Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Black Series Clone Commander Cody (Archive Release)

Release Date: 2015 (Original Release), January 2021 (Archive)

RRP: $19.99/£19.99

One of the least enjoyable things about toy collecting is seeing how much certain figures you're missing end up costing on the aftermarket. Since I only jumped into collecting the Star Wars Black Series line a few years ago naturally I had a lot of catching up to do, and as a Clone Wars fan Black Series Clone Commander Cody was near the top of my wish list. However with the figure now going for around four to five times its original value, purchasing him wasn't likely to happen any time soon. Clearly there were many other collectors that felt the same, because when Hasbro asked fans what they'd like to see in the next wave of Archive releases (a sub-series dedicated to re-releases of older figures), Obi-Wan Kenobi's clone commander in arms was a landslide winner.

Black Series packaging has always had a good bit of flare to it but these Archive releases keep things nice and simple - swapping out the boxes for a standard blister pack on card back. On top of greatly differentiating the Archive versions from their original counterparts, it means once the Archive versions are opened there's no way of neatly putting them back in. On the one hand it's much less rubbish if you just bin the packaging, but on the other it makes storing these figures a bit more awkward if you like to keep it. The backing is a fairly basic black and grey card featuring the Star Wars Black Series logo, along with the character name and the "Archive" designation along the sides. The back of the card is more along the lines of the standard packaging, sporting a short character bio in multiple languages as well as some newly commissioned character artwork. It's also worth noting that the card for this latest wave of Archive releases feature the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary logo, which is being celebrated in 2021. Going back to the blister itself, sandwiched between the blister and the inner tray is a small card insert with that same character artwork. Once you've made your way through the blister you'll find the figure and accessories neatly laid out on a clear plastic tray.

As one of the earliest clone troopers released in the Black Series (and the first of the actual named clones), I was expecting Cody to be one of the weaker offerings when it comes to looks. The Black Series has come a long way in five years, and a lot of improvements have been made along the way. However I was surprised to find just how damn good Cody looks, and that many of the highlights I thought may be attributed to this Archive release were actually present on the original as well. It should go without saying that the phase 2 clone trooper body looks fantastic given the number of times it's been released since, but the paint apps on Cody in particular are really sharp. Not just the really obvious orange ones either - there's a lot of other really well done areas like the bronze on the backpack and arm band, or even the yellow and orange highlights added to the canister on the back of the belt. Another big difference is that whereas all the other clones have glossy white plastic used for the armour, Cody has matte finish plastic. My only assumption is that this is because Cody's figure is directly based off of a live-action suit, whereas the others (with the exception of Gree) are based off of animation models. Either way, it looks brilliant and half makes me wish all the other clones had been done this way too.

Although some Archive figures have had improvements made to them (such as the addition of photo-real head sculpts for example), for the most part they remain unchanged from their original versions. This sadly means that Cody has a fully sculpted helmet with no human head sculpt underneath. It's a shame since that really would have made this release extra special, but it's not surprising or unexpected given the precedent set by previous releases. He's not the only clone commander to lack to removable helmet, but since we do see him quite a lot without it (both in Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars) he's one that really would have benefitted from it. Maybe we'll see a better release of the character somewhere down the line one day, but for now this is still much better than paying those inflated aftermarket prices.

The clone trooper mould has been featured on this blog so many times now that writing about the articulation feels redundant, but if this is your first visit to the site (in which case, welcome!) or the first time you've read a clone trooper review here it is one last time for good measure. Altogether Commander Cody features,

- Ball jointed head, waist and hips

- Swivel hinge shoulders, wrists and ankles

- Double hinged elbows and knees

- Single hinge neck

- Bicep and thigh swivels

That's a great range of articulation for such an old figure, and really it's only let down in a few areas. As usual the main area in question are the shoulders, which are somewhat restricted by those ovular shoulder pads. They are however a softer plastic than the ones on several of the other clone troopers, so do have a little bit of bend to them when raising the arms. The hips battle similar restriction from the upper leg armour, but that's a bit more of a minor nitpick and the movement is perfectly serviceable. Finally whilst there's nothing wrong with the ankle joints themselves (they're great in fact), the assembly on them isn't always that great and can lead to the feet "clicking" into place at awkward angles. Regardless of these issues, the clone trooper mould is still pretty great overall and capable of charging into battle with some great action poses under its belt.

Commander Cody comes packaged with both a DC-15S short range blaster rifle and DC-15A long range rifle, guns that have been seen with NUMEROUS clone trooper releases by now. Both guns are moulded entirely in black plastic with reasonably good sculpted detail, and can fit into either of the figure's hands (though the right hand is much better thanks to the moulded trigger finger). These are exactly the same accessories that came with the original release of the figure, and again absolutely no changes have been made for the Archive release. Though it's to be expected, the fact these guns came with so many of the clones that followed coupled with the fact that Cody was one of the few clone commanders to have a prominent role in an actual movie makes you wish a little more had been done with him. A Palpatine hologram he could hold to recreate that infamous "Execute Order 66" scene would have been incredible, and since 3.75" figures have managed it in the past there's no reason a 6" figure couldn't either. Since Cody was technically one of the first I can't really blame him for so many of the other clones coming with the same pieces, but when you see the same guns over and over again there's no avoiding wishing for a little more variety - especially on the really significant clones.

Despite being the oldest of all the clone trooper commanders/captains released in the line, Black Series Commander Cody is surprisingly still a standout release. It's a shame Hasbro didn't take the opportunity to make a few improvements or add some new accessories to this release, but then again that's not really what the Archive selection is for. The main reasons to bring this figure out were to appease all those people that missed out the first time and drive down that horrible aftermarket value. In those respects, Hasbro couldn't have done any better. If you missed out the first time around and Cody has remained a huge gap in your Black Series clone trooper collection, be sure not to miss out again this time around.