Clone Trooper (327th Star Corps) - TLC - Basic (BD 29)

The clone troopers in the 327th Star Corps are led by Clone Commander Bly and serve with Jedi General Aayla Secura on several planets in the Outer Rim Territories. This elite corps is distinguished by the yellow markings on their armor.

The Clone Trooper (327th Star Corps) is such a bittersweet figure. Clearly, it is a fantastic sculpt and was an ideal candidate to finally get basic carded figure status (especially in an Episode III focused wave). But a little (a lot) more effort should have been executed before it got released into the mainline. Think back to when The Legacy Collection and The Clone Wars lines debuted. The dirt and battle-damaged markings were incredibly well done. Our figures looked like they have served well in the galaxy’s civil war. And if they didn’t fight in war, it looks like they have walked outside. This may sound like another whiny request, but our Star Wars action figures are really starting to suffer now. The costing issue (which is becoming very much alike the 'boy who cried "wolf" fable') is something we are growing weary of hearing about (especially when a figure's quality is sacrificed as a result) and we are really beginning to wonder what can be done if these paint operations are indeed too much of a cross to bear for Hasbro. While we don’t deny that their statements are true about the final dirty washes on the figures, we have to wonder if they might be doing all they can do to bring them back. We wish for Hasbro not to have a complacent attitude about the dirt applications. Plus, we have to wonder that even if Hasbro cannot afford the dirty finishing wash, why are the carbon-scoring marks gone? We hope they are being proactive as they can be to see if there is another way or method of doing this that is cost-effective. This 327th Star Corps Clone Trooper is another figure that falls victim to a clean paint application. It is a shame, because with Felucia being a very fungal planet, there is obviously some dirt to get on your gear. We all know that even only five minutes in any battle would put some scuff marks or dirt on a clone trooper. When the packaging of the figure even shows the dirty marks, it makes the purchase a little frustrating when we see what “could have been”.

But not to discount the beauty of the figure, it is an excellent action figure. And now is a better time than ever to “army build” him. You are probably wondering why.Although first released in The Legacy Collection wave 4 exactly the same way as previous releases, the 327th Star Corps Clone Trooper was changed mid way through production (still in the TLC line) and enhanced significantly. The figure was updated in another remix case with a new droid part than the first time. But in addition to a new droid part, Hasbro also enhanced the “mustard yellow” color on the armor and the brighter or shinier yellow/orange or gold color on the pauldron. These enhancements are major improvements to the action figure and they nearly forgive the egregious clean look of the figure. We find it a bit interesting that if the battle-damaged paint applications are so cost-prohibitive for Hasbro, why then did they ultimately decide to edit this figure half way through production? Was this a direct request from Lucasfilm? And if so, is this what is required to improve an action figure? We don’t intend to sound hostile here, we would just like to know the reasoning behind these decisions. Correcting the color flashes on the armor (including the helmet, arms and legs) was a fantastic move, but we would also like to see some other attention given to the battle scars. On top of better matching the colors, Hasbro also thickened the chest stripe going down the center of the figure to better match what was seen in the film. Don't get us wrong, we love authenticity, but please Hasbro, dirty-up our figures! This figure is everything else you would expect him to be since he is essentially a repack of a previously made action figure. We have to admit that he looks awesome on a single card. So many of the film accurate Revenge Of The Sith clone troopers got lost in multipacks or other releases and it is nice to see them get their day in the sun! This figure also has a neat little trivial distinction. We'll elaborate.

Clone Trooper (327th Star Corps) has the distinction of being the first "greatest hits” figure (previously designated with a “GH” before the number) to be included in the basic Droid Factory/Build A Droid line numbering system. In fact, when the Revenge Of The Sith wave was first being introduced, the high resolution images of the wave didn't even include this figure, only the six new Droid Factory figures. These "extra" figures help round out the wave while adding new options for Build A Droid parts to collectors. The first four GH figures were heavily utilized and it felt like they were coming in every new wave of figures. Hasbro changed it up starting with this figure and we are excited that they have taken this route. As you know, this figure is a repaint of the extremely popular Clone Trooper figure from the 2005 ROTS Clone Trooper To Stormtrooper [Version 1] Evolutions set. He comes loaded with weapons and can hold them effortlessly and two can be stored on his person. While not much new is here, it was great to get him carded (and later ultimately corrected) singly. If Hasbro can get us a well-worn version and a revised helmet, he will be considered definitive in our books! The Legacy Collection is full of Episode III clone troopers (nearly all repacks with many appearing in the Saga Legends line), which is nice, since it took so long for Hasbro to release all of the movie versions on basic cards. This particular figure has had its share of variations as far as droid parts are concerned too, including multiple parts of the same droid. You can check out our attached Visual Guide link for more information on this. To those of you who have been able to keep track of all of the droid parts, we salute you! As we get more "greatest hits" figures in this line, we can expect this trend to keep continuing. After all, clones are the hottest thing for Hasbro to 'clone' year after year, whether they are in the same or different packaging, and we really don't expect this to stop any time soon. Deservedly so, this pace shouldn’t. All of us cannot get enough clone troopers. It is just the nature of this fun hobby!