Evolutions: Clone Trooper to Stormtrooper

[Phantom-like Menace]

No fancy format here, just the bad, the good, and the conclusion.

Dramatis personae:
Episode II clone trooper as The Deuce
Episode III clone trooper as The Bly Guy
Stormtrooper as Himself

The bad:

I guess the first thing I will point out is that the SA clone troopers have the best articulation going, so it's slightly annoying that this set doesn't have all of the articulation of the SAs. The Bly Guy lacks the joint in the lower abdomen that allows them to bend, and the Deuce lacks that plus the ability to even rotate at the waist.

Almost a nitpick really, the shoulder joints on the two clones are not colored, so they are glaring white against the yellow shoulder pad. This doesn't detract as much from the Bly Guy, since his shoulder pauldron largely covers that up.

I'm not sure about the color of the Bly Guy's armor. It seems to me Bly's legion has a brighter yellow while this guy definitely splurged for the expensive, brown mustard to decorate his armor. When Bly comes out, if he is as dark, whether he is supposed to be or not, I'll be happy.

Another minor problem is that the tubes running from the clone pilot helmet are not rigid, so the control box flaps in the face of the Deuce when he wears the helmet.

I haven't said much about the Stormtrooper, and that is pretty much my complaint about it. It's somewhat unremarkable. The bad is going to be similar to the clones' problem. The OTC Stormtrooper is the definitive Stormtrooper, and this guy is a step back from that great figure. Again, Hasbro didn't give him all of the waist articulation. He can't bend up and down.

And of all things, the number one problem I have with this set, is that you can clearly see the chin sticking out under the helmet of the Bly Guy. I hope it doesn't do this in all of the sets, but it does it in mine, and it's making me crazy.

The good:

I'll include the removable helmets in the good category, since so many of you like removable helmets. You can remove the helmet of the Deuce and the Bly Guy. I don't particularly care whether or not the helmet is removable as long as it doesn't stand out too much. Uniformity is important to me in my figures. These don't stand out too much.

And as a follow up to the helmets, it seems Hasbro was paying enough attention to the movies to make the Duece look like Bodie Taylor (or whatever the guys name was), while the Bly Guy looks like Temuera Morrison.

It was an excellent idea to give us two figures in one with the Deuce. Simply remove his standard helmet and put on his pilot helmet. Voila, you have a pilot.

The figures are not clean but weathered. The Deuce and the Bly Guy look like they've been on the front lines, while the Stormtrooper looks like he's been serving rear guard to a Dewback patrol with dietary problems, which isn't a complaint, just an observation of a dedicated trooper who's doing a dirty job.

Hasbro enhanced the details on the weapons, so these are a little more movie accurate, though you know what this does to my uniformity preference.

And the number one draw of this set, certainly the reason I purchased it: You get your first Hasbro Bly Guy! Yep, we finally see a clone with that style of armor who actually comes from the movie!

The conclusion:

I'm happy. The price point is right around twenty dollars, which isn't too bad for three figures. I'd buy it if it were a little more than that. While I have already mentioned it, it is very nice to get a Bly Guy. I have another set on order from Toys R Us/Amazon, but I ordered this one from bigbadtoystore.com so I would get it sometime this year. I certainly will not cancel the other order, and if I happen to see one of these in a store, I'll probably get a third. Though, I'm not sure what I'll do with all those yellow Dueces, since I only have eight Episode II clones total right now, ten if I were to get two more Evolutions sets. I guess on a scale from one to ten, I'll give this set an eight. Fix the shoulders and the Bly Guy's helmet, I'd give it a nine. Add better waist articulation, and these would have been almost ten. I say almost, because I am massively fond of the Episode II SA clone whose body I would have used in this set, forget the removable helmet.

And one quick observation: I take it Hasbro has changed the type of plastic they use. I first noticed with the Shocktrooper that the plastic is more rubbery, and it's the same on the green commander, AT-RT driver, and Evolutions.

[pegger]

I was a bit disappointed with the plastic they used on the helmets...The helmet from the AT-TE gunner is a nice hard plastic...the helmets on these guys are rubbery...but otherwise, I agree...I want more,.,

[bobafrett]

I just looked at the ones I have here, and the sandtrooper has the sand kinda painted on in blotches. I found another set at Wal-Mart today, and put it on lay-away, because I wanted to see if the one I had here had an orange pauldron, but I noted that the one I put on layaway the sand painted looked more grainy like sand, not looking like he was covered in baby food.

[Jayspawn]

I'm still looking for this set, cant wait to find it though.

[Blackened88]

To me the most disapointing thing about this set is the helmets. Like said before the plastic sucks for AOTC and ROTS Troopers. With the Sandtrooper the paldron just dosen't fit, the helmet is constantly falling off with me. If hasbro were to fix these problems with future sets then I wouldn't have any complaints. Also is the Variant set out yet?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

On the whole, I really like this set. I have a few gripes, though:

*The pilot helmet has the ROTS/OT Imperial symbol, when it should have the AOTC Republic symbol.
*They should've used a more articulated torso for both the clones. Only the Star Corps member has waist articulation, but it's only swivel.
*The pauldron is too big on the ROTS trooper; that is to say, it makes the helmet fit poorly. If you put it on the AOTC figure, it's fine. I don't know why they had to make it like that.

