I've not picked up any of the comic two packs up to
this point. I don't really keep up with EU stuff, so those
were out. The Marvel figures while cool, and accurate to the
source material, were just too goofy looking for me. I
couldn't put a blue Stormtrooper in the middle of display and have
it look right. Neat concept, just not for me.
Now, this pack piqued my interest. There was
a decent looking Obi-Wan and a clone trooper I didn't have.
Combine that with a comic book for less than the price of two
individual figures, and it hooked me in.
Appearance:
It's been awhile since I've thought about the
AOTC version of the clone trooper. Most of the stuff I have
on display is either regular Stormtroopers or ROTS stuff right
now. So this Arc Trooper is welcome bit of nostalgia.
This Arc looks like he's been in battle.
He's got mud allover. His skirt piece is torn and battered
and sculpted to look slightly wind blown. The thing that
impressed me about the weathering on this figure is that it's
complete. Not just on the front of the figure. The one
thing that bothers me about the weathering, though, is the spot on
his crotch piece. Long march and couldn't hold it? (If
you have this figure and can't look at it now without thinking
that, I apologize.)
The other odd thing is the shoulder pauldron
piece. While it's great to be connected to the com piece on
his wrist, the piece including the com piece seem to be slightly
over size. The piece just doesn't want to sit down when
Alpha has his helmet off. It needs some to lock it in place.
My largest problem with Alpha is with his
helmet. The included comic shows this trooper clearly and
through out it his range finder is shown in the down position.
The helmet I got is in the up position, and I can't get it to
move.
The Obi-Wan is okay. No ground breaking
here. I'm sure he's at least a partial repaint. I
haven't picked up every Kenobi, so I'm not sure. As
far as robed Obi-Wan's go, he's not bad, not great, but not bad.
Again the package shows a slight different
version. The robe in the picture shows a bit of wear and
battle damage. The figure appears like it was included in
the sculpt, but not the paint ops. The other bit of battle
damage was on the soft goods portion of his shirt. The one
on the card is frayed and looks good. The figure's looks
like scissor cuts. The skirt piece looks a bit odd where it
matches up with the sculpted version as well. If my figure
had looked as good as the card, I'd have been impressed.
Fun:
I love the specialty clone troopers They remind
me quite a bit of GI Joe figures with all the extra gear.
(Hasbro, if you're reading this, I'd love to see a line of clone
troopers done in the Joe style with file cards and interchangeable
gear.) This Arc is no different with the pauldron piece, a
rifle and helmet. The rifle I believe is a re-issue but with
some added paint aps. It looks pretty good. The
helmet however is problematic. It's so tight, that you can't
take it off, with out popping the Jango head off and then you
can't get the head out of the helmet.
Articulation is good on the Arc.
However, his skirt limits the amount of poses. And again
another two figures that can't sit.
Obi suffers from similar pose limiting from his
robe. It's not only a problem with his legs, but his arms
won't move tight to the body. I would have liked to
have seen an extra set of arms to make Kenobi robe less, but not
on this version.
For accessories Obi-Wan has his usual lightsaber
and an extra head. The extra head is mask that covers the
entire head. Now, I have to ask, why? Mainly
because the comic included doesn't show it anywhere. I don't
mind the concept. I don't mind the fact it's there.
Just include the comic where it's shown.
Overall:
Comic includes aren't a new idea. The mini
ones that came with the original Masters of the Universe figures
probably did a lot to help that lines success. I'd just
prefer a self contained story. Or at least one that doesn't
have a cliffhanger ending.
The Obi-Wan in this set isn't raising the Kenobi
bar any. He's good enough if you don't have a robed ROTS
Obi. The Arc Trooper stands well above his predecessor
Looking like a battle hardened warrior instead of peanut headed
recruit. I'd think this bad boy would have sold well as a
single carded figure. But like I said, I'm a sucker for
specialty clone troopers.
Engineernerd Score: Overall 85/100, Arc Trooper
90/100, Obi-Wan 80/100.
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