Clone Trooper (501st Legion: Vader’s Fist) - Life-Size Busts

An elite unit of clone troopers, and later stormtroopers, that came to symbolize the might of the Galactic Empire, the 501st Legion were the soldiers under the command of Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. Also known as "Vader's Fist," they continued to enforce order and Imperial rule well after the death of Vader.

The 501st began just as any of the other initial clone units that blazed across the rocky deserts of Geonosis in the first historic battle of the Clone Wars. They seemed identical to the other clones that infiltrated the Separatist stronghold and pushed the Confederacy forces off-planet.

The 501st Legion was split into special mission groups, often to supplement other clone missions. In some cases, they operated independent of the command structure already in place. There were 501st troopers protecting the skies over Coruscant during General Grievous' bold strike against the capital. Others provided support to clone units on worlds such as Felucia, Mygeeto, Utapau and Kashyyyk.

Sideshow Collectibles has released what may be their biggest, best and most impressive definitive high-end Star Wars collectibles ever with the Clone Trooper (501st Legion: Vader’s Fist) Life-Size Bust. Even from the start, Sideshow Collectibles alluded that this piece was massive both in size and weight and we can confirm unequivocally that this is indeed the case. The piece is so commanding that you almost need to do a double take when it enters your line of vision because its authenticity and accuracy to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is simply brilliant. Without a doubt it’s the best piece in the Life-Size Bust line. The 501st Legion may not have the star power of its leader, but there is no room for doubt that Sideshow Collectibles brought forth to collectors a piece that will indeed become a discussion starter in the collecting community. It’s not often that Sideshow Collectibles includes articulation in the 1:1 Life-Size Bust scale, but like Boba Fett before him, the Clone Trooper (501st Legion: Vader’s Fist) bust comes with an articulated helmet so that you can pose this work of art in a number of ways. The scale is 100% accurate, the sculpt is mesmerizingly flawless and the paint job is beyond expectations. These three key features in any high-end collectibles line must be of the highest quality and caliber in order for the piece to be successful in the end. It’s without a doubt that Sideshow Collectibles has succeeded with this piece and it’s evident that by going this far outside their normal realm is testament that they are continually committing themselves to higher levels of excellence.

Where do you begin describing a perfect piece? Forgive our disjointed thoughts in advance because this Life-Size Bust is truly too much to take in at once. When you’re a company who is a purveyor of multiple scales in a license, characters in these different scales can appear inconsistent in look and color. There was some criticism with regards to the shape of the clone trooper portraits in Sideshow’s Militaries Of Star Wars line. The final version was a bit too rounded and the profile seemed off a bit. But the sculptors of the Clone Trooper (501st Legion: Vader’s Fist) Life-Size Bust ensured that not one detail was inconsistent from the design of the character in Episode III. The curves of the helmet to the details of the buttons on it are exactly replicated here. Even the “speakers” in the mouth/vocoder piece are excellent crafted and painted. There are multiple geometric parts to the phase II clone trooper helmet and Sideshow Collectibles has mastered every last three-dimensional trapezoid, arc, circle, rectangle and rhombus in perfect harmony with the onscreen soldier seen in the film. The bust cuts off at the center of his chest equilaterally. If you were to split this piece down the center you would have mirror images of both sides. We were mildly let down by one detail. Sideshow Collectibles advertised that this piece was made from mixed media in the summary on the product page. So we were led to believe that the body glove would be material. It’s not and actually it’s polystone like how most of the rest of the piece is. It’s not a setback in anyway, but we think that would have nailed the realism factor right to the wall.

How Sideshow Collectibles managed to capture a brilliant paint job like this at the factory level is mind-boggling. The armor is off white and has a light dirty wash completely covering it. It’s done so subtly that it appears as if the armor has a natural marbled appearance. On top of the white armor and blue color flashed are tons of scratches and carbon-scoring. These realistic details breathe incredible life into this version of the 501st Legion Clone Trooper. In fact, we had to inspect these battle-damage markings up close to figure out how Sideshow Collectibles managed to successfully add them on to the piece. They are that believable. One thing we are personally thrilled to see is that Sideshow chose the exact shade of blue for the color flashing. Anyone who recalls Gentle Giant Ltd.’s 501st Legion Clone Trooper Mini Bust knows how differently the color blue on that piece deviated from the onscreen character. It also was a completely different shade than what Hasbro has used on their many interpretations of the action figure too. It’s wonderful to report that Sideshow Collectibles has done nothing in error here and have created the premier and definitive collectible interpretation of the 501st Legion. Limited to 1000 pieces, the Clone Trooper (501st Legion: Vader’s Fist) Life-Size Bust didn’t sell out immediately, but eventually sold through and it’s completely out of stock now. 1000 pieces is indeed a high edition size for a collectible of this price, but it appears that the piece gripped the collectible community and those that normally do not buy pieces from this line has caved and done so. The Clone Trooper (501st Legion: Vader’s Fist) Life-Size Bust is definitely our favorite piece in the line. It comes highly regarded and definitely recommended.(Editor's Note: Special thanks to Chuck Paskovics for his tireless assistance in editing most of the pictures for the gallery in this review.)