It has a Sandtrooper belt!  It has a Sandtrooper belt!  Hasbro made a Sandtrooper belt for the 3 3/4” line in the Clone Trooper to Stormtrooper evolution set.  They then proceeded to issue almost all subsequent Sandtroopers with the VOTC Stormtrooper belt.  When Jedi Temple Archives asked them about this (can’t find the link), Hasbro acted like they didn’t know there was a difference.  Clearly they did know as evidenced by the aforementioned Evolution set and now this Sandtrooper.  Stormtrooper belts have small white pouches in front of the hips covering the armor gap.  Sandtroopers have large black pouches on the side of the hips.  Check.

Sandtoopers feature a diamond shaped “sniper” kneeplate.  Check.  Stormtroopers have rectangular boxes on the ab plate with colored buttons.  Sandtroopers have a blank ab plate.  Check.  The are other minor differences that you can read about on the Standtooper aficionado site Look Sir Droids.  Check check checkity check check.  Hasbro absolutely did their homework and delivered the distinct Sandtrooper and not simply a dirty Stormtrooper. 

In the 3 3/4” scale the black pouches on the Sandtrooper’s upper torso are attached to the pauldron.  In reality, these pouches are attached to the shoulder.  The 6” scale tries to get a little more accurate by having these pouches plug into the back pack and hang in front of the Sandtrooper via a thin black strip of plastic.  I don’t feel this fully works.  Instead of looking like they’re attached to the shoulder, the pouches often look like they’re floating somewhere in front of the figure like a magic trick.  Or they’re rising up and hitting the figure in the mouth like Bill Hader’s microphone.  It also takes some work to make the black strip to which they’re attached not so obvious.  I would have preferred that the pouches plugged directly into the shoulder.  And then would be complaining about the peg hole in the shoulder.  Poor Hasbro can’t win.

Instead of the familiar ball jointed elbows, the Sandtrooper sports double hinged elbows.  Ball jointed elbows often stop the arm flexing at 90 degrees or there about.  Double hinged elbows allow the arm to flex more completely.  This greater degree of flexing is handy for posing figures with rifles, but the elbows do not rotate laterally.  That lateral articulation then has to be transferred to a swivel joint in the upper arm which in this case lies right at the bottom of the shoulder armor.  This is limiting in other areas.  One of the most iconic shots of the Santroopers is the scene where three Sandtroopers ominously march towards Docking Bay 94 (if by reading that you can hear the John Williams score, you’re a good fan and can be my friend).  In that shot, the lead Sandtrooper is carrying the T-21 light repeating blaster pinned against his torso.  This figure cannot achieve that pose due to the type of arm articulation being employed. 

The back pack, while detailed, is heavy.  It has the affect of pulling the figure over backwards in some poses.  The other two humanoid figures from the launch wave stand so assuredly that they are less likely to fall down than a Weeble.  Equipped with the backpack, the Sandtrooper is under an ever present threat of toppling particularly in more dynamic poses. Also, posing those other figures was effortless.  They flow from one dynamic pose to another and are genuinely fun to pose.  Posing the Sandtooper is more of an argument. 

I don’t know what to make of the wash on the figure.  Instead of looking weathered and dirty, it looks like some punk was speedin’ around in his landspeeder and splashed a mud puddle on the poor squad leader.  But that’s just silly because the only form of precipitation on Tatooine is sand.  There are some complete holidays of the wash on the helmet which appear a bit jarring instead of the natural gradient that would result from a universally applied wash.  Overall I just can’t gush about the figure, but do appreciate the efforts towards accuracy and the inclusion of most Sandtrooper weapons.  It’s a nice figure, but not nearing perfection.  It gets a respectable, but not stellar 7 out of 10.  If you’re going to buy one figure form this wave, buy Darth Maul.  It’s outstanding.

7/10 Bantha Skulls