Snowtrooper Commander - TBS [P1] - Basic (#24)

Imperial snowtrooper commanders unleash the full force of their weapons and troopers on the Rebel Alliance’s base on the ice planet Hoth.

If there is one character from The Empire Strikes Back that Hasbro has erroneously (our opinon) incessantly released, it would have to be the Snowtrooper Commander character. Before you cry out that this is the first figure ever in the Hasbro line titled this way, one, you would be correct and two, you would be incorrect. It’s no doubt that the Snowtrooper Commander makes its debut in the basic figure with the correct title, but Hasbro has released the actual character itself under the generic moniker “Snowtrooper” for years and multiple times. There have been countless releases of it (usually based on one or kit-bashed with two sculpts), but the most recent release was 2006’s TSC Snowtrooper (SAGA 011) figure. The 2006 The Saga Collection figure ended up turning out better than most suspected, but it was far from being a good action figure. (And it was way too tall.) For that release, Hasbro cobbled old parts together to bring us something new. And it "sort of" barely worked for 2006. Almost a decade later, Hasbro decided an all-new sculpt from the ground up would be the right direction and we can instantly confirm with you that it is. The Black Series Snowtrooper Commander is a success on every level possible. And although we’re inclined to comment that he is a little too short for a Snowtrooper Commander (just a smidge), he is a total win for us regardless and we’re finally thrilled to have him in our collections. Snowtroopers are apparently a favorite of Hasbro’s, and it’s nice to see them typically get well represented in the various basic figure lines. But this year’s model takes the cake for more reasons than one.

Snowtrooper Commander sports an impressive 14 points of articulation. The sculpt is ripped right from the film. Original Trilogy purists will be rejoicing over the absence of a clone head. After all, the wise decision to include a non-removable helmet not only assures a nearly perfectly scaled helmet, it also provides collectors with a screen accurate Star Wars character, something that has been severely lacking in an era of Prequel Trilogy dominant focuses by various Star Wars licensees, especially Hasbro and even in their greatest basic figure assortments like The Vintage Collection. The Snowtrooper Commander has an almost completely pristine white outfit, but if you look carefully you’ll see some mild damage here and there on his uniform, especially his top right chest area which shows some very realistic battle-damage. But Hasbro also ensured that the action figure was not given a ridiculously filthy deco. These aren’t frontline Imperial snowtroopers (well, at least what we can tell from the film). They serve next to AT-AT commanders and AT-AT drivers inside of a protected AT-AT walker, so it makes sense that their uniforms should be a bit more protected during battle. A ball-socket head (which moves nicely surprisingly) is joined by ball-jointed shoulders, torso, elbows, knees and ankles. And then the rest of his articulation includes swivel gloves and hips. The Snowtrooper Commander comes with a plastic molded kama, but it’s extremely pliable and allows for a little more leg movement than we have seen on past action figures that also utilize plastic kamas/skirts. So while not limitless in movement, the Snowtrooper Commander certainly has enough with which to work.

Lightly accessorized, the Snowtrooper Commander comes with two blasters. The E-11 blaster rifle is the same one that came with the latest releases of the sandtrooper action figures. (It’s the one with the folding stock.) Another smaller blaster pistol that has been included here will also fit inside of the functioning holster. As far as its issues? Well, others have already disagreed, but we feel the Snowtrooper Commander is indeed a little too short. If you look in the comparison pictures in the gallery, he does appear shorter than other action figures, especially General Veers from The Saga Collection. But the actor who played General Veers (Julian Glover) was a tall actor, so maybe all is OK in the universe. And we also show a comparison picture next to 2006’s TSC Snowtrooper (SAGA 011) figure which is another bad example because that figure had the taller POTF2 legs. Again, it’s a small gripe and probably not even worth mentioning in this review and we could be making an issue out of a very tiny scale difference. Overall, we are extremely satisfied with The Black Series Snowtrooper Commander action figure. It’s honestly met all of our expectations and then some. It’s a beautiful action figure and if Hasbro continued making figures this well, we would have no reason to complain about anything released in The Black Series line, for this is a The Vintage Collection quality figure. We just hope Hasbro doesn’t begin reissuing him left and right like they did in the early days. That wouldn't be a smart idea. He isn’t an army builder. The regular snowtroopers are.