Where to begin…  How about with the fact that if this set were full of super articulated figures, it would be among the best multipacks Hasbro has ever offered?  Instead, for all the good you might get out of this set, it is perhaps easily overshadowed by the mixture of anger and frustration you might feel because it’s a bunch of 5POA figures. Actually, most of the figures are 7POA.  But rather than rejoice over the added articulation, it just exacerbates the feeling of disappointment about what could have been.

The set, which to my knowledge was never officially announced, is a Target exclusive, and is just hitting stores right about now.  As I mentioned in our news item yesterday, I managed to score this set with the help of a Target employee pulling it from the stock room, and then successfully got 20% off the price by leveraging a poorly worded weekly flyer.  I got the set for $36.  That’s $6 a figure.  Not bad, even for the 5POA’s.  The set is a mixed bag of old an new, but they’re all troop builders (even the Han Solo, as you’ll read shortly), and make the most out of existing molds while adding essentially two new ones. 

The package has no name or title, so the community seems to have “rallied” around “Imperial Troopers Set”, which is accurate, if not inspired.  It does make sense, because the theme that binds these figures together is that they are all Imperials, although they are sourced from at least 2 different scenes in Solo.  The Patrol Trooper is from the scene on Corellia, while the other figures are sourced to Mimban.  (Even the clean stormtrooper and the TIE Fighter pilot, according to the Solo Visual Guide [Amazon Link], although I don’t personally recall seeing them in the film.)  These figures do help flesh out some of the movie scenes, should you be interested in some display space devoted to mostly 5POA figures.  Random note:  the back of the package switches the names for the Mudtrooper and the Stormtrooper (Mimban) figures.

Stormtrooper Squad Leader (Mimban):

This figure has a regular stormtrooper helmet on top of the repainted body of the Stormtrooper (Mimban) which is included in this set, but previously released in the launch wave of the basic Solo line.  It’s a sharp looking figure, with decent, yet simple, paint operations.  There is some bleeding and overspray here and there.  This figure has 7POA, including swivel wrists, and he looks great holding the included blaster.  The figure scraps the sniper rifle and cape and adds an orange sergeant pauldron.  The pauldron is removable, which gives you a basic clean stormtrooper.  I can’t vouch for the on-screen accuracy of this figure as, I’m not a stromtrooper nerd, so I will leave to others to make this judgement.  I’m actually not sure why this figure doesn’t have the blast shield like other troopers on Mimban, but I’m pretty sure Hasbro just got the idea for this figure from a production image published in the Solo Visual Guide [Amazon Link], and I’m not sure this guy was really in the film.  Either way, it’s a decent looking figure on display, with limited posability, although the sculpted pose does look nice.  The accessories and heads are interchangeable with the Stormtrooper (Mimban).  I would give this figure a 5, which is better than average for a 5POA figure.

Stormtrooper (Mimban):

You’ve seen this figure before, but it was relatively hard to find.  It would seem that most of us are very concerned about the availability of the upcoming Walmart TVC version, so this is a chance you should consider taking if you don’t have this figure already.  As mentioned above, it’s the same body as the Stormtrooper Squad Leader (Mimban), with a different helmet that sports the blast shield.  The parts are interchangeable, so you could make a squad leader with a cape, or just a dirty squad leader.  This particular sample seemed to have a bit of difficulty standing upright, so I had a decent amount of frustration doing this gallery.  I demand that my action figures stand without support.  It’s the most basic of requirements.  The figure is more or less indistinguishable from the single carded version.  It interacts pretty well with all the accessories, and looks natural pointing the rifle or blaster.  I’m not sure how thrilled I am with the general scheme, as the mud just makes the figure look like a ghoul rather than a stormtrooper.  I actually thought it was intended to be some kind of zombie trooper when I saw the initial images. Anyway, I’d give this a 5, as I did for the carded release.

