Army Builder of the Year

[CHEWIE]

I thought this might be a fun topic.  Something I don't think has been done before... Army Builder of the Year... going back from 1995... what do you think was the BEST army builder each year and what will be the best for 2006?  Here's my choices... excluding the VOTC or other "premium" figures -

1995 - POTF2 Stormtrooper - what else could you even choose from
1996 - POTF2 Jawa 2-pk
1997 - POTF2 Snowtrooper
1998 - POTF2 Death Star Trooper
1999 - POTF2 Commtech Stormtrooper
2000 - EPI Battle Damaged Destroyer Droid
2001 - POTJ Imperial Officer
2002 - SAGA Clone Pilot
2003 - CW SA Clone Trooper
2004 - SAGA TIE Pilot
2005 - ROTS SA Clone
2006 - SAGA2 AT-AT Driver

Again, I didn't include VOTC or Evolutions figures in the mix. 

I'm really excited about the possibilities of that Death Star Gunner later this year though... hopefully it will be as good as I'm hoping and maybe even better than the new AT-AT Driver.

 

[Matt R.]

My List

1995- POTF2 Stormtrooper (only A.B. of that year)
1996- POTF2 Tie Pilot and Jawa 2-Pack
1997- POTF2 Snowtrooper
1998- POTF2 Death Star Trooper (Never showed up in my area)
1999- POTF2 Commtech Stormtrooper
2000- EP1 Battle Droid
2001- POTJ Tantive IV Trooper
2002- POTJ Sneak Preview Clone Trooper
2003- CW SA Clone Trooper
2004- SAGA Tie Pilot
2005- ROTS SA Clone Trooper
2006- SAGA Utapau Clone and AT-AT Driver

More Army Builders on the way (SA D.S. Gunner & D.S. Trooper)

[Jesse James]

Hmmmm...  I'm forgetting years some things came out honestly.

For POTF2 my choices are highly limited really...  Out of them I don't really consider Jawas as army builders...  I like the Death Star Gunner and AT-AT Driver.  The TIE Pilot was good...  till Hasbro went and showed me it wasn't. 

POTJ I hands down agree the Imp. Officer all the way.  I have a ton and feel that's a figure I'd buy in droves cast in grey...  I'd love if they used the TIE Pilot pack-in's bendable legs on it too for some poseability.  I'd take a black and grey hat paintjob variant on it too as both were seen in the films.  A runner-up (or three) in POTJ though were the Bespin Guard that set all kinds of standards, the Boomer Droid, or the Gungan Warrior.

The Death STar Trooper I disagree with...  Whatever year he was competing there had to be something better.    The pose just blows, he's been one of the worst in the line IMO, though his head is very well done with a nice helmet.

For E1 I'd go with the Battledroid...  It was just nice to me.

For POTF2 I think the Rebel w/Atgar Laser Cannon was one of the better ones though it holds up poorly today and obviously needs a resculpt.

For ROTS it's #41 Clone to me... 

For OTC it's the Cloud Car Pilot...

For Saga '04 I think Captain Antilles counts enough to get a nod from me.  He's got everything right that the Fleet Trooper got wrong and short of knee articulation he's almost, in my eyes, perfect.

Clone Wars I'd give the nod to the SA Clone of course irregardless how difficult it is to find.

This year stuff's wide open...  Sun Fac gets my vote currently.  The AT-AT Driver is certainly a worthy vote though.

If Evolutions and VOTC counted they'd dominate their year.    Outstanding figures.

[Darth_Anton]

I donno, I'd include both Evolutions and VOTC in those lists, but that's me.

But, between Chewie and Rocks list, I think you got them all covered.

[Jeff]

My list would look a little different I think...

- I can safely say that I Army Built way more PotF2 Sandtroopers than Jawas from those late red card, early green card days.

- I agree with Jesse, the DST was very hard to find for me (and many many others).  I was lucky to find ONE let alone army build with him.      For availability reasons, I'd pick the Endor Rebel from the FF era.  He was cheap and easy to find.

- For RotS, I'd chose a Clone that actually got screen time - like the #6 Shocktrooper or #65 TacOps over the boring white #41.

[Rob]

I ended up with about 6 of the DST's - but only one was found in stores.  I found him and a Ree Yees at walmart one night - only one of each, and never saw or heard of them in stores again.  My friends were only able to get them when they got offered through the star wars insider later on.

[Paul]

I'm going to have to check the dates of some to make sure but I think mine go like this:

POTF2: Death Star Gunner
POTJ:  Imperial Officer (or Tantive IV Defender)
SAGA 1: Tantive IV Defender (or Imperial Officer)
OTC: Dutch Vander (or Tie Fighter Pilot)
ROTS: #41 Clone
Saga 2: AT AT Driver (so far)

These are the figures I have the most of in my armies.

I concur with Jesse on the DST as far as pose.  I never got one at retail.  The only deal I had for a trade went south when the other guy heard/read on another site that they were going to start shipping so he backed out of the deal (and kept the stuff I sent to trade).  I have a ton now, but they don't rank because of the legs.

[CorranHorn]

An interesting thread, I can play along...

