#85: Star Wars SDCC exclusive Stormtrooper Commander

This is the first time I've bought a Comic-Con exclusive. I wasn't fortunate enough to be there, but luckily Hasbro is smart enough to offer its exclusives for sale online afterward. This is actually the second release of this figure. The first time around, it was available for those that pre-ordered The Force Unleashed from Gamestop. Theoretically, anyway. The details of the offer weren't released until very close to the time it was available, and many stores apparently didn't even know about it, so a lot of people didn't get this figure. I'm glad Hasbro brought it back for SDCC, so even though I had to overpay for it, I didn't have to overpay as much as I would have on Ebay.

The Stormtrooper commander is one of various types of Stormtroopers that are there for you to toss around with the Force in The Force Unleashed. They are a bit tougher than regular Stormies, and they have a cool deco. Like all other Stormtroopers that share this mold, it is a good figure. I like that the markings have a weathered appearance, unlike a lot of other clone troopers with colored markings on the armor. Even though there wasn't much in the way of variants on Stormtrooper armor in the movies, I'm a sucker for a toy of one, especially if it has at least some basis in the fiction.

#84: Star Wars Legacy Collection Corran Horn and Whistler

Last year, to usher in the build a droid concept, Wal-Mart had an exclusive wave of two packs. If you collected them all, you could assemble C-3PX. They were pretty easy to find and a lot of them ended up on clearance in my area. This year, the Wal-Mart exclusive two packs are back, but there are some differences. The most immediately obvious difference is the price. Last year these sets cost 10 dollars, which was a really good bargain. Now they cost 17 dollars, which is pretty terrible since that is more than double the cost of a single figure. I didn't get the whole set last year, and I am definitely not going to get the whole set this year. If you do get the whole set, you can assemble a phase III Darktrooper, which looks pretty cool. But if you want to do so, act fast because according to Hasbro they are putting out fewer of these sets than last year. They may not end up on clearance this time around.

So, on to the toys themselves. Corran Horn is one of the protagonists in the Michael A Stackpole's X-Wing novels, which are good reads. As a Corellian X-Wing pilot turned Jedi, he is somewhat of a Mary Sue character. Since I'm a fan of the X-Wing novels, I was looking forward to getting this set as soon as I heard about it. Corran is often depicted sporting a goatee, but often without, but I kind of figured they would make his figure with it. Oh well, no big deal. Interestingly the toy version of his lightsaber has the same hilt as Darth Vader, albeit with a blue blade. Whistler is Corran's trusty astromech droid. For some reason, the packaging refers to him as R2 Whistler. Perhaps some other toy company has the rights to the name Whistler, so this is similar to releases like Autobot Jazz or whatever. Whistler is based on the astromech body that raises a panel on its head when the dome is rotated. Despite being overpriced, I'm glad to have these characters as figures, and with Tycho Celchu, that brings the number of X-Wing novel characters in action figure form to three.

Oh, the set comes with the torso of the Darktrooper.

#83: G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra Agent Helix

I picked up this figure mostly because I think it looks cool. As far as I can tell, Helix does not appear in the movie, but features prominently in the video game based on the movie, as well as comics that take place in the movie universe. She has an interesting outfit which sets her apart from all the other Joes that are wearing either camo or black armor. With her two toned hair and corset, she looks like she stepped out of the club and onto the battlefield. She is well armed with two handguns, some sort of blunt ended knife, a rifle, and a net launcher (that round thing is supposed to be anet, it attaches to the missile in the giant launcher). She doesn't have any holsters, so she can't carry all of her gear at once. A problem that seems to be plaguing the movie line is that the women don't have the most attractive faces. I think that the problem is that they are based on real faces, since Helix actually has a pretty nice looking facial sculpt. Barring any unforeseen awesomeness, I think this will be my favorite figure from the movie line. Something odd that I noticed was that all the Helix figures in the store had damage along the left edge of the cards they came on. It was all minor, just small rips. I wonder if someone was trying to mess with scalpers by making sure they wouldn't be able to get mint packaging for this figure.

#82: G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra Scarlett (Desert Ambush)

I am not wildly enthused about buying movie versions of figures I already have, and the first version of Scarlett was easily skippable for me. When I saw pictures of this one, I decided to get it, and it is a pretty cool figure. Ditching her iconic outfit for something that would look less ridiculous for live action, Scarlett is now sporting some reactive impact armor, and it looks pretty cool. She is well armed with her typical crossbow, two pistols, and some crazy zip line launcher. She has a holster, so aside from the huge launcher, she can carry all her weapons at once. Aside from being ridiculously oversized, the zip line is pretty cool. There's a harness she can slip into, so you can hang her off of things or have her zipping across chasms. She also comes with a stand that is shaped like a dog tag. It even has a hole through it, so one could wear it on a necklace if one were so inclined. I don't know if there will be any further variations of Scarlett, but of the two currently available, I would definitely recommend this one over the other.

