Listen to me as I say these words. Okay, read me as I type these words. MAFEX has been on a roll with good QC and awesome paint jobs. I know, right? It’s a roll of three, but a roll nonetheless. First the Rogue One Darth Vader, and now the Shoretrooper and Death Trooper.
I’m expecting the next releases to fall apart in my hand. I don’t want them to be bad, but that’s my luck with Medicom. Or maybe they are buckling down and going for gold. I feel like I need a human type MAFEX figure next to see just how committed they are to the current level of excellence.
I feel like I should preface this by telling you I love troopers. I think a lot of people know this but it needs to be said again. I love troopers. I have my favorites, sure, but Star Wars troops just do it for me. And while the original trilogy Stormtrooper will probably forever hold the #1 spot, I’m pretty sure the Scarif Shoretrooper has taken #2. The Death Trooper is further down the list, behind Scout Trooper and Snowtrooper, but probably above First Order Stormtrooper. Ahead of Clone Trooper Phase 1 but behind Clone Phase 2. Yeah…
Gotta stop spelling it Stromtrooper. Fingers, behave!
When the MAFEX troopers for Rogue One were solicited I was super interested, but interest went to full-on need when it was shown that there were rank options. The Shoretrooper can be either a Squad Leader or a grunt, the Death Trooper a specialist or a standard. So I pre-ordered them.
And forgot about them.
Darth Vader was the big deal. People would mention it and I’d go check when it was coming. But it completely slipped my mind that the Death Trooper was coming at the same time. And then I got the payment request for the Shoretrooper two days later, just in time to avoid bundling the shipping on all three figures. Whew, I would hate to save a little bit of money there. Bullet dodged. But not only were they now a “surprise” due to my faulty memory, when I actually received them I was reminded of their rank options. Surprise again!
But really, these things are fantastic. Not one issue with loose joints or parts falling off. The paint is a beautiful thing on the Shoretrooper, and the colors just pop even against previous versions from different companies. The cloth kama is amazing. The Death Trooper’s specialist gear is a bit cumbersome but that’s not really Medicom’s fault. The candy green eye lenses are the focal point though. Love it. And while they both have just an itsy bitsy bit of height on previous figures they still blend perfectly into the display.
I have not one major gripe. About MAFEX figures. It’s blowing my mind.
Video:
Package:
Death Trooper:
Shoretrooper:
Death Trooper hands options:
Shoretrooper hand options:
Death Trooper weapons:
Shoretrooper weapons:
Death Trooper rank options (via removable parts and alternate head):
Shoretrooper rank options (via alternate upper torso and belt):
Death Trooper Comparison:
Shoretrooper comparison:
Action:
You shouldn’t have skipped out on that SHF ShoreTrooper. It set the bar for those troopers.
I’ve considered adding figures from other companies to my troops on occasion, too, so I wouldn’t expect you to replace any of your other troopers.
I bookmarked these, and then wondered if I needed them, and then kept looking at the bookmarks, and kept telling myself to preorder them, but then I said that I really didn’t need them, and then I never deleted the bookmark, so I kept seeing it, and I reminded myself to add them to my August shipment, but my August shipment hit more yen than it cost to clean up Godzilla’s last tantrum, so I said maybe I can skip them, then I ate a hardboiled egg with the shell still on, and then I decided to make a ridiculous run-on sentence, and then I decided that no, I didn’t really need to buy everything, and then I decided that I’d wait for a review before I made up my mind, and then I saw this, and then I decided that yes, yes I do need these, and that I should never doubt my primal urge to buy everything Star Warsish, and then I went outside and threw a big stack of money into a pile and burned it, because I hate money so damn much.