STORMTROOPER and Lando Calrissian30th Anniversary Collection Wal-Mart Exclusive Comic Packs
Item No.: Asst. 87504 No. 87793
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster, Lando figure, Marvel Star Wars #44
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $11.88
Availability: Spring 2008
Appearances: The Empire Strikes Back and various Marvel comics
Image: Adam Pawlus' toy room.
Bio: Lando has betrayed Han and his companions to the Empire, but now he has had second thoughts about his desision. Knowing he will lose everything, he nevertheless sets in motion a plan to free Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids. He calls in Cloud City guards to subdue the stormtroopers who are escorting the prisoners, giving them all a chance to get to the Millennium Falcon and escape Vader's clutches. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)
Commentary: One of the odder introductions in the toy line lately has been the Marvel-stylized versions of popular characters like the Stormtrooper. It's my understanding that the artists used the unusual coloring in the books because of a need to make them stand out or as a sort of stylized shading, not because they were trying to convey that the characters literally had blue belts and wrist armor. However, this is a discussion for another time because Hasbro up and made the Stormtrooper exactly like that using the 2004 Vintage Original Trilogy Collection mold. Given the basic Stormtrooper originally sold for $10 and has 14 points of articulation, getting the mold here with an added figure for under $12 is quite the bargain. The figure itself, though, is more than a little strange. Unless you plan on buying several, it really won't fit in the rest of your collection unless you're jonesing to do up a display of unusually colored Marvel figures. Which, honestly, I think I'm going to have to do because these are starting to grow on me (as long as Hasbro doesn't make 100 of them). The figure has the same crisp sculpt and articulation you've come to love, only now it has blue on it. That's the selling point, and I can see it being a "pro" and a "con" for numerous reaosns.
Collector's Notes: This is the third unique deco style applied in the name of Marvel comics to a Stormtrooper. It will no doubt not be the last.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 881: October 29, 2008
Although I'm not a big fan of the Marvel recolors, for some reason this guy works for me. Given that Force Unleashed is basically doing the same thing and fans are eating that up, this guy doesn't seem as great a departure as, say, purple Dengar.
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