Commander Fox - TCW [B] - Basic (Exclusive)

Commander Fox heads a squad of clone troopers who accompany Padmé to the palace of Ziro the Hutt. She hopes to reopen negotiations with the Hutts, who have been tricked into believing the Jedi abducted Jabba's son. The commander finds a hostile reception when the group arrives at Ziro's lavish palace on Coruscant.

When The Clone Wars line made its debut in the summer of 2008 (along with the first few waves of The Legacy Collection), TARGET requested a special action figure from Hasbro to be made available at the same time as this launch. Whether it was intentional or not (many say it was), Hasbro looked through their long list of new The Clone Wars characters to find a clone commander colored in red. (At the same time they were looking through their list of blue colored clones for Walmart which ended up being the Clone Trooper (501st Legion) action figure.) Commander Fox became the figure of choice and he was released simultaneously with the glut of new product that started infiltrating store shelves across the world. Commander Fox may just be one of the sleeper hits of the year. He is articulated beautifully (including ball-jointed wrists) and can be posed in many action stances which is perfect for a character like this. Although collectors would have to pay a premium for Commander Fox with the fancy clamshell packaging and what-have-you, we really needed some other leaders to take command of our growing clone armies. And while we expected many more “red versus blue wars” at the retail level, that convention quickly faded and we haven’t seen too many more basic figure exclusives since (available at retail). Not a moment wasted, Hasbro used the Captain Rex (No. 4) mold to create Commander Fox and it is a most impressive repaint. The ignsignia on his chest is gorgeous. Additionally, he comes with the alternate helmet portrait from the Obi-Wan Kenobi (No. 2) figure and this serves as Fox’s head. He doesn’t come with a clone alternate head sadly. As you know he is also super-articulated and we love it but at times the movement definitely gets hindered by his plastic-molded kama.

Commander Fox was a very common find at retail and then he started to pile up. TARGET has the shortest retail attention span of all competing stores and they immediately started putting this action figure on clearance. Despite Commander Fox shipping in heavy quantities and having great availability, he sold through immediately once going on clearance and now commands a premium on the aftermarket. It’s truly amazing how collectors shoot themselves in the foot and it’s really hard to know which items to pass on when you are on a budget and hope to get it at a later date. Commander Fox did not afford this opportunity to most which is a sad sentiment because he is an awesome action figure. And it’s a little unsettling when an action figure instantly disappears out of nowhere, isn’t it? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Fox. Clearly, the overnight success of The Clone Wars also had a great deal of influence on this figure's quick sell through, but we still blame TARGET for not giving more of a chance on the shelves. We bet it would have sold through at full price. Deals are great to get and we are the first to admit it, but we think Commander Fox got the short end of the stick. Commander Fox is actually a very cool clone trooper. He has a beautiful insignia on his chest (he’s part of the famed Coruscant Guard) and it truly surprises us how well Hasbro was able to get it placed on his chest without smearing or looking spotty. It is applied perfectly. The other details on the armor also faithfully recreate the appearance of his armor as well. He comes with three guns (two blaster pistols that fit into his functioning holsters in addition to a larger DC-15 blaster rifle) and these accessories suit him well. Despite his excellent detail, Commander Fox is another victim of being too pure white.

And we won’t go on another rampage on how this bothers us, but it does. In comparison to the first released Clone Trooper (No. 5), the first issue of Captain Rex (No. 4) and the exclusive Clone Trooper (Senate Security) figure, he looks quite silly and Hasbro has got to find a way to bring this awesome detail back. We have been belly-aching about dirtier paint ops, and we will have to wait and see if Hasbro will come through for us. Weak paint applications are really hindering the line. We are actually getting an inferior product. So many figures' excellence is diminished by a poor final deco. Commander Fox may just be one of our most favorite clone commanders so far in The Clone Wars line. Granted, we haven’t received that many to date in the line, but we challenge Hasbro to make a more impressive figure with an insignia like Commander Fox has on another action figure. If you blinked too many times while watching The Clone Wars film then you most likely missed him. He may be one of the more difficult action figure from this line to find down the road, but if you can find him, we suggests picking him up. He really is that awesome! We think he is one of the more standout clone leaders and we are confident you will feel similarly. His unique combination of parts and beautifully decorated patterns are stunning and overall Fox is certainly one of the most interesting clone commanders we have seen whether in the films or in The Clone Wars television series. As a character that did not appear in the prequels, it's a good bet he may not make it through the end of the show. But he also could have a rich storyline in some other Expanded Universe source. Despite where he ends up however, he will nonetheless be a great addition to your collection. We highly recommend CC-1010, or Commander Fox to the layperson.