This figure uses the venerable #41 ROTS Clone Trooper mold.  Is it perfect?  No.  It lacks the full suite of modern articulation (no ball jointed hips and wrists).  The hands are a bit unforgiving.  It’s got the slot in the back for the comms antenna, which wasn’t as common of an accessory as Hasbro would lead us to believe. 

But it’s still probably the best overall clone trooper sculpt in the line, or at least it gives the newer “skinny” clone mold (first used for VC45) a run for its money.  Chris likes this mold more than I do, but I will admit that over time it has grown on me a bit.  Maybe because I’m resigned to defeat as Hasbro is apparently all in on the skinny sculpt.  They seem to be hell bent on updating all the main clone troopers from AOTC and ROTS with it.  Although potentially more screen accurate to the CGI clones, I just feel the skinny armor doesn’t leave room for the flesh and blood of a realistically proportioned human inside the suit.  But such is life.

This sculpt, despite the minor negatives already mentioned, has been a great clone base template since it debuted in 2005.  The figure is well proportioned, well articualated, and easy to pose.  The figure can provide a varied array of looks for your Utapau dioramas. 

This Clone Trooper is far better than the poorly executed VC38 Clone Trooper (212th Battalion).  This is also the same sculpt as the variant that came in the 2009 “Routine Valor” comic 2-pack (remember those?), but that one has an off color orange, and lacks the carbon scoring details of the others.  It’s left up to the eye of the beholder as to which is better, this or TVC2 212th Battalion Clone Trooper.  Again, I prefer this sculpt as far as aesthetics, but the TVC2 figure has more articulation, includes a removable helmet, and ditches the antenna.

Whatever your preferences, this is a solid figure, and still deserves a prominent position in your 212th Clone displays.  It continues to give nice depth to the 212th clones that Hasbro has offered over the years. It gets a very respectable 7/10.