Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 1,549: ARF Trooper Waxer

ARF TROOPER WAXER and Geonosian Battle Droid
The Clone Wars Target Exclusive 2-Packs
Item No.: Asst. 31362 No. 31679
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster, stand, rocket, rocket launcher, Battle Droid figure
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $14.99
Availability: Late February 2011
Appearances: The Clone Wars

Bio: Clone troopers fight Battle Droids to destroy a Separatist weapons factory. ARF trooper Waxer scouts ahead to gather information about the enemy. He runs into a squad of battle droids, and stops these robotic warriors before they reveal his position. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's TBD.

Commentary: During The Clone Wars' ongoing run, a few minor characters get a chance to stand out-- and some of them are killed off. So far ARF Trooper Waxer and his brother Boil have shown up a few times, sporting 212th Battalion armor in their first appearance and this Geonosis-specific armor the next time they showed up. Not being a company to waste tooling, Hasbro uses the same body for both Waxer and Boil in this form, albeit with different deco. What this means to you is that Hasbro used the best body in terms of articulation. While the armor isn't 100% authentic to what appears on-screen, particularly in the elbow area, it does have bend-and-pivot wrists as well as ball-jointed hips so that he may mount an AT-RT or another vehicle without ruining the toy. This is, of course, a huge plus.

Waxer's deco is very similar to Boil's, although there is more orange on the helmet. Also, there's a little Easter Egg-- a small drawing of Numa, the Twi'lek girl from "Innocents of Ryloth," is on the back of his helmet. It's small and subtle, and much more prominent on Boil.

While a fun figure that I was excited to pick up, when you get right down to it, this makes at least 5 different figures to use the animated ARF Trooper body. While the deco is different, it may not be different enough for you to run out and buy. This is, of course, a shame as this is a pretty nice pair of figures. That, and I just can't bring myself to split up Waxer and Boil. It's just not right.

Collector's Notes: Still available at retail, and not a bad set. If you already bought Boil with the AT-RT, you really need Waxer too.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 1,549: May 23, 2011