Clone Trooper Hevy (In Training Gear) - TCW [SOTDS] - Basic (CW41)

Clone Trooper Hevy trains for battle on Kamino. Hevy is part of Domino Squad, which is doing poorly in their training exercises. During one battle simulation, the trooper practices with a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon. He and his squad members ultimately overcome their differences to work together successfully as a team.

Season 3 of The Clone Wars started messing with fans’ heads. Filoni started developing episodes that served as prequels to episodes first seen in Season 1. (The episode from which this Hevy action figure comes from serves as the precursor to the episode entitled Rookies.) So the Star Wars time line started getting blurred and watchers of the television show didn’t know if they were coming or going. But on the bright side of things, the episodes provided some great storytelling and the action was intense. The Season 3 opener entitled Clone Cadets brought us an “early” look at Clone Trooper Heavy in his training gear. Part of the Domino Squad, the weren’t the most adept at their training, but in the end they overcame their weaknesses and worked together as a team and develop as a solid battalion of soldiers. It’s interesting that the training armor is more advanced looking that the generic white clone trooper armor, but perhaps there is a reason that the training armor is so distinct and complicated. Clone Trooper Hevy (In Training Gear) may just be one of our favorite clone trooper figures yet in the line, but that may be because it's a clone with new armor. He isn’t even super-articulated, but we love the chunky armor and the colorful green and yellow color flashes that create an ornate look for this clone trainee. And what makes us more thrilled to purchase him is that Hasbro appears to have listened to our grumbles about weapons getting all bent out of shape by pre-posing them in the figures’ hands. Hasbro has placed the guns in their own tray (or separate space) and it was so cool to get a perfectly formed and undistorted weapon for once.

There have already been negative rumbling over this figure already and it escapes us what people aren’t liking. It's an all-new figure (maybe a borrowed head from somewhere, but that is doubtful) and the torso is not as shaply or curvy as the one Clone Commander Stone (CW44) has. His arms and legs are well proportioned and positioned. Hevy has a wonderful wide stance (without being too wide) and it allows him to stand unassisted. The figure is super-articulation except fro ankles and while it may have been nice to get movable ankles, it really isn’t a deal breaker at all (for us at least). The paint job is flawless and besides the green a yellow color, you’ll also find various numbers on his armor which must represent some specific nomenclature in the clone training universe. Some may criticize that Hevy looks more like a football player than clone trooper in training, but we think that is a stretch and love the final product. The figure comes with a heavy assault rifle with projectile and a DC-15 blaster pistol. For the first time ever, Hasbro has painted the heavy assault rifle in multiple colors and you’ll find sections of it painted in beige. It really looks great! With the thicker look of his armor, Hevy looks more than capable to thrown around that large weapon. But he looks a little bit alone without his band of brothers. We hope hasbro can makes a few more of his teammates. Hey, they would be easy and cost-effective figures to make as they’re essentially repaints of each other. We feel good about seeing more of the Domino Squad. it would really be silly for Hasbro not to take this action and pad the line.

Hevy’s helmet is extremely unique. We do like it, but we think Hasbro could have taken a much more effective approach when making it. The helmet is mostly white with a large yellow visor, but the yellow visor makes it hard to see his face. When watching the Clone Cadets episode, everyone can see his face clearly almost as if the visor wasn’t there. We think this figure would be enhanced if Hasbro cut out the yellow visor portion of the helmet and maybe just color the inside of it yellow (or around the perimeter of where the visor would be). This way the collector would be able to clearly see his face. On a more positive note, the helmet fits like a glove and adds a lot of character to the action figure. We are not trying to insinuate that the figure is ruined because the clarity of his face is compromised by the yellow visor. No, despite this, Hevy is a real winner for us. We really don’t get too much variation on the standard clone trooper armor, so Hevy is a truly unique figure. And he is awesome for so many more reasons. For example, the head sculpt is extra clean and well painted and we don’t recall a generic clone trooper head looking so good. Hevy has a lot to offer you and your collection. You may need time to adjust to his unique look, but you will soon fall in love with him and be happy you purchased him. Clone Trooper Hevy (In Training Gear) is a clever action figure and a rarity for the basic figure line in that he is a prequel figure. But forget about the order of the stories and enjoy this figure for what it is.