#81: Star Wars Clone Wars Clone Trooper Echo

Echo here is somewhat of a rarity in that he is the only named clone trooper figure I can think of that isn't a captain or a commander or something along those lines. He's actually pretty inexperienced, and in fact makes his appearance in the episode "Rookies" of the Clone Wars cartoon. As an aside, if you didn't watch the first season, you're missing out. It's a well done show, and a nice dose of weekly Star Wars action (some people have said it's more Star Wars than the prequels). I'm definitely looking forward to the next season. The events of the episode explain the hand print on his armor. Echo also comes with the same huge gun, and I'm beginning to wonder if every animated clone trooper will be coming with it. Aside from the hand print, what really distinguishes Echo is that his removable helmet has a flip up visor. That's a feature I dig, so it is nice to see it. Echo here stands out a bit more than the average clone trooper figure, and I like him that much more for it.

#80: Star Wars Clone Wars Clone Trooper (41st Elite Corps)

This is another basic clone trooper figure, this time with green markings. He's part of the 41st, so he serves under Commander Gree and Yoda (although their general was Luminara Unduli by the time of Revenge of the Sith). Like the ARF trooper figure, he has the same giant gun and standard blaster. Other than that, the only thing setting this figure apart from the basic clone trooper are the green markings on his armor. It's another nice addition to the ranks of my army.

#79: Star Wars Clone Wars ARF Trooper

It's been a while since I bought any Clone Wars figures. I thought this wave was going to be available in April, but I haven't seen this figure until now. ARF troopers are basically recon troops. It's the basic clone body, with extra hip articulation, so I suppose he could go on a speeder bike or some other vehicle that requires the extra leg movement to set in. The main thing that sets him apart is the helmet, which kind of looks like a scout trooper, and has a weird pointy shape in the back. He comes with a huge gun that launches its missile surprisingly far, and the standard blaster all clone troopers come with. If you like building a clone army, this is a nice addition to your ranks. If you're only going to get one clone, you might want to get one with a standard helmet. Either way, it's a cool figure, like all the others with this basic body.

#78: Terminator Salvation T-600

This figure is huge. He's taller than even the recent General Grievous figure that is appropriately tall. He may seem out of scale, but that's not because of Playmates, it's because of the filmmakers. For whatever reason, the T-600 onscreen is too tall to pass for a normal human (which is what they were supposed to do, although the rubbery skin was mentioned in the first Terminator as betraying their identity, not their height) and the toy reflects that. I didn't really intend to pick up one of these because I think the sculpt looks a little soft. But Target had it on clearance for less than two dollars, so I took it. What it does have going for it is that it's a huge killer robot with a giant gun. It was definitely worth what I paid for it, and if you're at all interested, you may be able to find one on clearance as well.

#77: Indiana Jones Crystal Skeleton

Finally! Almost eight months after I sent for it, my crystal skeleton has arrived. The oddly large box it came in (which is printed to look like a crate, a nice touch) was a little squashed, but fortunately the skeleton and throne were just fine. This thing is pretty cool. The throne it comes with has some really nice detail on it, and has a good heft to it. The skeleton itself is surprisingly well articulated for such a thin limbed figure. It's also quite tall. Sitting down, it's as tall as some of my other 3.75 inch figures. Now that all the waiting is over, I'm glad to have this on my shelves. If they had sold it in stores, they probably would have packaged it as a deluxe figure and charged 10 dollars for it, so the 7 or however many dollars I paid for it was well worth it. Now that Crystal Skeleton Watch is over, we can all breathe a little easier once more.

Going out with a bang

I have a lot of posting to do today. See, I have this self imposed rule that I have to post about my new toys within the same month that I got them. Mostly this is so that I can keep track of when I got what. I had a rather fruitful toy run today, as well as receiving some mail, and suddenly I have more toys to post about today than I have had all month so far. Normally I like to spread these out over a few days. I apologize in advance for the oncoming onslaught of posts.

While I was out, I saw the $99 movie Devastator. It was smaller in person than I expected. It doesn't really seem worth the price tag. Speaking of expensive toys, the clone Turbo Tank is out in stores already. I was under the impression that it was going to be out closer to the holiday season, but it's available already.

My local Wal-Mart doesn't have any of the Rise of Cobra toys yet. Way to be on the ball, guys! Wave 4 of DCUC seems to be showing up in my immediate area now. I already got the one figure from that wave I wanted, so now I'm waiting on Hawkgirl and the Parademon. Maybe in a few months I'll see them.

I'd better get started on that posting.