ARC Trooper - TLC - Saga Legends (SL 19)

The Advanced Recon Commandos, commonly known as ARC Troopers, are elite members of the vast clone army. They are hand-trained by Jango Fett and have special programming that allows for independent thought. ARC Troopers are used for exceptionally dangerous missions that require flexible, independent thinking.

The clone trooper and any derivation of it is typically universally well-received by the collecting public. Even if you hear criticisms that range from the rainbow colors in the color flashes to the specific problems of the sculpts, it’s rare to find a collector who loves clones that doesn’t simply just love them all. In 2007, Hasbro introduced a line of two-packs entitled Order 66. The name “Order 66” hit the front page news of fan sites before the news of the characters contained within them did, so anticipation was essentially out of control. Then when we all found out that most of the figure two-packs would be Hasbro concepts instead of actual clones from Episode III, the excitement waned a bit, but not entirely. And after some resistance, many collectors found the Order 66 line intriguing and it opened up many doors for collectors and the figures were utilized in dioramas very happily. The line was successful and Hasbro issued a second series almost a year later to the date in 2008. Interestingly, most of the clones in these sets were phase I, much before Order 66 was even a thought. But the clones were very accurate to already established Expanded Universe sources and this set ended up being even more popular than the first.

ARC Trooper comes from the final 2008 TAC Master Sev/ARC Trooper Order 66 (6 of 6) TARGET exclusive two-pack. Released only a mere six months after it’s first availability as a TARGET exclusive, the ARC Trooper gets its day in the sun as a basic figure. And it was an extremely clever choice to help pad the Saga Legends line in The Legacy Collection. Hasbro’s main goal for 2008’s TLC Saga Legends collection was to add realistically styled clones (as well as other characters) to help complement The Clone Wars multimedia event. If you look at the lineup, you’ll see how many quasi TCW-like figures there are in the line (as well as a nice selection of many Star Wars characters too). ARC Troopers are always popular Star Wars characters, so it was important to include them in the Saga Legends assortment to make them available to people who missed out on the Order 66 exclusives, or for those collectors just looking to army-build them. ARC Trooper in the yellow gear looks fantastic. It’s based on the Expanded Universe source entitled Clone Wars Adventures: Volume 5: The Order Of Outcasts. It’s an extremely animated publication, so it is even neater that collectors get a realistically interpreted action figure of this character instead of one based on the animated style.

ARC Trooper is a kit-bashed figure that utilizes the body of the ARC Trooper figure from 2007's TAC Obi-Wan Kenobi/ARC Trooper (No. 07) Comic Packs set. It also utilizes the legs from 2005's ROTS Clone Trooper (III 41) figure. And lastly, it utilizes the kama from 2005's ROTS Commander Bacara (III 49) figure. Despite being a complete motley crew of parts, the figure looks fantastic all assembled and its silhouette looks completely uninterrupted. Included with the ARC Trooper is a removable helmet (it doesn’t have a perfect fit, but it works nonetheless), a removable pauldron/gauntlet combination and a removable kama. The ARC Trooper also comes with three weapons: two DC-17 blaster pistols and a blaster rifle. But the accessories don’t really end there. For the Saga Legends line during the duration of The Legacy Collection, Hasbro included a cardboard “locker” that is full of extra accessories – something they call Battle Gear. So in addition to what the figures comes with, collectors are also treated to a DC-15 blaster, a DC-15 blaster rifle, a DC-17 blaster, a droid blaster, a blaster rifle and an EMP launcher. If you have misplaced or lost any parts, then this is the line to help reestablish your accessories. The ARC Trooper is nice to have as a basic figure, but if you only want one and have the Order 66 set, you already have this figure.