Darth Vader (With Incinerator Troopers) - TAC - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Commemorative Collection

One of the most devastating of the Empire's specialized stormtrooper units, the incinerator troopers wield powerful plasma rifles to set enemies ablaze. When deployed to a forest world like Kashyyyk, a small squadron of incinerator troopers can level an entire Wookiee village in a matter of hours. Vader and the Incinerator Troopers are sent in whenever an example needs to be made of anyone who dares to question the ultimate authority of the Empire..

Hasbro afforded us the opportunity to quickly army build two distinct stormtroopers for our collections with the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Commemorative Collection sets; each featuring a major Sith player accompanied by two troopers of a certain specialty. Anything with unique Imperials is a surefire hit and it made sense to Hasbro (and fans) that multipacks with multiple army builders were a great idea for an exclusive. Similarly styled to the colorful clone troopers we had seen in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, we saw what the pure white stormtroopers looked like in the time period directly prior to the Battle Of Yavin. Two sets were created to commemorate the release of The Forced Unleashed video game and fans immediately clamored about how awesome they were, even despite the fact that we got another repacked Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader in them. And they are awesome. The Darth Vader (With Incinerator Troopers) set is maybe not a cool as the Emperor Palpatine (With Shadow Stormtroopers) set, but the Incinerator Troopers still hold their own quite strongly. And in some ways they are reminiscent of some type of red version of the popular 2008 TAC Stormtrooper Commander Gamestop exclusive

The two Incinerator Troopers in this set are identical to each other, just as the Shadow Troopers from the Emperor Palpatine (With Shadow Stormtroopers) set are. They are super-articulated, but also just like the Shadow Stormtroopers, their lower body movement is rendered nearly useless thanks to the close proximity of the legs to each other. The figures have awesome upper-body articulation and of course a lot can be done with a ball-jointed head. (The Incinerator Troopers are also repaints of the 2006 TSC Shadow Trooper exclusive figure from Star Wars Shop. While we think the Shadow Stormtroopers are the better looking characters and action figures, we really do love the Incinerator Troopers too. The red color flashes against the white palette of armor are quite impressive and this is all accented by the very accurate green lenses on the helmet. Borrowing elements of the 501st Legion Trooper’s armor decoration patterns mixed with the helmet stripe of the phase I clone troopers, there is no denying that this is clearly a Star Wars universe inspired character. The Incinerator Troopers look great posed with their Imperial blasters, but we just wish we had a little bit more versatility in the lower body to put them into some very cool action poses. (Hasbro, we really need a “ball-jointed hips Stormtrooper” template. Please? Pretty please?

Darth Vader is the mild disappointment of the set. But hey, if there had to be a Darth Vader included here, Hasbro could have certianly picked a much worse figure. Darth Vader is a repack of the 2004 VOTC Darth Vader figure. The only bummer for us on this figure is the swivel elbow joints. We have said it 100 times already in this column and we will day it again. No elbow articulation is better than swivel joints. They forearms always pop off when you try to pose the figure and they become unacceptably loose from too much usage. We are sure some of you disagree with our sentiment here but it is only our opinion. All three figures look great when posed together. In fact, when they are posed together, they don’t look that different from something you would see from Episode IV. We think this is pretty neat. Both Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Commemorative Collection sets are a steal when it comes to value. You essentially get three super-articulated figures in both sets for $14.84. When the figures were rereleased as Toys R Us exclusives with new packaging, the price jumped up quite a bit. As of this posting, all signs of them at retail have vanished so it appears that it will only be at the secondary market where you will find them now. But we recommend getting both of them into your collections any feasible way possible. Hasbro made some of the best army builder action figures in The Force Unleashed multimedia event as exclusives. And two of the best are right here in these sets.