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REVIEW: Hot Toys Star Wars: A New Hope - STORMTROOPERS (MMS268)
Rebel Scum! Blast Them!...
Review and Photography by David Yeh
Star Wars collectors have good reason to celebrate with Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series release of a Stormtroopers 2-pack, perfect for army building. There is also a single release of the Stormtrooper for half the price but there are a few goodies only available in the exclusive double pack. If you plan on picking up multiple troopers, the box set is the way to go at $400. The single trooper works fine too for $200 but there’s fewer accessories.
Collectors who own Sideshow’s version of the Stormtrooper have generally been okay with that release, even though it had a handful of problems. One look at these troopers and Sideshow’s is immediately made obsolete. That’s not to say Hot Toys’ version is perfect neither, but it certainly is a lot closer to hitting the mark.
Starting with the packaging: Star Wars releases have all had the same general style guide for all sixth scale releases; a black and dark gray box with some art on the front. The rest of the packaging is very much like all of Hot Toys sixth scale releases, with figures and accessories on the top tray and the display bases and other larger accessories beneath. First glance and you’ll see that one Stormtrooper is taller than the other. Not a real complaint as it adds some variety to the mix but it’s generally a shorter figure wearing the same armor as the taller one.
The sculpts of the Stormtrooper armor is nothing short of breathtaking. Living with a Hasbro and Sideshow 12” Stormtrooper for so long, you get used to that look, but the moment you take these Hot Toys out of the box, it’s as if you were immediately transported to Tantive IV where these troops first showed up on screen. The sculptors of Hot Toys captured that Episode IV look to the letter and it’s fantastic. In comparison, you'll note that the Sideshow Stormtrooper has armor that is all out of proportion and not really resting on his body correctly. The helmet is also not large enough, but Hot Toys really nailed it with the look as well as the proportions.
I do need to point out one thing that didn’t get corrected was the canister that fits onto the back of the belt. It’s another clip on accessory done the exact same way Sideshow did theirs. It’s pretty disappointing as it doesn’t stay on very well and can be knocked out of place easily. I think they should have taken the time to engineer this piece differently, but aside from that, the armor and costume in general is remarkable.
Unfortunately for the shorter trooper, the armor being the same, it hangs much lower and gives him the illusion of being a bit more out of shape. It’s one of those things that aren’t as noticeable when by itself but put them side by side and he looks a bit odd.
The paint work and detail on these helmets are handled perfectly. There’s not a lot of paint required for this pair but you’d be hard pressed to tell if these were the real deal.
Accessories for each Stormtrooper is identical with a few bonus things thrown in. Each trooper comes with seven interchangeable palms as well as spare wrist pegs if you need them. You get one pair of fists, one pair of relaxed palms, one pair of palms for holding weapons, and the last left palm is a open gesturing palm.
Each Stormtrooper also comes with a blaster rifle, blaster pistol, and a specially designed figure stand with Stormtrooper nameplate and movie logo. The stand holds up the figure at the crotch and has the ability to be tweaked to combine both stands together. All accessories listed so far are available with the standard single release.
The double pack also comes with one heavy blaster and one mouse droid. If you pick up the Sideshow exclusive, you also get an exclusive Blaster Rack which really isn’t all that necessary, but a nice touch if you get that release. The Mouse Droid can roll around on its plastic wheels so if you’re a sucker for all things droids related, You’ll want to get this set
In regards to the hands, it’s really a shame that each palm doesn’t already have the peg built into it. It would make for a much easier hand swap than the current method of attaching and detaching a small peg.
All in all, these are some of the best figures Hot Toys have produced in a while, and a lot of it is pure nostalgic joy, but the other bit is that these feel like actual Stormtroopers just shrunken down to size. Of course getting the two pack is the better deal with the added bonus accessories, but if those don’t matter to you, I might actually prefer owning two individual Stormtrooper releases just to get the taller troopers. Whatever decision you go with, it’ll be a good one.
Review and Photography by David Yeh
Review Sample Courtesy of Hot Toys
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