Recently we reviewed 03-50 Clone Trooper*, which represents one of the most important advancements in Star Wars action figure technology, with its outstanding never-before-seen super-articulation and awesome sculpt.  There was one glaring problem. The figure was almost impossible to find, let alone army build.  Many tried and failed to add this remarkable effort to their collections.  This caused great grief in the community, and this period later became known as the Era of Despair.**  The various other clone trooper figures that were available in stores were grossly under articulated compared to 03-50, and while they served well to season*** your dioramas, Hasbro needed to make the super-articulated version in much greater numbers.

Like a White Knight, in stepped Entertainment Earth (Sponsored).  Along with Hasbro, they took the world-shattering 03-50 sculpt, and went to work.  First, the one known gripe with the 03-50 sculpt was addressed,**** as this version included holes in the feet to accommodate the pegs on various vehicles and playlets.  For whatever reason, this was omitted from the individually released clone in 2003. 

More importantly, The 4-packs came in four versions:  (1) all while and clean troopers,(2) all white and battle damaged troopers, (3) 4 colors and clean troopers, and (4) 4 colors and battle damaged troopers.  The colors gave you yellow (commander), red (captain), blue (lieutenant), and green (sergeant).  Hasbro opted to call these last two sets “colored”, which sadly sounds like something my grandfather might have called Lando Calriassian.  I prefer “leaders”, or something more specific, but what can you do. 

The battle damage consisted of two (sort of) randomly placed blast marks, one each on the upper and lower body of each figure.  If you got all 4 sets, you had yourself an instant super-posable army of various Clone Troopers.  It wasn’t cheap, though.  Each package of 4 set you back $34.99, which was $8.75 per figure.  That was quite high during the “POTC” run in 2005, even after basic figures were hiked up two dollars to $6.99.  But at the time, fans couldn’t get enough clones.  And that clone love shot up to new heights with the Phase 2 armor from ROTS, when each clone wore markings designating their respective units.  It was craziness.  But not as crazy as today, where these sets will run you 2-3 times the MSRP on the secondary market.*****

These clones still hold up very well today, and it’s a matter of preference whether this sculpt or the more modern TVC “skinny” sculpt is better.  This figure gets a 7, which is great for a 17 year old sculpt.

*Bantha Skull is fully expecting a Pulitzer for this review, but when we get it, we’ll be sure to act surprised and be humble.
**No it wasn’t.
***I made this term up myself.  Just like “THWG.”  I will not argue this, despite what “sam” (if that’s his real name) may say.
****Another problem was discovered later, that the 03-50 clone was susceptible to yellowing.  This was eventually addressed with better plastic when the figure was re-issued several times in later lines with the “Saga Legends” label.
*****There’s no reason for this note.  But since you’re here, how about the Michael Jordan docuseries, eh?.