We knew this was coming.  The state of TVC at this point seems that its survival is based on the the efficient use and repeated re-use of tooling.  Hasbro has gone absolutely nuts on Mandalorians (and continues to do so, with THREE Mandos in the currently shipping wave.  They created an Imperial Officer figure, and gave us four carded characters in the span of 32 numbered releases along with a 4 pack, and they’re probably far from being done.  We have 9 ARC Troopers based on a new sculpt.  And we have some large number of stormtroopers (I lost count) in TVC 2.0, with a few (important) tweaks to the ankles and holsters along the way.  So it was inevitable that clones were going to get some new tooling love, knowing that there are almost endless repaints that can be released in the coming years. 

The frustrating thing, as I’ve mentioned before, is that Hasbro continued to pump out repaints of the VC45 Clone, even as they had pipelined the new sculpt.  It’s been discussed ad nauseum, but after some waffling over the years, I had finally landed firmly on the side of hate when it came to the nonsensically anorexic clone sculpt.  So in that sense, I’m glad it’s finally dead.  As our resident curmudgeon, CJ, recently commented with regard to the similarly hated/liked/hated/liked/hated VC06 C-3PO, the VC45 tooling needs to be fired into the sun.  Personally, I’m glad I didn’t burn too much cash on army building that mold.  I did buy a case of the 332nd Ahsoka Clones, but I ended up cancelling 2 cases of the 501st, because it just sucked.  Anyway, I wish Hasbro had cut ties with that thing long before the last 4-5 repaints.

But here we are.  I’ve already reviewed VC269 Clone Trooper (Phase II), and this figure is nearly identical except for the helmet a paint detail or two.  I will note that even though I’m not a carded collector, I often find Hasbro’s naming logic to be strange and upsetting.  Why is VC269 called Clone Trooper (Phase II), but this one is called VC309 Phase I Clone Trooper.  I don’t get it.  On a positive note, while I don’t collect the cards, I do appreciate that this figure is sourced to AOTC.  I love Andor, but I felt VC269 should have been sourced to ROTS, even if their brief appearance on board a gunship carrying Yoda, Mace, and Obi-Wan was allegedly due to a CGI coloring error (they were supposed to be the grey patterned 41st).

The main complaint many collectors had with the Phase II helmet was that it was shaped and styled in a way that seemed to invoke the animated style, or at least some slight (probably unintentional) differences with the Andor costume when compared to the CGI version in ROTS.  This time, we get a Phase I helmet, but it has its own flaws.  It looks to be modeled after the film, but it just misses the mark a bit.  It’s a little too wide.  As has been discussed a million times, Hasbro really needs to ditch separate helmets, and just go for a full secondary headsculpt.  I could be simplifying things, but it appears to me that there is little to no cost difference in tooling a wearable helmet versus including a switch out helmet.  I sincerely hope Hasbro is putting an end to this practice.  It’s just too frustrating and can ruin an otherwise awesome figure.  And if you try to articulate the head to look even slightly upwards, we see the return of the dreaded “chin peeker.”  You have to resort to the age-old practice of performing an exorcism and rotating the head 180 degrees to keep the chin hidden safely from view. 

Aside from the helmet, there are a few paint tweaks.  Thankfully Hasbro got rid of the unsightly black date stamp on the right thigh, in favor of a less intrusive silver date stamp.  Also, the soles are grey instead of black.

So while most collectors are “cloned out”, my fatigue is tempered by how much better this sculpt is than VC45, and while I’m certainly not interested in deep cut / off screen clone variants, I don’t mind getting the four Phase I Clone officers/NCO’s, nor a few more key updates to units like 501st, 332nd, 212th, and 327th.  I’d also like to see an update to the Airborne trooper and the ARF trooper.

It’s a great figure, and earns a 9/10.  A switch out helmet with a better sculpt could have given it a 10/10.