Otherwise, a fine set. What are the differences between this one and the variant?

[Blackened88]

The colors, AOTC trooper is all white, ROTS is White and Gray Coruscant Clones and the Sandtrooper is a Sargeant and more dirty. I also forgot to add the problem with ROTS clones pauldron.

[Phantom-like Menace]

I don't suppose anyone has a link to pictures for the variant. Of course, I suspect I'll take one look and realize I need at least one.

[Blackened88]

http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?image=sdcc05/hasbro/IMG_7500.jpg

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

The AOTC and ANH troopers look great, but they should've used a different ROTS clone that was from the film.

[Phantom-like Menace]

Thanks for the link. Too bad the weathering won't look as nice on the actual figure.

[Luuuuuuke]

I posted this elsewhere, but you can make a really good looking ROTS clone if you take the AT-TE gunner's helmet and put it on the AOTC clone. Then just do a little paint job. REal easy work. And it looks better than it would as an AOTC clone.

[Jayspawn]

Finally I found this set the other day and I really like it. I would have prefered the cleaner Sandtrooper version but thats ok. I really dont have any gripes about the figures. The rubber helmets dont bother me. I would have liked some darker guns but thats ok anyways. I'm glad I finally got some yellow troopers.

[sith_killer_99]

I found this set over the weekend and I have to say I like it, for the most part.

The only real drawbacks to this set, IMO are the helmets. They are made of very weak rubber. I don't understand this, when I compared them to the helmet on my AT-TE Gunner I was amazed at how much better the AT-TE helmet was.

There is no excuse for that. Also the helmet on the Clone Commander dosen't cover the chin as well as the one on the AT-TE Gunner, again, no excuse.

Aside from the weak helmets, I really have no complaints. The "skirt" on the Clone Commander is better than the one on #33 IMO, because it allows for better movement with the legs.

Jayspawn, I also like clean Sandtroopers, I found that if you revove the head on the Sandtrooper and remove the pauldron it will fit very nicely on the VOTC Stormtrooper, just pop his head off and POW, clean Sandtrooper. The only down side is that you can't put the backpack on the VOTC Stormtrooper.:(

[Phantom-like Menace]

I just found the variant Evolutions clonetroopers, but I figured I would lump their review in with the old one.

Dramatis personae:
Episode II clone trooper as The Variant Deuce
Episode III clone trooper as The Gray
Stormtrooper as Variant Sandtrooper

The bad:

The weathering/blood/dirt on these clones is atrocious. The weathering and blood on the Variant Deuce and the Gray look like they were applied by a low-resolution dot matrix printer that needs its ribbon replaced. Don't assume I am exaggerating, because it looks exactly like that.

The shoulder joints on the Gray are not colored, so they are white against the Gray pad. However, this doesn't detract too much, since his light gray shoulders aren't in very stark contrast to the white.

I was really hoping the Gray would fit in perfectly with my Assault on Coruscant clones. Hasbro seems to have done the Gray with an eye toward making them fit in with that set, but if so, they did an even worse job of matching color as they did with the Bly Guys and Commander Bly. The Gray is much lighter than the Assault on Coruscant set.

I'm unsatisfied with the dirt on the Variant Sandtrooper. I'm not sure where a Sandtrooper is going to find a mud puddle on Tatooine, but this one apparently has and fell right in it. I could also see a freak exploding water vaporator event color him as distinctly poo-colored as he is. Though my friend suggested (based on my comments on the first set) that the Variant Sandtrooper is charged with administering enema to the dewbacks.

The good:

The Variant Deuce is no longer painted like a commander, he is a standard grunt, so this set won't leave you without spear toters.

The Gray includes an extra belt with no skirt, so you can take off the pauldron, take off the skirt, slap on the regular belt and--again--have a spear toter instead of a chief. Unfortunately, the belt and skirt don't clasp together in any manner but instead merely have breaks in their circumference that allow you to slide the accessories on and off. An odd aspect of the skirt is that it has an elaborate symbol on the back just above the split. While this symbol would look right at home on a Klingon, it's kind of odd on a clone trooper.

The conclusion:

If you don't have a desperate desire to collect all of the clones out there, or if you merely want Evolutions sets regardless of whether or not they are the original or variant, pass up the variant set. The paint alone makes this set a six down from the score of the original.

And another quick observation: I noticed in the movies that Morrison clones and Taylor clones are serving at the same time. I figured I would switch out the Variant Deuce's head with the Gray's head just so I could inject some variation, and I hit upon a happy find. Though the Gray's head is a little loose on the Variant Deuce's ball joint and the Variant Deuce's head is conversely tight on the Gray's ball joint, you can push the Gray's helmet further down on the Deuce's head than you could on the original head. It doesn't perfectly cover the chin but it is a vast improvement. So I recommend switching the Episode III trooper's head with the Episode II trooper's head for a better fit of the Episode III helmet on all Clone Evolutions sets original and variant.