Friday 15 January 2021

Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Black Series 'Gaming Greats' Scout Trooper

Star Wars Black Series Gaming Greats Scout Trooper 01

Release Date: October 2020
RRP: $24.99/£24.99

Ever since first watching Return of the Jedi Scout Troopers have been my favourite variant of trooper in the ever-growing Galactic Empire army, but as someone who tends to mostly avoid buying vehicles (for space sake) it can be quite difficult getting a good figure of them these days. While admittedly there was an individual Archive Series release of the trooper back in 2019, the fact they are synonymous with Speeder Bikes usually means more often than not they’re bundled together as part of a larger set. But there’s been quite a bit of Scout Trooper love in the Star Wars universe recently, with them making prominent appearances in both The Mandalorian and Jedi: Fallen Order. That latter appearance is particularly notable as it’s a rare time we see them sans Speeders, with Hasbro capitalising on that to produce the Black Series Gaming Greats Scout Trooper. Released as a GameStop exclusive in the US and via the usual fan channel in the rest of the world, this version of the Scout Trooper is armed with a deadly electro-baton and quite adept in melee combat.

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Although Black Series packaging has undergone a massive overhaul in recent months, the previous style of box continues to live on in the Gaming Greats sub-line! This is a pretty great way to differentiate the two if all the Star Wars game releases are going to continue being under one banner (rather than have their own coloured “sections” like the visual media), and since the line is predominantly remoulds and repaints it’s also a good way to keep costs down. The Scout Trooper packaging immediately stands out with its secondary blue colouring, replacing the red on the mainline releases. This is common in the Gaming Greats range, with each release having a different secondary colour. The front features some great Scout Trooper artwork alongside the Star Wars, Black Series, Gaming Greats and Jedi: Fallen Order logos. The coloured spine lacks a designated number like all previous store exclusives, however in its place is that Gaming Greats logo again. On the back is of course that character artwork in a larger format, alongside a short bio that specifically describes the role Scout Troopers play in Fallen Order. Open the box up and you’ll find the figure and accessories laid out on a moulded plastic tray.

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The Fallen Order Scout Trooper is a retooled version of the original 2014 figure, re-released in 2019 as part of the first Archive Series wave. To start this version gets rid of all the weathering from the previous version(s), retaining the armour's bright white finish. The torso section has the large pouches removed, replaced with a new harness sporting a control box on the right hand side and a canister on the back. It's a separate piece to the torso, but has been glued into place so removing it would take a bit of work. This harness also has a number of brown wires that go from the control box to the canister, as well as another that goes from the shoulder to a bracelet-like ring around the arm. This wire is only fixed at either end and not attached to the body at any other point. Overall the cleaner look gives the figure a much sharper finish overall, since honestly Black Series weathering wasn't that good back then and it looks more like dusty, mismatched parts. The helmet sculpt is unchanged, but the paint apps are a little bit sharper and the gloss that's been added to the visor makes a world of difference. So really while it's minor changes overall, they're enough to make this Scout Trooper feel like it's own figure in that it very clearly looks like it's from a different unit to the Speeder ones. So far so good, but when handling this problem it doesn't take long for one very significant problem to surface.

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Age can sometimes make a big difference when trying to release an older mould, but luckily the Scout Trooper always needed to be relatively good in order to stay on its Speeder Bike. Altogether this figure features;
- Ball jointed head and torso
- Swivel hinge shoulders, wrists, hips and ankles
- Double hinge elbows and knees
- Bicep, thigh and boot swivels
The new harness does restrict the torso articulation somewhat, but other than that the Scout Trooper isn't really any worse off than any other version of the old Trooper mould. The shoulder pads are still annoying, but they don't sit quite as close to the shoulders as other trooper variants so you can still get some decent movement out of the arms. However it's the articulation that reveals the big flaw in this figure, but it isn't actually the articulation itself that's the problem. Remember that loose brown wire running from the shoulder down to the ring around the arm? The wire itself is made from a bendable but still somewhat fragile plastic, and is nowhere near long enough to let to arm properly move as it should without snapping somewhere along the way. What further exacerbates the problem is that the ring around the arm isn't fixed into place, so it sliding further down the arm (which it can do very easily without you noticing, especially since it isn't especially clear where it's supposed to sit in the first place) stresses the wire even further. There are NUMEROUS ways Hasbro could have fixed this - the wire could simply be a little bit longer to allow for more movement, it could be permanently sculpted into the arm or it could simply tuck underneath the arm bracelet rather than be fixed to it (Hasbro have done this on other figures so I don't know why they didn't think of it here). Worst case scenario they could have just not added the wires at all, which would make it slightly less accurate but very few people would have probably noticed and/or cared. As it stands, it's just a matter of time before it simply snaps from bending the arm in a way it's supposed to, or wraps around the arm in a way that results in it snapping from that. If it does break, my advice would be either to remove it entirely or just cut it off at the bracelet, re-attach it to the shoulder (if you can) and then tuck it under the bracelet once you've posed the arm. Works so much better, and allows you to get that full range of motion out of the arm without any worry.

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This terrible design choice when it comes to arm articulation is only really annoying because of just how these Scout Troopers fight. The Scout Trooper is armed with an extendable electro-baton and EC-17 blaster, which when not in use can be stored in the holster fitted to the scout’s right leg. Despite it’s incredibly tiny size the blaster is surprisingly well detailed when it comes to moulding, but the size makes it both awkward for the figure to hold well and difficult to store securely in the holster. It’s quite loose fitting, and really wouldn’t take much for such a small piece to fall out and be lost forever. However it’s the electro-baton that’s the star of the show here, immediately reminding me of all the times I was killed by Scout Troopers on the game whilst still getting to grips with the controls. The baton fits nicely into either hand on the Trooper, making it perfect for both single and double-handed poses/stances. In addition to the extendable tip there’s also a small blue electricity effect part which is removable, but this can be quite difficult thanks to how the very tip of the baton is slightly thicker. The electro weapons are one of the cooler elements in Fallen Order, so it’s great to see both these Scout and Purge Troopers get some representation in this recent selection of Gaming Greats figures. You can get some really great poses out of this Scout Trooper wielding the baton, but just remember - that wiring is almost certainly going to break along the way.

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While I’ll remain grateful to Hasbro for giving this version of the Scout Trooper the love that it deserves, the Black Series Gaming Greats Scout Trooper is far from a perfect release. Though the mould is getting on a bit by this point, it’s quite funny though that rather than age be the problem it’s the poor design on the new elements. There were numerous ways that the wiring could have been done on the arm that wouldn’t result in it breaking, but instead Hasbro went for one that almost certainly will. That immediately takes the fun out of what should be a poseable melee fighter, but above all pretty unacceptable for an exclusive Black Series release that’s both an old mould AND more expensive than a standard retail figure. With Scout Troopers being so prominent in the game Fallen Order fans will definitely want to add this to their collection, but an arm fix is pretty much a necessity.

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