This figure is a straight repack of the armor up version that came out at almost the same time.  I reviewed that figure here, and while it wasn’t a bad figure, it was done in by having to pay a $5 premium for a foolish accessory.

This figure looks pretty good, with shiny white armor and a few details painted black that could have been applied with a little better sharpness.  Standard 5POA with a ball jointed head, the figure comes with a backpack and flamethrower that connects via a hose.  It’s in a slightly non-neutral stance, but nothing too offensive there.  There were a couple of these troopers in action on Jakku when Kylo Ren attacked Lor San Tekka’s village.  There may have been more on parade on Starkiller Base, but does it really matter?  It’s an odd choice for Hasbro to have given this trooper the armor-up treatment in addition to the basic figure.  Leaving it alone in the basic line would have been fine, and maybe a standard Stormtrooper would have been more appropriate for the armor-up line so as to give more options to army build.

As I type this, I realized that once again, a lack of sleep has caused me to screw up this review.  I had mixed up the accessories between this figure and the FN-2187 figure we recently posted.  In that review, I described the accessory that actually came with this figure.  So all of the top shelf discussion that went along with it (flux capacitor, jigowatt, etc.) was had in Finn’s Disqus section.  So you know what?  I’m not going to talk about the accessory now.  Go there if you want to see it.  That’s what you get for making me buy the TFA Darth Vader figure. 

The real knock on this figure is that, as expected, it cannot perform the THWG.  Wielding a heavy weapon like this flamethrower should naturally be done with two hands.  Amazingly, Hasbro is soon releasing an updated version in the TLJ line.  Again, I don’t recall if the trooper was see in the film.  If it was, it was likely during the execution scene when all the troopers lined up. Or it’s possible there were a few that joined Kylo Ren when he marched on the Crait base, but my hunch is those were all snow troopers.  In any case, the updated version, while still lacking any additional articulation that we know of, will have its arms sculpted in such a way as to perform the THWG.  That’s a plus, but really, after being released twice in 5POA already, a better strategy would be to give us a super-articulated version.  Of course, like choosing Sam Adams, that’s always a good decision, but is one that Hasbro rarely makes these days.

I’ll give this figure a 4.  It’s the same as the one we already reviewed as a 3, but because you don’t have to pay $5 extra for the dumb headgear, a baseline 4 is warranted here.