Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,157: Night Trooper (Gray Helmet, The Vintage Collection)

NIGHT TROOPER Gray Face and Cap
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Set
Item No.: No. F9259
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster
Action Feature: Blaster
Retail: $54.99
Availability: July 2024
Appearances: Ahsoka

Bio: The Night Troopers were stormtroopers who served Grand Admiral Thrawn during his exile on the extragalactic planet Peridea, comprising the majority of his forces. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

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Commentary: The Night Trooper set is clever. It has four new figures with basically one new figure's worth of tooling - this trooper and his three pals share a helmet mold, but other elements mix and match an existing Stormtrooper mold with new red bandaged elements. By mixing and matching the parts each figure looks unique, with distinctive deco. If you have hot water you can buy more than one set and mix-and-match parts, because the red wrapped bits are all the same from figure to figure. If you want, there are enough parts to put together a not-red-wrapepd trooper or an all-red-wrapped trooper.

I assume Hasbro took its existing digital assets and added the wrappings, and it looks good. They could have just painted it red, but the red elements are actually raised, sculpted bits. That's good. The blaster is just a basic blaster, but the deco is quite nice especially for the price. You get more paint, and it averages $13.75 per trooper. This one has some gold on the helmet, right shoulder, belly, right thigh, and left leg but lacks the dirty elements from the show. I'd rather save the money than pay for dirt, I can always buy another set and add dirt if I really needed it. In terms of articulation it's just a normal Stormtrooper, sadly with no holster, and as far as I know it's not specific to the show. Due to the shared parts, I assume Hasbro (rightly) assumed fans would prize variant deco over screen-accurate perfect ribbon placement. He has no problems standing, although it's worth noting that the hip joints feel increasingly old-hat when compared to the last few years of excellent hips on the newest figures. (If you don't know what I mean, that proves Hasbro is reusing a tremendous amount of existing tooling.)

Despite the Ahsoka show being kind of blah, and Thrawn himself being a bit of a dummy (all according to plan), I won't knock a clever trooper variation. These look cool, giving fans something that looks familiar while being new enough that we won't groan about buying the same mold again. Or a modified version of the same mold again. If these are still in stock, go get a set. The zombie-like troopers were not exactly the most compelling troopers on the screen, but at least they stood out in a sea of killing and white uniforms.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,157: July 25, 2024