Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with our second look at TVC…

Original Review:  Bret - 09/04/10 01:52 PM

Not bad, but not worth upgrading to.  This figure is really a repaint of the Star Corps clone that came with the Gelagrub, minus the 327th colors, pauldron, and skirt.  It boasts a removable helmet and ball jointed hips.  It’s okay, but the hips don’t have a great range of motion, and the soft removable helmet looks deformed. 

Not much to say beyond the pictures above. I’d say pick one or two up, but this isn’t going to require you army builders to replace the loads of #41 sculpt you probably already have.  I’d like to see better hips, ball jointed wrists, and either a better plastic for the removable helmet, or just a permanent helmet.  Score it a 7/10.

Updated Review:  Bret - 7/21/2018 07:05 AM

This might be one of the duller figures in the entire TVC run to date.  To start, it’s an all white clone, which garnered approximately 5 frames of screen time in the background.  Yet Hasbro seems to love the all white Phase II clone, making no less that 823 different releases of this figure.  (That number is an approximation, and the real number might be significantly less.). So for TVC, Hasbro released it again, this time with a recently developed sculpt that includes ball jointed hips.  This is one of the biggest aspects missing from most clone trooper figures prior to this time.  However, it is maddening that the ball jointed hips are relatively useless in their range of motion.  It’s better than swivel hips, but honestly, not by much.  It just wasn’t executed to the fullest possible extent.  Also missing from this TVC release are upgraded ball jointed wrists.  These points really diminish the posability of the figure, even though it’s very slightly improved over earlier versions.

Hasbro included yet another removable helmet.  Besides being made of too soft plastic that is prone to discoloration, the helmet, as usual, also looks way too bulky.  I get that some clones removed their helmets in the film, and it was very common for them to do so in the cartoons, but as far as action figure aesthetics, it’s generally a bad call.  Hasbro should leave the helmets alone, and only consider adding an alternate head.  The figure includes the DC-15 blaster, which it grips well, including using the floating trigger finger.  The figure has decent, yet very simple paint applications, but they could definitely be sharper.  My sample has a bit of difficulty standing up straight and at attention.  It has a slight lean, which is annoying.  Finally, this trooper is completely clean.  That’s fine.  Sometimes the repetitive battle damage messes with your armies.  Clones look alike, but they don’t all get armor scrapes and carbon scoring in the same exact places.  That’s scientific fact.

The figure is a bit of a bore.  It adds very little to your existing clone armies, so even if you wanted a bunch of clean white clones, you might be satisfied with what you already have.  The figure needs modern articulation and a non-removable helmet.  Hasbro did make an updated clone trooper body later on in TVC (check out VC45), which was repainted a couple of times (VC60, for example - “second look review” coming soon).  Even that trooper is a bit controversial, so Hasbro may have some work to do before they nail the sculpt - or they could just go back to the ROTS #41 and call it a day, limited articulation and all.  I’m actually going to drop this score from a 7 to a 6.  For a TVC figure, the “upgrade” from previous releases just doesn’t cut it. It’s not a bad figure, it’s just disappointing, and might be an easy pass for many collectors.

Verdict: Re-Sculpt (VERY VERY VERY VERY low priority) 

The sculpt is okay, but not great.  Secondary market prices are pretty low, and along with this particular all white clone being nearly impossible to spot in the film, Hasbro should consider working on a truly definitive clone sculpt - to be released in 2047.

Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.