Editor’s note:  This gallery and review has been updated with images and text for VC162A Sith Trooper Armory Pack.

VC162 - 11/11/19:

As with the recently reviewed VC159 Sith Jet Trooper there is nothing really to complain about with regard to the figure itself.  I’m no hater of the new media by any stretch, and yet there’s just something here that doesn’t strike my interest as much as OT Stormtrooper.  Again, this figure, is, for all intents and purposes of this review, nearly identical to the VC140 Imperial Stormtrooper in construction.  The articulation is essentially identical.  The posability is essentially identical.  The desire to army build…should be identical. But it isn’t, at least for me. 

Now, there are a few things about this figure that separate it (for better or for worse) from VC140 as an action figure.  The range of motion of some of the joints is not quite as much as that of the OT stormtrooper.  I found that the hip/thigh articulation was marginally limited, and a bit difficult to engage.  The shoulders are also a bit hindered by the sculpt, particularly as caused by the doo-dad on the right shoulder.  It may be screen accurate, and that’s fine, but it does reduce the posability just slightly. 

Like the stormtrooper, the figure’s biggest flaw is that it lacks rocker ankles.  It may not be fair to use this as a negative, since it’s such a rare feature in the 3.75” line.  But it’s absolutely vital to the realistic posability for dynamic figures like troopers and Force users.  Few figures cry out for rocker ankles as much as VC140, VC159, and now this VC162.

Where this does have a slight advantage over the OT stormtrooper is that it comes with 2 weapons.  Sadly, the hands don’t work as well with the included accessories as one would hope.  The smaller blaster, besides not being able to be held perfectly by the figure, also fails to fit snugly into the hip slot.  It fits, but doesn’t stay well.  It was good enough for the picture in the gallery here, but it fell out all too easily.  The larger hand cannon isn’t conducive to being aimed in a firing position in any way that I could figure out.  You might tease the cannon to kind of rest in the figures arms as a cheat, but he by no means is able to grip it properly.  Interestingly, I had the same problem when I reviewed the Sixer version of the character.  It came with the same giant cannon, which did not interact well with that scale either.

One thing that I noticed about this figure - and it seems to be a 50/50 proposition with new offerings from Hasbro:  the articulation points are frighteningly difficult to engage out of the package.  It’s almost like they are frozen in place from the manufacturing process, and you really have to work them to get the to move.  Every time I do this, I feel that there’s an awfully good shot at me snapping them right off.  It’s very stressful.  They don’t make ‘em like they used to, eh?  Well, of course we don’t want them to make clunky figures with limited articulation like they used to many years ago, but there has to be some better way to manufacture these things without consumers living in perpetual fear of breaking their $13 purchase 12 seconds after freeing it from the package.  Maybe it’s just me, but I feel this is a concern.

Anyway, other than the questionable appeal of the ST-sourced figures (which I feel is Disney’s fault for pushing Hasbro into a direction over the past 4 years that has not allowed them to produce ST figures in wide enough varieties), it’s an outstanding offering.  It’s hard to judge the “definitive” status of this, but I’ll assume it’s pretty darn close.  As with the Jet Trooper, I’ll give it a reluctant 9/10.

UPDATE:  VC162A - 11/17/19:

We’ve added a few shots of the Amazon Exclusive Sith Trooper Armory Pack.  As has been discussed, I think we all hope that the Sith Troopers have some kind of important role in The Rise of Skywalker, because all the hype for these guys will come to naught if they end up being left on the cutting room floor.

The figure is the same exact one as VC162, but VC162A comes with 3 additional weapons, and retails for $17.99, $5 more than the base figure.  I like the idea of more accessories, but not $5 for 3 guns.  If Hasbro could figure out a way to offer substantial accessories (weapons, helmets, pauldrons, swappable heads, environmental pieces) for purchase separately, I think people would buy them, but the value just isn’t there in this pack.