#32: Star Wars comic pack Stormtrooper and Blackhole hologram

I think this is the only comic pack that does this, but rather than a regular comic book, this one comes with a reprinting of some of the early Star Wars newspaper strips. It's super early Expanded Universe, right after Star Wars, so things are a little different than what you are used to in the EU. A highlight is Luke unwittingly using the Force to do well in a casino. It also marks what is likely the first appearance of a Stormtrooper in non-standard armor. One of those Stormtroopers is what we get here. They are under the command of Blackhole, the mysterious head of Imperial Intelligence. He only appears in the form of a hologram, which is also included here. The Stormtrooper is the standard Stormie, with removable helmet. He has a decidedly unhealthy looking pallor under the helmet, which is a bit of a departure. The helmet seems pretty loose. Since one figure and an unarticulated hologram about half the size of a figure would seem like kind of a ripoff for the price, there's also an interrogation droid included, along with a detachable base. I actually like it better than the hologram. It doesn't actually appear in the comic, but at the end Luke and Leia are in the hands of Blackhole's forces, so presumably it will be coming into play during the next issue. There have been releases of shadow Stormtroopers which look similar, but this is the only way to get this version of the Stormtrooper. If you're like me and glad to have another slightly different Stormie, this is a good set to get.

#31: Star Wars comic pack Clone Lieutenant and Clone Trooper

Another troop builder! I particularly like the subject matter for this one because it features members of the 212th, which is under the leadership of Commander Cody. As the only named clone in the movie, I've always dug him, so I'm always glad to get more of his troopers. The lieutenant unfortunately doesn't have holsters for his two pistols, so this pack ends up with a surplus of weapons. It is cool that they included the grapple hook, which features in the comic the pack comes with. There's also a projectile of some sort that plugs into the trooper's rifle, but I managed to misplace it while getting the figure out. It was taped in, but I undid the tape, left it in the tray, then removed the trooper. So that was my fault. Hopefully it turns up. Aside from the grapple hook, there's nothing new here, but it is a cool army building set.

#30: Star Wars comic pack Clone Trooper and Clone Commander

If you're following Star Wars toys, you may know that the comic packs sub-line is soon going away. That's too bad, because they were a good deal since you get two figures and a comic cheaper than you would have to pay if you bought them separately. It was also a good way to get more obscure characters that might not otherwise have been made. Hasbro will be pulling back on their focus on Extended Universe characters, and probably trying to cut costs, so say goodbye to comic packs. The final wave is hitting stores now, or will be soon, depending on your location. Naturally, they haven't shown up in my area yet. Fortunately for me, I happened to have last Tuesday off, when a tweet from the collecting website Yak Face alerted me that the final wave of comic packs had just been added to the Hasbro webshop, so I checked it out and they were all in stock! I was able to get the packs I wanted. They were sold out a couple hours later, so if I had been at work that day, I would have been out of luck. Due to some uncharacteristically fast shipping on the part of Hasbro, I received these a couple days ago, and I'll be finishing off March by posting out them through the rest of today.

It is probably no surprise to you by now that I will buy just about any clone figure. So of course I went for this set. These are a couple of Kashyyyk troopers with somewhat different camo patterns than were shown in the movie, but since they are based on a comic, that is understandable. The clone commander in this set doesn't actually appear in the comic, but a new type of clone is always welcome. All the troopers in the comic look like the trooper in this set (the figure on the left), although the figure has the amusing quirk of appearing to have no neck. It looks good with the helmet on, fortunately. As far as I can tell, it is a repaint of a Commander Faie figure, with a new head. If you are able to find this, it is a cool set for any clone fan.

#29: Iron Man Iron Monger

So as I mentioned in my post about the second movie line's Iron Monger, I thought it was too small, and wanted to get the first movie's version, which is quite a bit larger. So I did. Watching the movie, it is hard to tell just how large Iron Monger is exactly, since he's always moving around. Apparently the prop they used on set was about 10 feet tall. In comparison with the second movie's figures, he looks to be about 12 feet tall or so. So he is perhaps a little too large, but I'd rather have him be too large rather than too small. The big feature on this toy is the opening cockpit, which reveals someone that doesn't entirely look like Jeff Bridges within. His head is about as big as Iron Man's helmet, further confirming that this version is a bit too large. In comparison with the newer figure, this one seems to have its proportions off a little. It is nicely articulated and has a nice sense of weight since it's so large. And that does it for any Iron Man related toys for this month.

