First Order Flametrooper - SW [TLJ] - Basic

If anyone asked us our opinion, we would have said that the First Order Flametrooper should have been the LAST member of the First Order Hasbro should have ever revisited. It’s not that they’re not cool. And it’s not that they’re not an important part of The Force Awakens (they did burn down that Jakku village). It’s just that action figures of them don’t seem to go over that well, whether as part of The Black Series [Phase III] 6” assortment, or as a more simple 5POA figure like this one. After Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi came out, some were happy to see the return of the First Order Snowtroopers. They marched on Crait in a very similar fashion to how the 501st Legion marched to take over the Jedi Temple behind Darth Vader. So the average Star Wars collector would have assumed that this particular First Order member would be next. The First Order Flametrooper is likely in Episode VIII somewhere, just not prominently featured is all. We missed them, but Wookieepedia confirms they are indeed there. Hasbro has added this character to their popular Force Link line. The figure is an all-new sculpt and looks better than ever before thanks to practical tooling and features.

This all-new action figure looks pretty fantastic. He doesn’t have too much trouble standing up despite his upward-curving feet. The design is lean for an armored soldier and the parts that complete his look has also been well-designed. The armor is shiny white and the head sculpt looks a tad different than the First Order Flametrooper Build A Weapon figure and First Order Flametrooper Armor Up figure, both from 2015’s The Force Awakens line. But the feature here that will make the most critical collectors happy here is that Hasbro prepositioned his arms to accommodate his flamethrower weapon. When you have a simply articulated 5POA figure, nothing helps it more than a believable sculpt. Now, there are also drawbacks to this as well. Without the flamethrower in hand, this figure looks completely ridiculous. But with it, he looks amazing. The long-barreled flamethrower has a gas line attached to it with a plug that attaches to a gas supply line on his gas canister backpack. The cord is a little bit unruly, but with a little patience, you can make it work as you desire. Overall, we’re happy with how this figure turned out. Although he looks different from past releases, he still looks incredible among them. In other words, he doesn’t look out of place at all.

For us, the best “gimmicky” thing about the First Order Flametrooper is the Force Link dialogue. He says some pretty cool phrases that we imagine a First Order Flametrooper would say. Consider them “off screen” moments. But he also has the best male scream we have ever heard, almost as if he burned himself with his flamethrower. (It’s the fifth and final line of the Force Link feature.) It’s fairly entertaining to the point that we kept listening to the playback of it nonstop. The Force Link feature also includes sound effects like explosions and perhaps flames shooting which completely seals the deal for us. Again, we’re surprised by Hasbro’s choice of a First Order Flametrooper instead of a First Order Snowtrooper. But at the same time, we’re happy they revisited this character and took a whole new approach with him. Getting differently posed characters are the only way we’re going to army build in a 5POA era of action figures. We still would love to see Hasbro utilize a slot for a super-articulated First Order Flametrooper one day. We think they are pretty cool characters. Besides, all collectors prefer the troopers to most other human characters, especially when it comes to those in The Force Awakens. Anyway, Hasbro did a great job here.