The Saga Collection

VTSC

Imperial Stormtrooper
(Hoth Battle Gear)

Info and Stats
Year:  
2007
MSRP:  
$9.99
Definitive Status:  
Needs Resculpt
 
The sculpt is irredeemable. It will take an all new sculpt to make a definitive version of this item.
Grade:  
5/10 Bantha Skulls
 
* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
Review by: Chris
Review date: 10/31/2024

If you are reading this on the date of publication, Happy Halloween!  The Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear), a.k.a. Snowtrooper, kind of looks like a ghost, so it’s somewhat fitting.  And in case anyone was confused when they saw this review published to the front page, no, this is not that Snowtrooper.  This is the old one from 2007 that demanded an upgrade.  If you reading this at a later date, a new Vintage Collection Snowtrooper was revealed the week prior to this writing.  It’s been a huge hit having sold out on both Hasbro Pulse and Amazon.  So it seemed fitting to review the “old Snowtrooper” to see why a new one was necessary, and also why the demand for the new one is off the charts.

Have you ever broken off acquaintances with someone, and you get to tell them how you really feel?  You can tell them that you never really liked them.  Maybe, it was an annoying coworker, who, for the sake off office harmony, you tolerated.  But then you get a new job, and on your last day you can finally drop the pretense.  It feels good, doesn’t it?  Well that describes my relationship with the 2007 Vintage The Saga Collection Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear).  I never really liked it.  I merely tolerated it for the sake of my collection.  This isn’t to be overly critical of the Hasbro brand team circa the late aughts.  This was pretty much the best action figure technology could provide in 2007.  The problem is that when it comes to this figure, it can’t really do the Snowtrooper-y things I want it to do.

We’ll start with the fact that ball jointed hips weren’t widely employed in 2007.  That type of articulation wouldn’t become the norm until the red boxed 3.75” Black Series figures in 2016.  Swivel hips immediately eliminates any sort of dynamic posing on this Snowtrooper.  This is further exacerbated by the lack of rocker ankles, and poor range of motion at the knees.  This can be frustrating since all of the articulation is ostensibly there, but the only pose at which this figure is truly effective is a straight legged neutral pose.  Oh, but the sculpt prevents a truly neutral pose as it adopts a bizarre wide-legged posture.  Any sort of dynamic leg stance require the dreaded “kickstand leg”, which is aesthetically jarring, or balancing one foot on its toes, which isn’t practical for display.  Not for very long anyway.  Merely staring at the figure too hard will cause it to topple in that pose.

The arms are no better.  The shoulder joints are massive as is the distance between the ratchets.  The elbows don’t even bend to ninety degrees. These two factors severely limit the two-handed-weapon grip options with the included flimsy E-11 blaster, but they are not the most problematic issue. It’s the hands, man, the hands.  They are obviously not hinged, as that was another advent that was almost a decade away, but the off-hand is also sculpted in a somewhat unforgiving pose.  Given the articulation limitations, it can be difficult to align the grip angle of the off-hand with the angle of the barrel of the E-11.  The end result is that the blaster ends up getting bent in a mild c-shape.  That drives me crazy.  In fact, it’s why I never redeployed my Snowtrooper army after moving in 2020.

One thing that drove some fans nuts about this release is the removable helmet which reveals a clone head underneath.  The fact that Hasbro made all the OT troopers clones really irked some collectors.  I found this a little silly because that is easily remedied by simply not removing the helmet.  In fact, I never want to display a Snowtrooper sans helmet, so that makes this feature completely wasted on me.  Hasbro probably would have been better served spending the engineering dollars elsewhere.  The bottom line on this figure is that the technology Hasbro had access to at the time simply wasn’t ready for a Snowtrooper figure.  It is now, and that’s probably why fans have been preordering the new one like crazy.  They’re still available to preorder on Entertainment Earth HERE (sponsored).  If you haven’t grabbed a couple yet, I suggest you do.

* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
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