not the case as this guy is completely new. In some ways, its actually better than #33 as it has more accurate detailing and more attention paid to reference material. Firstly, the 'skirt' is smaller and doesn't come round the front of the legs, making rook for better movement. Its also improved considerably by having seperate straps sculpted below the belt, unlike on the #33 where it was all one piece. There are also holsters for the blasters, but these are a different shape and size to #33. The shoulder pauldron is also better, again, with more accuraracy. The head sculpt underneath the helmet is borrowed from the #38 AT-TE Gunner figure in the main line. Its a really good likeness and its cool to have a young face in the previous figure and then the older one with this.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
The sculpt on this figure is basically the VOTC Stormtrooper, but there are some differences. Firstly, the belt has been changed and doesn't have the usable holster on the back of the figure. This figure has a new one with the odd thing hanging off but generally less detailed. The other noticable change is the torso. Where the VOTC Stormie had a ball jointed waist, this has a solid piece, much like the Episode II Clone in this set. The back has been slightly retooled aswell to allow for the backpack to slot in. The helmet sculpt is superb, easily the best yet but it is hindered on its balljoint by the shoulder pauldron. To make him look forward, it leaves a large amount of the ball showing from behind and it would have helped if they'd painted it black. It also would have been great if they'd given this figure a removable helmet too, not sure what head they should use but it would have been awesome. Overall though, easily the best Sandtrooper out there.
Paint
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
This Clone has the yellow markings, making him a Commander within the Clone forces. The stripes are applied well, but sometimes with bleary edges where it could be a bit sharper. But obviously, the thing to talk about is the weathering. Its looks great and thankfully, like on alot of figures, its not been overdone. They did it well on the #41 SA Clone in the main line, by adding subtle amounts to look realistic. Its done in black and looks pretty random. He also has dirt all over his lower legs and that looks great too. One problem though: it seems they forgot to weather the back. Turn him over and hes clean as a whistle which just seems a bit lazy. Even the dirt on the boots doesn't go all the way round!
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
This figure has the same pros and cons of the Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars in that the weathering is great but they haven't done the same on the back. The scuff marks are done in the same technique along with the boots, although they have a different shade of brown for the dirt. A great touch though is the weathering on the skirt, it loots grimey and stuff which is cool as the #33 Clone didn't have this. Another thing he has which #33 didn't is the stripe on his chest goes all the way to the top. The red commnder had this line too short.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
A slightly simpler paint job for this figure, but better overall. He has weathering, and it looks great but on close inspection it does look alot more like water than sand. That sounds odd but its hard to explain, it looks like hes been in a sewer rather than a desert. Its passable though and thankfully they remembered to apply the same weathering to the back. The helmet has a light splattering of dirt which looks great but also less delicately applied details compared to the VOTC Stormie, but still good.
Articulation
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
This Clone has 13 points of articulation and they are ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, hips and ball jointed knees and ankles. Its basically what we expect now with all these ball jointes, and it does help alot with posability. But, and its a big but, wheres the waist artic?? If, for whatever resaon they can't give him a ball jointed one, then at least the standard waist swivel would have been easy to do? Apparantly not, and its a pity.
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
Ok, ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, waist, hips and ball jointed knees and ankles. Thats 14 and its good that he at least has the waist joint. Apart from that though, hes exactly the same as the other Clone, so good articulation all round.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
Once again, 13 points and they are a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, hips and ball jointed knees and ankles. Just the same as the first Clone but again I really wish they'd put a swivel waste in. In this case, you can excuse them for not including the ball jointed waste as it wouldn't work too well with the backpack attached. But still, swivel would have been nice. You can still get some good poses though the rest so its not all bad.
Accessories
Clone Trooper-The Clone Wars
Accessories are where these figures get really good. For this Clone you get two helmets and a blaster rifle. The first helmet is just the standard Episode II version with yellow stripes. The second is that of the Clone pilots and is a very cool extra. This one in particular has some nice detailing on the wires that come from it and so on and its so cool to be able to basically have a different Clone depending on your preference. The other helmet is good too, but unfortunately lacks some crispness in the sculpt due to it being made from a soft plastic. The blaster rifle is all new with a much smaller and delicate sculpt. I'm happy that its perhaps more accurate to the films, but as they've been using the other sculpt for so long this one looks kinda out of place next to them. Still cool though.
Clone Trooper-The Fall of the Republic
With this Clone you get his helmet, the smaller blaster rifle and two even smaller ones which can be holstered. The helmet, like the others is made from a soft plastic which leads to it looking slightly off. I guess though that this is unavoidable with removable helmets. The annoying thing is that the helmet can't do down all the way on his head as its obstructed by the shoulder pauldron. This then means his chin sticks out from underneath and I really wish Hasbro had spent a bit more time on perfecting that aspect. The blasters a good though and the medium sized one is extra special. Like the rifle for the previous Clone, it has been redone to be smaller and much more film accurate. It looks great but again suffers from the problem that it looks too different from the original sculpts which by now you probably have alot of. The two little blasters are good, but hard to get him to hold, and feature the same gun metal grey colouring and weathering.
Stormtrooper-The Rebellion
For this figure you get his backpack and blaster rifle. The backack is new, and is slightly different from the previous sculpts on other Sandtrooper figures. They could have just reused one of those but I'm sure they noticed some inaccuracy so decided to fix it. The blaster rifle is really cool, one of those huge ones that look like they could blow a hole in the Death Star. Again, its a new sculpt with a nicely added strap with it's own pattern deatiled on. The gun also uses the same colouring as the other weapons in the set.
Final Thoughts
Although that took awhile to write, it was worth it. This is undeniably a very good set of figures, and what most collectors have wanted for years. Considering they could have just put out a pack with plain white versions of each and people still would have loved it, you can tell alot of effort has been put in to make these figures different. But then you wonder, if they put all this effort in, why can't they iron out the problems? Lack of waist artic and weathering not finished? I'm not quite sure why, but this is till a must buy. Oh, and enjoy the pics!
8/10