Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,490: Range Trooper (Solo: A Star Wars Story Line Look)

RANGE TROOPER Talking Edition
Solo: A Star Wars Story Force Link 2.0 Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. E0323  No. E2761
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster pistol
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $7.99
Availability: April 2018
Appearances: Solo: A Star Wars Story

Bio: Range troopers were a specialized variant of the Galactic Empire's stormtroopers. They were equipped with helmets similar in design to both the Imperial combat assault tank pilot's and Coastal defender stormtrooper's helmets, heavy armor with fur and a chestplate much like that of cold weather assault stormtroopers, and were armed with E-10R blaster rifles.  (Stolen from Wookieepedia.  Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  The line for Solo: A Star Wars Story borders on exciting.  With more toys and more time, this would be a reason to get excited for more Original Trilogy-adjacent things - but it came and went quickly, with a tiny marketing push thanks to Lucasfilm waiting for The Last Jedi to wheeze out the final hurrah from home video.   The Range Trooper is a pretty cool figure - it's sort of like a Snowtrooper, but different thanks to the environmental needs.  I didn't know about them, because they appeared so briefly that I missed them while in a bathroom break and had to see the movie a second time to catch them.  It was pretty much worth it.

With 5 points of articulation, it stands and sits as well as it should given its physical limitations.  The furry scarf and plastic skirt vinyl pieces have little give, so the arms can't go up much and the legs can't swing forward much.  It's a decent figure for standing and looking at, but the magnetized boots lack deco and the figure is basically just a nifty alternate take on the Snowtrooper - even the chest armor looks similar.  The lenses are yellow rather than black.  Oh, and the gun is the wrong color - it's mostly white with some black markings on press photos.  Hasbro colored this one to look more pleasing and consistent with our toys, so if you want actual authenticity they missed the mark.  Perhaps we can blame reshoots - or perhaps no.

Hasbro did an admirable job given the budget limitations - the lack of scuff deco, or boot detail, this kind of thing is to be expected these days.  I would have loved more range of movement on this trooper, but it is what it is - stiff.  If Hasbro gives us an improved model for The Vintage Collection I'd say go for that - but there are so few figures from the Vandor-1 heist, you could probably also just skip this one and not feel like  you're missing anything.  If we get more versions of Val, Han, Chewie, and Rio these troopers might be more appealing - but we're never getting that train.  You can probably live without this one, even though it does look cool.

Force Link 2.0 Notes: "Trooper TK-611 reporting for duty."  "Weapons ready."  "Let's move out."  "Put pressure on them."  And blaster sounds.  There may be more, but the interface isn't helping and the app crashes.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.  

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,490: June 13, 2018