First Order Stormtrooper - SW [TLJ] - Basic

Hasbro is really reinventing the wheel with the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] line. We wonder if it frustrates them. Redoing all of the major players from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has to be somewhat of a disappointment. It has to be a waste of time so to speak, especially since there are so many other important action figures to get to in the line. Whether or not they wanted to do this, Hasbro had to create all new sculpts for the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] because of the Force Link gimmick. Every figure needs to have a chip placed into its body cavity so that it can interact with the Force Link wristband. But Hasbro went a step further and created all of these figures from the ground up, even the one you think they wouldn’t even attempt to redo, like the First Order Stormtrooper. You may or may not know, but the helmet design has changed on this character from Episode VII to Episode VIII. So Hasbro needed to redo this character anyway. The helmets have been revised to be longer in height and have crisper details. When you compare the Episode VII 5POA figure to the new Episode VIII version, you’ll see the differences clearly. But Hasbro treated the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] figure quite well. Let’s go into what sets this First Order Stormtrooper apart from all others in the 5POA range.

Firstly, we love the sculpt. The First Order Stormtrooper is in a very tame action pose. His body is cocked, and his left foot is taking a step forward. His elbows are slightly bent, and his head has been given a great range of movement thanks to a well-sized ball-socket joint. The details are finer than we have seen in the past and the plastic used to cast this figure is of a high quality It’s shiny and mimics the plastoid armor brilliantly. The Force Awakens First Order Stormtrooper was dull by comparison. We’re thankful for this wonderful attention to detail. Secondly, we love the functionality and interaction of this figures features and accessories. He comes with both weapons: the blaster and the pistol and both can be secured in the slot on his right thigh. But it doesn’t just “stick” in the slot. It slides in smoothly like it has been precisely tooled to do this. Try it; you’ll see what we mean. The First Order Stormtrooper looks AMAZING when you have him pose his weapons. Sure, he is unable to hold the weapons with both hands, and your options to pose him are very limited, but look how incredible he looks with his weapons up and at the ready. Now, we love how this figure looks with the subtle “movement” his sculpt offer as a “one-off” figure, but we also admit that a squadron of them would look more like a line dance.

Paint operations should be relatively flawless across many samples of the First Order Stormtrooper, but we have seen varying quality in the paint jobs given to them. Keeping in mind that our photography is high definition, you’re going to see many more imperfections in our photos than your own human eye can pick up in-hand looking at the figure. So, from the latter perspective, we feel that the First Order Stormtrooper looks pretty great with decent black enhancements across its shiny white armor. Like all of the figures in the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] line, the First Order Stormtrooper interacts with the Force Link wristband. It says multiple phrases and has a bunch of sound effects like blasters blasting and explosions exploding. We’ve even heard explosions and blaster sounds while the figure was speaking too. It seems like it’s a really complex thing. Don’t get us wrong; we really have a difficult time accepting army building action figures that only come with five points of articulation. It’s so impractical for them to do anything relevant from the films when they’re so limited in movement. We find this to be a terrible deterrent for this format. At the same time, the First Order Stormtrooper looks fantastic. From his pose to the way he has been mildly posed, he just looks so wonderful as a Star Wars action figure. Obviously, he is going to look a whole lot better in some poses compared to others. But he looks cool more often than he doesn’t.