Imperial Patrol Trooper

This is the only figure not based (at least loosely) on Mimban.  It’s the trooper seen jumping onto that boxy speeder to give chase to Han and Qi’ra.  Along with Moloch, Rebolt and the hound, and the M-68 speeder, it helps flesh out the whole chase scene on the streets of Coronet City.  It would be great if this figure had a speeder available to go with it, but oh well.  The Patrol Trooper is a design based on Imperial scout troopers.  It looks like a cross between the scouts and regular stormtroopers.  It’s a striking black and white design.  The figure includes a tiny, rubbery hip holster, which holds the included scout blaster a little too loosely for my tastes.  The trooper can hold the blaster fairly tightly in his hand.  This is 7POA, with wrists.  It does look great, but seems a bit strange being a part of this set which is otherwise Mimban-themed.  I really like the design, but the wimpy holsters a negative.  I’d give it a 5, because it is unique.

Han Solo (Mimban)

This is the star of the set.  Not only is it the best figure, but it can actually be a two-fer.  It’s a figure which shares the body of the Mudtrooper, also included in the set.  It has 7POA (including the wrists).  The bicep rank is red, designating the lower enlisted ranks.  The head is the distinguishing feature.  Han Solo’s face can be seen under a large mudtrooper helmet.  He has removable goggles which can rest on the front of the helmet, pull down over Han’s eyes, or be taken off completely.  Han also comes with a breath mask which can come off the face and hang forward by the two air tubes, or it can fit snugly over his face, concealing his identity.  It is because of this, that you can treat this figure as a generic mudtrooper soldier.  It’s kind of like the Han and Luke stormtrooper figures, which pass as generic troopers if you leave the helmets on, so you could army build this if you were so inclined.  The whole helmet/face/mask/goggle ensemble really works well.  The only thing I would have preferred would be for the helmet itself to come off, but it’s not a huge deal.  One complaint: the mask tends to rest forward of Han’s face, rather than hang down onto his chest, because of the stiffness of the two air hoses.  Also included is a removable poncho, which adds another display alternative.  Han comes with a rifle, which has a forward grip, so he convincingly holds it in both hands.  It’s a really good figure, at least as far as the sculpt and display options go.  I’d give this a 6, which is a very high score for a 5POA figure.

Mudtrooper

The body of this figure is the same as the Han figure mentioned above.  The difference is the generic head, which is just one solid piece, including a non-removable mask and goggles.  The figure’s weapon is similar, but does not have the forward grip.  The major distinguishing difference in the uniform is the bicep badge.  This figure has white, which according to the Solo Visual Guide [Amazon Link], indicates this is a medic.  The Guide states that Imperial medics carried rifles in order to fight non-human enemies, as their “medic oath” only applied to humans.  It would have been neat if this trooper came with some kind of medical gear, but it’s still a decent figure.  Due to the lack of removable gear on the helmet, the figure scores a generous 5, as it is a unique and desirable figure, like the Patrol Trooper.  The Han Solo version is much better.

TIE Fighter Pilot

This figure is identical in sculpt (with a slightly blacker black paint application) than the pilot that was just released with the break-apart TIE Fighter.  The figure is sharp looking, but there is nothing new nor particularly exciting.  It gets a 4.

Overall

Overall it’s a nice set of troop builders.  5 of the figures interact with the Force Link 2.0 gauntlet, but the clean stormtrooper gives the dreaded “Firmware Updated Required” feedback.  Some of this set is new, and while some of it is rehashed, this is done well, for the most part.  The cost of $45 is decent, but $36 on sale is very good.  I would recommend the set in a general sense, but it’s hard to get over the 5POA-ness of the figures.  It just makes me sad and disappointed that these figures do not exist in super-articulated form.  If this was a TVC set, it would instantly be a fan favorite, and would flying off the shelves for double this price.  I’m going to give the overall set a 6, a high score for a bunch of 5POA figures, because of the concept of packing these army builder characters together, and for the slight discount (even at full MSRP).  If you liked Solo, you may have to get this set, even if you don’t like 5POA.