Airborne Commander (Mace Windu’s Attack Battalion) - Mini Busts

Mace Windu was once a dedicated diplomat, but the nature of the Clone Wars has left him little choice but to become a true Jedi warrior. The Clone Commander leads a team of clone troopers into battle to protect the Jedi Temple. He uses a series of hand signals to direct and position his battalionas they battle the invading droid army. These clone troopers follow their commander's orders and fight to protect the Jedi Temple.

Sometimes a certain clone trooper flavor can go viral. And that’s pretty much what happened with the Hasbro derived 187th Legion clone troopers who are part of Mace Windu’s Attack Battalion. This purple-colored group of clone troopers started off life in a 2006 TARGET exclusive Battle Packs set entitled Mace Windu’s Attack Battalion and it was an instant hit with collectors. It didn’t sell through at full price, but when the markdowns started happening, collectors were gobbling up more purple clone troopers than they ever expected. Three of the clones in that set looked like purple Shock Troopers while the Clone Commander was a “pre-paint” of the Airborne trooper that would be part of the first wave of the 30 (77-07) the next March (of 2007). Then in 2008 as the line turned into The Legacy Collection, Hasbro developed and Unleashed Battle Packs set of the same battalion. It was cool, but didn’t garner enough support of the 3.75” line of course. By the time 2011 came around, maker of high-end collectibles started getting into the game.

The first company to produce a truly “collectible” version of the 187th Legion was Gentle Giant Ltd.. And there are a few surprises in the packaging as well. (The bust is stellar – we’ll get to that in a moment.) Not only do they borrow the Hasbro artwork from the Unleashed Battle Packs packaging and put it on their box, but they have also nearly copied verbatim the text that appeared on the TARGET exclusive Battle Packs packaging. There is some clearly big homage paying going on here and we love it. But what about that mini bust? Well, simply put, the mini bust is a triumph as well. Originally thought to be a simple repaint of the orange Utapau Airborne Trooper released a few years back, the Airborne Commander (Mace Windu’s Attack Battalion) mini bust is anything but that. Not only does this mini bust have a better paint job, the pose is different and he is carrying a large DC-15 blaster rifle. The bust is still smaller (thanks to unexpected shrinking) than most others, but it is still the same size of the Airborne Trooper (and they look great together).

For this release, Gentle Giant Ltd.. colors the clone is his trademark purple deco and incorporates hash marks (like what is seen on the 5th Fleet Security Clone Trooper) and a paint job that will leave your jaw on the floor. Gentle Giant keeps finding ways to make their paint jobs better with each release. And we’re at a loss on how they do it. These mini busts are hand painted and it’s quite exasperating that they are able to make these mini busts look phenomenal (as if they have been in the Clone Wars battles themselves). Success is an understatement here. If you’re not too crazy about the clone troopers that do not appear in the films, then this mini bust may not be for you. But there is no possible way you can deny giving this piece the accolades it deserves. Limited to 1250 pieces, it may or may not hang around. The economy is a funny thing right now. But if word gets out just how amazing this mini bust it, we don’t expect them lasting for too much longer.