41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper - TBS [P1] - Basic (#12)

Under the command of Luminara Unduli and Commander Gree, this battle group specializes in grueling, week-long patrols which often require specialized armor customized for hostile environments.

Travesty, debacle, calamity, cataclysm, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy and a spoof of previous efforts are just some of the terms we would utilize to describe the new 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper from The Black Series line. We’re mad and it’s a righteous anger. This figure is a complete and utter train wreck. How in the world could this action figure get approved to head to the production stage of things when the deco is not even half-applied? Perhaps we should back up a bit. Hasbro has not treated the phase II clone troopers with any dignity since The Vintage Collection began. Things started improving after the awful 2011 TVC Clone Trooper (212th Battalion) (VC38) was released. They abandoned that sculpt, and with 2012’s TVC Clone Trooper (501st Legion) (VC60) figure, they released a pretty decent version of the phase II clone, save for the helmet which was much too big for the action figure. Jedi Temple Archives brought up this issue countless times whenever we had the chance to interact with Hasbro, yet the issue remains unresolved. As sad as this may sound, that isn’t even the figure’s biggest issue! This is also one of the few clones that actually utilize an antenna. But Hasbro completely ignored that detail altogether.

And now the 41st Elite Clone Trooper not only carries on with this unsettling trend of a much-too-large bucket, but the figure itself is missing over 50% of his gray color flashes. What a nightmare! Just look at all of the pictures of this figure in our photo gallery. You’ll see that the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper is missing gray color on the shoulder armor, the “belly” armor, the entire belt is white instead of gray, the lower legs (both shin and calf sections) and the hands. What’s worse is that the unique hash marks on his chest armor and forearms are also completely missing. Hasbro released the first basic figure version of this character in 2008’s The Legacy Collection as Clone Trooper (Coruscant Landing Platform) (BD 17). Today, that figure still stands as the definitive version of this character. The figure by all standards still is a beautiful addition to any Star Wars collection and puts to shame The Black Series version hands down. All we have with the TBS version is an all-white Clone Trooper with thin gray zigzags on a few sections of armor. He looks like the clone version of Charlie Brown for heaven’s sake. There is so much wrong here. But the head scratcher is how in the world did this skate by Hasbro uncorrected?

There have been many 41st Elite Corps Clone Troopers released throughout the years. Our first version was presented in 2005’s ROTS Clone Attack On Coruscant TARGET exclusive Battle Packs set. Those figures weren’t very articulated, so Hasbro made things better with the release of an almost super-articulated version in 2005’s ROTS Clone Trooper To Stormtrooper [Version 2] Evolutions set. That figure was a tremendous update but his helmet was much too big for his head. Clearly, all of us were excited to see the 2008 The Legacy Collection figure released in the basic figure line because it aesthetically looked the best. And that is knowing very well that the deco was on the Evolutions figure is significantly better. This means that The Black Series figure is a major step backwards in the progression of this character in the basic figure line. It may be much too early to be concerned however. Hasbro claims that they know about the issues surrounding this figure and that correcting this figure’s paint operations are already in motion. We’ll post an update here if that happens, but in the meantime, secure the 2008 TLC Clone Trooper (Coruscant Landing Platform) (BD 17) figure. Right now this 2008 figure is the definitive version. (Editor's Note: If Hasbro fixes the errors on this figure, we will give it a much better score.)

(UPDATE: February 2014): Well, blow us down. Hasbro has indeed completed a running change of the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper. To date it has no plans of becoming available in the US markets and has only been found in foreign countries in Europe and some other areas. While this update is certainly exciting to see, sadly Hasbro did not update the action figure completely. It's still missing the gray belt and the gray color flashes on the hands. Other than these two glaring errors, the running change to the 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper looks significantly better. There are beautiful carbon scoring marks speckled throughout the armor, up to and including the removable helmet and the gray color in general is a much lighter shade this time around. Again, this isn't a perfect update, but it's worlds apart from the original release. We hope that it makes its way to the USA and that American collectors who want this will be able to find it reasonably priced.