501st Legion Clone Trooper (Clone Wars)
The 501st Legion Clone Trooper is the last action figure of this kind offered by Hasbro in the animated Clone Wars style and it is pretty much a repaint of the Mk.II Clone Trooper released in 2012.
Construction on both figures is identical, which means the helmet is not removable but also that the 501st Clone has very sharp detailing and the body proportions reflect more accurately the appearance these characters had in the series.
Unfortunately, the 501st Clone Trooper is not as articulated as the early Clone Troopers released back in 2010, although he still gets a fairly reasonable articulation spread of:
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Pegged hinge elbows.
• Swivel wrists.
• Swivel waist.
• Swivel hips.
• Pegged hinge knees.
While all of these joints works reasonably well, there is just not enough range of movement below the waist. Granted, not even the phenomenally articulated clones from the earlier waves of figures had much range at the hips due to the armor design, but it still smarts a bit the way Hasbro began cutting back on articulation in this line.
However, Hasbro did kind of compensate by offering a very striking paint job on these 501st Troopers. The blue pattern on the figure is applied in a mid-blue hue with a few red color flashes applied to the helmet. Even though the overall scheme doesn’t even try to match the design seen in Revenge of the Sith, the color scheme does work as a plausible predecessor to the later days design.
The one thing that bugs me a little is that on my figure, the red chevron applied over the forehead is not perfectly centered, but given the scarcity of these figures I thought it wiser to get this one instead of hoping to find a better painted one later.
Since reducing manufacturing costs was the mandate in this last wave figures, the 501st Clone comes with only a blaster carbine and a rocket pack, with no dice or Galactic Battle Game card. I say good riddance to those, but I actually liked the display bases.
Overall, the 501st Legion Clone Trooper is a pretty decent figure to have and to be honest, I hadn’t even noticed the misaligned marking on his helmet until I started selecting the pictures for this review so in the end I am quite satisfied with it.
Errex Score: 89/100
Category: Featured, Star Wars, Toy Reviews