#28: Iron Man 2 concept series Iron Man Deep Dive Armor

Why does Iron Man need a special underwater suit? Who is he going to fight, Namor? Are there any underwater villains in the Marvel Universe? I guess it doesn't really matter, because I just plain like the design on this figure. It's from the concept series, so I'm guessing he has never worn anything like this in the comics. That's the cool thing about doing an Iron Man line, you can just come up with random variations and it will make complete sense for the character. What I like about this figure is that it isn't just a repaint, or a slight modification with a new accessory, it is a completely new sculpt. It manages to look wildly different from the other armors yet still maintains a visual connection to the more standard armor. The aquatic color scheme is also really cool. Until the next series comes out, I am done with this line. I picked up so many Iron May toys this month that I think I could retroactively dub it Iron March.

#27: LEGO Star Wars Stormtrooper

Here it is, the reason why I got the duplicate Snowtrooper battle pack. Toys R Us was running a promotion that if you spent a certain amount on LEGO Star Wars kits, you could get a free disco trooper. Okay, the pouch it is packaged in refers to it as a Stormtrooper, but I'm calling it a disco trooper due to its resemblance to a disco ball. It is your basic LEGO Stormtrooper, but vac metallized and with the standard markings applied on top of the shiny finish. It's ridiculous and completely non-canon, but it's totally cute and a guaranteed hit with nerds like me. Your plan worked, Toys R Us! These were also apparently being sold by themselves for a couple bucks, but I wasn't at the store myself, so I'm not sure if the store this one came from was also doing that. I would have just ordered one myself from the Toys R Us website, but by the time I heard about the promotion and was able to check it out, they were sold out. Thanks to James for picking this up for me!

#26: LEGO Star Wars Snowtrooper Battle Pack

I got a second one! Because... well, you'll see why.

#25: Iron Man 2 movie series Iron Man Mark II

During the run of the first movie's line, I skipped the Mark II figure because it was just a Mark III with a different paint job and an extra blaster. Since I'm not planning to get a Mark III in this scale since it is so similar to the Mark IV and VI, I figured I'd go for the Mark II and get one suit with the round unibeam on the chest. I do dig the silver paint job, too. The seams and bolts are made more prominent by paint than they were in the movie, but I don't mind, it makes it look a little more like a prototype, and a bit more low-tech even. One huge improvement over the armors from the first movie line is that the shoulder pieces don't fall off. I almost lost one of the shoulder pieces from my first movie Mark III, which would have been annoying. If they had were removable in these smaller figures, they would be even easier to lose. Since I'm not interested in getting every single variation of the armors, I may be done. I might get the Mark V since it is different from the rest. Then there's the helmet-less Iron Man coming out in the next couple of waves... I might get that. Especially if it includes a removable helmet. We'll see! Until then, this is a cool figure, just like the rest.

#24: Iron Man 2 movie series Iron Man Mark I

I already have this figure from the first movie's line. I already have the comic version of it from the current line. Now I have this version. What can I say, I really like this line, and this scale. I think I like this version better than the first movie's figure. Like the rest of the line, it's a good figure. I'm glad the flame thrower is detachable, the design team for this line seems to really know what kids like, what us older collectors like, and has been able to make a nice mix. I was curious to see if the website listed on the cards (www.ironmancards.com) works yet, but it is still redirecting to Marvel's site.

#23: Star Wars Legacy Collection HK-50

I never intended to complete HK-50. I had already gone out of my way to complete HK-47 last year, and this is just a repaint. I also haven't actually played Knights of the Old Republic 2, so I don't really have much knowledge about the HK-50s. But I came to a point where I had an almost fully assembled HK-50 without having tried to complete it. All I needed was an arm. And I do have a weakness for homicidal robots. So I bought the scanning crew guy for the arm. I'm looking at it more along the lines of I bought HK-50 and the scanning crew guy is the bonus. The new paint scheme is pretty nice, as well.