After a deep investigation into the concept art, after viewing hundreds of hours of archival footage, and after interviewing dozens of eyewitnesses, we have determined, beyond doubt, that the source of the real-world inspiration for the Range Trooper’s design is a Jets quaterback.  No, it’s not Mark Sanchez, Browning Nagle, or even Flash Gordon…

It must be intuitively obvious, even to the most casual observer, that Broadway Joe Namath was the model for the Range Trooper.

Inspiration for the Range Trooper.

Henceforth and forever, shall this trooper be known as The Namath Trooper! 

I could end the review right there.  But what fun would that be?  Maybe more fun than the rest of the review.  Well, here we go anyway.

Whether you accept the origins of this character, or you choose to believe the Earth is flat, it was definitely an intriguing design when first revealed.  For the launch of the Solo toys, this character was released in 5POA and 6” form, and is also due out in The Vintage Collection.  While I have seen plenty of 6” samples at various stores, this 3.75” was trickier to find, even though you would think many collectors would pass and wait for the TVC version.  So how well did the 5POA figure turn out?

It looks great.  The sculpt is incredible, even without having seen the film yet.  The detailing is tremendous.  Besides the helmet being similar to the fan-favorite Scarif Storm Trooper, the other stand-out part of the trooper’s loadout is the pair of giant mech-boots.  After much complaining by snap-judgy fans when the first glimpses of the trooper could be found in the Solo trailer, a little patience explains that the boots are magnetic and are vital to the Range Troopers’ ability to maintain combat posture while riding a twisting and rotating monorail.  Suddenly, these same fans oohed and aahed their understanding and approval of the design.  As for the figure, despite the beautiful sculpt, the boots on my sample are surprisingly and ironically cause for the figure to have some bit of difficulty standing with sturdiness.  The boot soles just aren’t shaped perfectly enough, and the figure wobbles a bit and needs a little work to stand without tipping over.  Nonsense! 

The figure also comes with a Namath-tastic fur coat, which has an outstanding level of sculpting detail and texture.  The material is a soft and flexible rubber, but nevertheless, the figure’s legs are not very rangy.  This, of course, is probably fine since without knees or ankles, the figure can’t do much but stand there anyway.  The arms are able to do the 5POA standard extended arm blaster aim.  The paint applications are simple but effective on the armor and the helmet.

The figure’s left hand is sculpted perfectly to accept and firmly grip the included blaster.  It is also Force Link 2.0 capable, however, as of this writing, the Force Link activator is not yet updated with proper firmware from Hasbro in order to determine the phrases and sounds, so you’ll just have to check back again in the near future.  And why wouldn’t you want to?  You are drawn to the Namath Trooper!

So while the figure’s sculpt is tremendous, and worthy of a 2 point positive swing, the surprisingly wobbly feet knock it back down a peg.  We’ll settle on an above average 5POA score of 5.