Stormtrooper (Mimban) is Hasbro’s latest attempt at a 5POA (or is it?) army builder.  They got some things right, and they got others wrong.  While not as sexy as the Namath Trooper, it is immediately recognizable as a good old fashioned OT-styled stormtrooper plus some stuff.

We know that Lucasfilm recycles ideas that may have originated in the EU, old scripts, or George’s notes.  Here we take quite a circuitious route to get to the planet on which this trooper is stationed.  Mimban was first mentioned in Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, which is notable because it was the first novel in what became known as the Expanded Universe.  The novel was apparently authorized by Lucas for the purposes of creating a cheap sequel if Episode IV underwhelmed at the box office.  Lucas previously referred to a “bog planet,” which became Mimban in the novel.  After A New Hope narrowly edged out expectations, Lucas used Mimban as the basis for Dagobah in the actual sequel, known to many as The Empre Strikes Back.  Mimban was much later mentioned in an early episode of The Clone Wars.  However, Mimban was then wiped from the official records when Disney scrapped the EU in 2014.  It was again dusted off in early scripts for Rogue One, although in the end, the “bogginess” was changed to desert, and the name to Jedha.  Mimban was then resurrected for real for Solo, and is now, once again, part of Star Wars canon.

Mimban troopers come in several configurations.  Topps trading cards give some good looks here, here, and here.  This particular figure sports a poncho, a sculpted visor, and two weapons.  As you can see from the Topps images, these troopers’ load outs varied, to include pauldrons, bandoliers, and backpacks.

As for the figure, the most striking thing about it is that it’s basically a stormtrooper.  And what Star Wars fan doesn’t love stormtroopers?  The second most striking thing is that the figure’s arms come pre-posed in a way that facilitates the vaunted THWG.  And to add to the magic, Hasbro even thought to include swivel wrists (7POA!).  The THWG pose is a thing of beauty.  Of course, it doesn’t do much else, but it’s still much better than a straight-armed trooper.  The figure can perform a THWG on either of the weapons that accessorize it.  There’s a familiar blaster, and a new long-barreled rifle.  Each look great when held by the figure.  The poncho fits well, and doesn’t hinder the THWG in any way.  One note on the stormtrooper sculpt itself:  Mimban troopers apparently don flip-down visors, or blast shields.  In the case of this figure, the visor is sculpted on the helmet in the “up” position.  It remains to be seen if the visor sees any action during the film. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of the figure is the paint applications.  Obviously the trooper is going to get very dirty while patrolling a bog planet.  However, there’s something off about the paint applications here.  They almost wash out the details on the sculpt itself.  Other than the eyes and chin, there’s almost no…personality… to this figure.  It kind of just looks like a muddy ghost trooper.  Actually, when you take the weapons out of the figure’s hands he kind of looks like he’s doing a zombie attack.  It’s strange, and hard to describe.  Perhaps the pictures do it enough justice.  I’m not sure I like it, but I’m hopeful seeing the film will convince me that Hasbro did it right.

There’s an upcoming Vintage Collection figure which we saw at the recent New York Toy Fair.  We know the cape is soft goods, and both of these weapons are included.  Not sure if the visor is articulated.

If you can find this figure, consider grabbing one.  They’re not the easiest to find in the initial Solo wave, or you could hold out and hope for the TVC version.  In the meantime, despite the strange mud paint, the THWG and accessories make this a better than average budget figure.  I’ll give it a 5.