First, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way before delving too deeply into this review.  Yes, I had to use Starkiller as a stand in due to our current state of Cal Kestis-less-ness.  If figured that Starkiller was a roughly era-appropriate video game Force user.  I also used the double bladed yellow light saber from Bastila Shan because I have never seen a yellow sabered Starkiller, and quite frankly, Ms. Lippy, I wanted to see one.  Now that that has been established, we can move on to more pressing business.

One of our big sticking points when judging figures here at the Skull of Bantha is whether or not the figure does its “job.”  That job determines the requirements and expectations placed on the figure.  If Hasbro ever revisited General Madine, the expectations are completely different compared to, say, Ki-Adi-Mundi.  On the former, outstanding aesthetics can influence the evaluation more than the utility since the character largely just stands there.  The latter better darn well do all the stuff that Jedi do. I don’t mean that literally.  It’s okay if a Ki-Adi-Mundi figure can’t use the Force.  I don’t think Hasbro could bake in Force capabilities at the current price point, but it needs to be able to strike all manner of dynamic sword dueling poses.

With that in mind, if this Scout Trooper’s job was to ride a Speeder Bike, I might consider it passable, but that’s not what the character does in Jedi Fallen Order.  In the game, they don’t ride bikes.  They use electro-batons to engage in melee combat with Mr. Kestis. As a melee weapon duelist, this aged Scout Trooper isn’t great for a lot of reasons.  Let’s start with the horse straddling stance.  I can’t tell you how many times I tried to engage a thigh swivel joint that wasn’t there in an attempt remedy the appearance that the Scout Trooper was walking around a keg. This wonky straddle stance also makes balancing the figure in dynamic fighting crouches difficult.

Next up, the hands are purpose sculpted to grip the bike’s handles, and traditional Scout Trooper blaster, which is frustratingly not included.  Hasbro, if you want to ditch the blaster because they didn’t use one in the game, you also need to retool the ankle to ditch the holster.  No one wears a holster as a fashion accessory. 

UPDATE:  As noted by Matthew Cohen in the comments, the empty holster is game accurate.  Well spank my fanny and call me Shirley.  Mea culpa, Hasbro.

But back to the grip, the purpose/sculpted hands are ill-equipped for securely grasping a baton.  Finally, as a sculpt that dates from 2006, the joints don’t have terrific ranges of motion.  This is particularly noticeable with the elbows.  Again, they are sufficient for getting the hands in position to grasp some handlebars, but that’s not what this rendition of the Scout Trooper needs to do.  The Fallen Order version employ some two handed slashing attacks with the baton.  Good luck to you if you want to get this figure in that pose.

On a side note, Hasbro, please do not think this sculpt is good enough to use for the O96 Scout Trooper.  It is not.  We need a Scout Trooper with modern articulation.  I’m going to be severely disappointed if we see this figure on a Walmart LFL 50th card.  Good enough should not be the bar for making the O96 Biker Scout.

There are some positives, though.  Hasbro corrected the mismatched joint issue that plagued this figure’s predecessor, which was first released with the 2012 Speeder Bike and later re-released in the Black Series 3.75” line as #07 - Biker Scout.  Hasbro also tooled up the game-accurate harness.  It looks like it’s removable, but I’m invoking the nomadscout exemption.  I’m not going to risk breaking my figures to prove it.  Break your own figure, lazy.

I really want to give this figure a six, which is probably a little too harsh, but that’s where my heart is.  My head is going to give this a 7 out of 10.