Battlefront II, not to be confused with Battlefront II, was one of the great entries in the long history of Star Wars themed video games.  The 2005 game put you in the armor of a member of the 501st Legion as you participated in battles during the Clone Wars for the Republic, and then later as a stormtrooper in the Galactic Empire.  The game was a classic, and inspired many figures and toys in the Hasbro line.  In the game, there was an engineer class of playable characters, and each faction had a different playable version.  This figure is based on the Engineer as it was for the Imperial faction.

Wave 3 was a repaint wave, and we’ve covered a couple of the figures already.  BD17 Clone Trooper Coruscant Landing Platform) and BD20 Saleucami Clone Trooper were the two clone troopers in the wave.  Here we take a look at another clone, from a certain point of view.  The Imperial Engineer is based on a video game, but the figure itself is a repaint of the TSC 041 Death Star Gunner.. You can read Chris’s review from 2014, when he used to do such things during the Long Winter at Bantha Skull.  That figure used a clone headsculpt, something that seemed to bother a lot of fans of the OT.  Some clones were serving in the Empire during the time of the OT before they were completely phased out. 

We get a very simple repaint here. The only significant difference beyond the typical minor variations due to time/factories is that the jumpsuit is now grey instead of black.  Well, it seems, at least according to Chris’s sample from his review in 2014, this guy got his eyebrows that were missing from the Death Star Gunner.  That’s it.  Otherwise, it’s the same.  And while a pretty good figure for a 2006 mold, it’s definitely aged not so great at this point.  The figure has swivel elbows and no ankles.  Those 2 joints are enough to drop the figure below our baseline of 7 for a collector grade action figure. 

The removable helmet is loose, although the Imperial logo is nicely done.  The removable chest armor is also of questionable value.  Not really sure what the point is.  Chris actually goes into some detail about this in the aforementioned TSC review, so check that out.  Nevertheless, I’d prefer it just be sculpted as part of the torso, but I guess it does give some display options.  While this is a video game figure, it certainly goes well in any Death Star setup you might have that is populated with various Imperials. The blaster is standard issue, although the coloring is more metallic than the typical black.  One oddity is that the holster is sculpted in such a way that the blaster can only be stowed with the grip facing forward, so it appears to be backwards.  It’s a strange choice by Hasbro to do this, but it is what it is.

6/10 is the best we can do, given the issues with articulation.  It’s otherwise a nice looking figure, and works well for OT diorama fodder.  We know that Hasbro is about to issue a new Imperial Gunner figure which will likely obliterate this one, although it is specifically sourced to Rogue One.  For some reason, the costume was slightly different, even though these same gunners appear like a couple of days later in A New Hope.  We’ll pick on those details when that figure arrives, and most of us will probably not care that it’s specific to RO, and will be satisfied that it will serve as an ANH figure.  Or maybe not, because collectors are insane. 

From the video game straight onto your shelf.

Build-A-Droid 

Imperial Engineer (first release) contains the left arm for 5D6-RA-7, who could be seen walking by the disguised Luke and Han as they escorted their Wookiee prisoner to the detention level aboard the Death Star.  Source:  A New Hope.

OR

Imperial Engineer (carry forward 1) contains the right leg for U-3PO, who was on board the Tantive IV as it was attacked by Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer.  Source:  A New Hope.