1995: Stormtrooper (as we have no choice)
1996: TIE Fighter Pilot
1997: Snowtrooper
1998: Endor Rebel Soldier
1999: Commtech Stormtrooper
2000: Security Battle Droid
2001: Imperial Officer
2002: Imperial Officer (SAGA Variant)
2003: Clone Wars SA Clonetrooper
2004: TIE Fighter Pilot
2005: ROTS SA Clonetrooper
2006: Utapau Clonetrooper

Hmmm notice the coincidences, some figures were always top notch. If I were to do this by line, I would do it the following...

POTF2 (includes SOTE & EU): Snowtrooper, runner up - Endor Rebel Soldier
Episode 1: Battle Droid (Standard), runner up - Destroyer Droid
POTJ: Imperial Officer, runner up - RFT (nah JJ just kidding ) Sandtrooper
SAGA (includes Clone Wars): CW SA Clonetrooper, runner up - TIE Fighter Pilot
OTC: Cloud Car Pilot, runner up - no other 1st release army builders in the OTC line
ROTS: SA Clonetrooper, runner up - Clone Commander
TSC: Utapau Clonetrooper, runner up - AT-AT Driver

[Reid]

1995: Stormtrooper
1996: TIE Fighter Crewman
1997: Snowtrooper
1998: AT-AT Driver
1999: CT Stormtrooper
2000: Security Battle Droid
2001: Imp. Officer
2002: SP Clone Trooper
2003: SA Clone Trooper
2004: OTC TIE Fighter Crewman
2005: SA Clone Trooper
2006: VTSC Scout Trooper

[Greg]

I don't currently own all of these figures since I gave my TPM toys to a friend a few years ago, but here it goes, by lines. (Dates would be too hard for me. )

POTF 2-Stormtrooper
TPM- Battle Droid, Naboo Soldier(Yellow clothes), or Destroyer Droid
POTJ- Battle Droid Security or Senate Guard
SAGA- Battle Droid(Red)
Clone Wars- SA clone
OTC- Storm Trooper or Battlefront Scout Trooper
ROTS- Sneak Preview Wookies or Nemoidian Warriors
SAGA 2- Snowtrooper

I dunno if deluxe were "premiums", but if they aren't, here it goes:
POTF 2- Stormtrooper
TPM- Gungan Catapult
POTJ- Battle Droid Security or Senate Guard
SAGA- Clone Trooper w/ Speeder Bike or Spider Droid
Clone Wars- Clone 3-pks or Droid Army sets
OTC-Storm Trooper or Battlefront Scout Trooper
ROTS-Sneak Preview Wookies or Nemoidian Warriors
SAGA 2- Snowtrooper

[Darth_Anton]

I ended up with about 6 of the DST's - but only one was found in stores.  I found him and a Ree Yees at walmart one night - only one of each, and never saw or heard of them in stores again.  My friends were only able to get them when they got offered through the star wars insider later on.

At the time thise were like holy grails for me. I found a few in the store, bought a couple more from the fan club and then bought few more from an on-line retailer for not too outrageous of a price. Now I can't wait for a resculpt.

[CHEWIE]

I did my best on the years of those figures in my first list, I think they are all correct in terms of release date.

I don't know, I really like the old Death Star Trooper still.  When it came out it was amazing.  About the only thing about it that I don't like is the pose, but in 1998 getting a removable helmet on a figure like that was just about unheard of.  They did a good job on a lot of those Freeze Frame era figures. That figure was very hard to come by and I was so glad they repacked it in the SAGA line a few years back.

As for the ROTS, I can't say that I really like the Shocktrooper or the Tactical Ops trooper too much just because I think they should have used the superior sculpt and articulation of the #41 Clone.

And not nitpicking Jeff's list, but I always hated the POTF2 Sandtrooper (and buff Stormie) - just horrible sculpts I think, even by the standards of the time.  They look like play-dough that somebody stepped on to me, I was always so turned off my those sculpts.   I went with many more Jawas at that time because they seemed to actually look like a character out of Star Wars while the buff Stormies of the day looked awful. 

The Security Battle Droid is definitely a good choice though for 2000... probably better than the blow apart Destroyer Droid which I still think though is by far the best Destroyer.  The ROTS Wookiee Gunner also is a great figure I think that is barely surpassed by the #41 Clone. 

 

[Vator]

1995: Stormtrooper
1996: Sandtrooper
1997: AT-ST Driver
1998: Endor Rebel Trooper
1999: Commtech Stormtrooper
2000: Senate Guard (really liked him...)
2001: Imperial Officer
2002: Battle Droid
2003: SA Clonetrooper
2004: TIE Pilot/Gold Leader
2005: Clone Commander
2006: Sun Fac (thus far)

[CHEWIE]

Sun Fac... you know, that might be better than the AT-AT driver or the Utapau Clone... good choice there.

 

[Jeff]

And not nitpicking Jeff's list, but I always hated the POTF2 Sandtrooper (and buff Stormie) - just horrible sculpts I think, even by the standards of the time. 

Yeah, that PotF2 sculpt looks worse with each passing year, but when I saw it for the first time on the pegs I had to have me a pile of them.  First ever version of a Sandtrooper?  I musta bought 10-12 of them... they've all been replaced now with PotJ Troopers, but at the time I couldn't get enough of them.