I was never into the whole “shadow” thing that Hasbro introduced into the line.  I know that some of the characters were inspired by actual EU sources, but I think they took it way too far in an attempt to produce inexpensive repaints.  In the grand scheme of things, if it helped Hasbro’s bottom line for 3.75” Star Wars and led the way towards other new figures, then I’m fine with it, even if these shadow figures themselves can be uninspiring.  We had shadow stormtroopers. clonetroopers, ARC troopers, scout troopers, Royal Guards…even some ships were given the repaint treatment.  It was all a bit much.  I did think the Imperial Death Trooper was a cool design, but that character seemed to exist for the purpose of inspiring terror, rather than being stealthy.

In the old EU, we had the Shadow Stormtrooper. But this concept was used in The Force Unleashed video game for troopers that could phase in and out of the visible spectrum.  Those troopers weren’t actually black.  Hasbro released an “unphased” version, as well as a transparent “phased” version to simulate invisibility.  The Black Hole Stormtrooper, which was almost black, was a different EU concept that was produced as an action figure in a comic pack.  That was more of a metallic charcoal gray than black.

Collectors should know by know that Hasbro must continue to maximize profits based on existing tooling, so we should expect more repaints and repacks, especially of newer molds, when possible.  With the recently released VC140 Imperial Stormtrooper. Hasbro pretty much perfected (for now) the iconic trooper.  It’s to be expected that this very well-received figure be repurposed in other ways to help sustain the line. The more successful these are, the more likely Hasbro will be able to spend resources on tooling something new, like General Antoc Merrick (Blue Leader), or a new Emperor, or a new Cantina denizen.  So already, we have 2 new figures based on VC140.  In addition to the recently announced Remnant Stormtrooper from The Mandalorian, we also get this, the Shadow Stormtrooper.

As a figure, it’s obviously awesome.  Every great thing we said about VC140 holds true here.  The sculpt, articulation, paint (what there is of it), and the near perfect interactivity with the included accessories is excellent.  Your mileage may vary, but as I’ve lamented, I found the joints to stick a bit out of the package, and it takes some nervous effort to get them to engage.  That seems to hold true for many recent TVC figures.  There are two aspects fo the figure that may make this repaint slightly better than the original figure.  The “missing” holster from the Rogue One Stormtrooper isn’t really an issue with the Shadow Stormtrooper, since “screen accuracy” is obviously not a concern.  But more importantly, this comes with three accessories: a standard blaster, as a long rifle, and the shoulder pauldron.  The hands can grip either weapon snugly and convincingly, which is just terrific, especially after the frustration experienced with the VC162 Sith Trooper.

But as with that Sith Trooper, I am personally not particularly enamored with the whole shadow thing, so this release is much less exciting to me than was VC140, and less exciting than I am as I look forward to the weathered repaint that is the Remnant Stormtrooper.  While the source material is kind of just…meh, the figure itself is a high 9/10.  If we were to draw it out a few decimal places, it might objectively be better (because of the extra accessories, and the less annoying lack of holster) than VC140.  It’s a cool enough looking figure, I just don’t know where it belongs in my displays, so I’m not interested in buying more than a couple.