We’ll take another break from recent 5POA figures and review a Black Series figure from before the time Hasbro and Walmart joined forces and tried to murder the line in its sleep.  Here’s a clone trooper.  Remember when we suffered from CFD, clone fatigue disorder?  Well, it seems like Hasbro got that message, which is probably a good thing, at least for a while.  Clone Commander Doom is from the final episodes of The Clone Wars cartoon series, but we’re fortunate enough to have gotten him made in the realistic style.  Animated-styled figures were basically a non-starter for me.  I only have a handful of TCW figures, which is a shame.  And up until recently, I didn’t own any Rebels figures either.  For some reason, Hasbro decided to make realistic sculpts for Rebels figures in the 6” line, but left the one true scale with the doubly-dumbed down 5POA cartoony figures.  But, here’s one that’s done correctly.

Clone Commander Doom was the leader of a detachment of clone troopers that served under the twin Jedi Masters Tiplee and Tiplar.  He was featured in the 6th Season of lost episodes which aired on Netflix, in the story arc in which one of the clones murders Tiplar due to a malfunction in the implanted chip which was responsible for initiating Order 66.  It was actually one of my favorite arcs the whole series.  Doom and his troops were clad in armor with distinctive green markings and yellow unit insignia.  The armor coloration worn by Commander Doom himself was apparently inspired by Doctor Doom from the Marvel comics, but I would not have known that were it not for Wookieepedia, because I don’t read the funnies.  I just thought Commander Doom was one of the lamer names in the Star Wars universe, but whatever.  They could have at least had a cool spelling, like Dhoom or Dume.  Obviously Dave Filoni realized his horrible oversight, and applied a more exotic spelling to to Kanan Jarrus’s real name.

This is a pretty good figure.  It’s a quality sculpt, with a lot of detail throughout, although there’s not much that’s mind-blowing.  The helmet is similar to the style that Cody uses, with the “brow shield”.  He also has a sculpted kama.  The rest of the figure is fairly standard for clones.  He’s got 14 points of articulation, but some of those points are notable.  The wrists are of the “ball-jointed” variety, or perhaps, more accurately, a swivel/hinge combo.  This is great as it allows for subtle pose variations, particularly when holding weapons.  While that’s a positive, there are a couple of negatives as well.  The waist is a simple swivel joint, instead of the ball-jointed chest that many armored troopers have had in the past.  Also, the hips are swivel, rather than the more appropriate ball-joints, so this does hinder a lot of action poses that might otherwise be possible.  Finally, the ankles are of the type that don’t fully roll inward or outward, so again, wide leg stances are hindered because the feet can’t always stay flat and stable.  The soft plastic kama is sculpted in such a way that it allows the legs to move fairly freely, but the hips are limited anyway because they’re only swivel joints.

The paint applications are complex, with some pretty intricate markings on the kama, as well as other unit insignia, and a chest control panel.  The helmet, in particular, has a lot going on.  While the lines are not always the sharpest, the overall look is pretty striking, and Hasbro did a nice job here.  The figure comes only with two pistols, which Doom can grip tightly in each hand.  A nice touch is that both hands have separately sculpted trigger fingers.  Both pistols also fit snugly in the kama holsters.

This is a solid offering, with an interesting paint job.  I’m happy Hasbro went the realistic route with this cartoon character.  I wish they had done the same for the entire line, instead of only a select few.  Commander Doom isn’t perfect.  It would have been better if the waist/chest and hips had more advanced articulation.  Another accessory would have been preferable as well, like a blaster rifle. This figure could probably have gotten a 9 if it had these improvements.  As it stands, I’ll give the figure a generous 8.