Rebel Commando Pao/Imperial Death Trooper - RO - Two-Packs

Rebel Commando Pao: An amphibious Drabata, the fierce commando Pao charges into battle with a full-throated battle cry of "Sa'Kalla!" He joins the Rogue One team on its historic mission to secure the Death Star plans.

Imperial Death Trooper: The elite soldiers of Imperial Intelligence, Death Troopers are encased in specialized Stormtrooper armor with a dark, ominous gleam.

It’s another 5POA mainline product year. Yay! For the most part, Hasbro is walking the Rogue One line in the familiar footprints of The Force Awakens line, but on a smaller scale and with a few slight changes. One sub-line that hasn’t gone away (or been drastically revised) just yet is the somewhat controversial Two-Packs format. While these sets of figures offer some nicely detailed characters, collectors have wondered since the format’s “debut” why Hasbro is doubling up on action figures that definitely need an individual basic carded release first. Such is the way of the new Hasbro Star Wars brand it seems anymore. You just have to go with the flow. Not everything makes sense to longtime collectors anymore. But one good thing the Two-Packs line does is quickly build our Rogue One collection with two great characters from the upcoming film. Hasbro has also added a “versus” graphic to the 2016 sets. In the past they just paired up related action figures whether they were on the same side or not. Now they’re clearly delineating good and bad and each set going forward will be containing one of each. Hasbro clearly is balanced in their approach. The two figures in the Rebel Commando Pao/Imperial Death Trooper set are both great, but one certainly shines brighter than the other. Let’s find out why.

Admittedly, we’re quite fond of the Rebel Commando Pao/Imperial Death Trooper Two-Pack. And our favorite figure is absolutely Rebel Commando Pao. He is so good you probably won’t even care you have an Imperial Death Trooper 3.75” figure to go with him. We know we lost interest in him very quickly. Hasbro got a huge fanfare from collectors when they released 2015’s TFA Admiral Ackbar Build A Weapon (Space) figure. Not only did Admiral Ackbar have a beautiful sculpt, he also came with a movable jaw. They’ve approached Rebel Commando Pao in the same exact fashion. Rebel Commando Pao has a stunning sculpt and beautiful paint operations. And he comes with a hinge-jointed head that allows him to open his mouth rather widely. His bio describes that he shrieks, so apparently it was significant enough to include in his action figure as well. Pao also has a complete and total Star Wars feel to him. You sense the Original Trilogy when you look at him. His outfit is absolutely unique and he haven’t seen anything exactly like this before, yet it also gives the illusion that he would be right at home during the Battle of Endor in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi. He comes with a removable backpack and a blaster rifle that comes with a strap. He is an excellent effort.

The more lackluster figure is the illustriously shiny Imperial Death Trooper. Man is he shiny! Actually we have been questioning if this figure is actually a he or not. The body frame is definitely athletically feminine. But we’re not sure if Disney designed this character by following the skinny jeans craze in modern popular culture to inspire the Imperial Death Trooper’s skinny armor. Hey, Captain Phasma is female, so anything is possible as far as we’re concerned. In all honesty, the Imperial Death Trooper is not noteworthy. This figure needs a ton of articulation (which it doesn’t have), and it’s frustrating to realize what it is unable to do thanks to its severely limited articulation. In order to make up for its pitiful articulation (we guess), Hasbro has added a huge accessory that breaks down into a whopping seven (7) separate pieces. This harnessed double cannon blaster device is cool for kids, but collectors aren’t going to show much care or concern for this extra. (Hasbro, expend anything “extra” into articulation please!) The set is full of value. You get two solid action figures and a ton of accessories for less than $15. We still would prefer to see single-carded figures instead, but if this is the way it’s going to be, this way is satisfactory too.