You guys know me, I’m a total Bandai Star Wars figure model junkie. Some may say biased. This review may prove otherwise, though. I like the Sandtrooper, but I don’t love him.
First off, let me say that I don’t know what is going on with the ban on these models outside of the Japanese market. My feelings pretty much mirror Benty’s, and he produced those feeling much more eloquently than I ever could. I just know that I can not wait for Boba Fett at the end of the month, and the First Order Stormtrooper looks frikfrakkin amazing. I will have it, hell or high water. I just have to find a different way of going about it rather than just pushing a pre-order button and waiting. Grr.
But, until then, we can talk about the kits we already have or the one we just got. Like the Sandtrooper. This is coming in a little late because I got caught up in Force Friday and other various things. And that’s on top of the feeling that at some basic level I had already built this kit. Well, more than just a basic level. It’s essentially the first Stormtrooper kit with a new sprue tree for the new Sandtrooper parts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that either. The parts are there, might as well use them. But that excitement wasn’t there, ya know?
So the box and initial contents.
I like that Bandai has stayed consistent with the box. Gives a continuity to the line. But as more kits have fallen into my hands, the more I realize that the initial opening and pulling out of the sprues is an adventure. I look through each one with wonder and try to guess which parts will go where. That’s obviously his helmet, yay! Where does that go? What is that part?
Here, though, I knew where most of the parts went. Sure, the more you do, the better you get at guessing, especially with the consistency of the basic structure in the humanoid characters. That shouldn’t take away from that excitement, but for me personally, it did. I hate that it did and it’s no one’s fault but my own, and I freely admit that.
So the build was rather uneventful, but I show the few high points and then a full articulation breakdown in my video review…
As for the finished figure itself . . .
A perfectly acceptable Sandtrooper! The sculpt is awesome, the backpack is amazing, and the fact that you can adjust the eyebrow band is fantastic. In the groove where it is sculpted to go it covers the eye lenses a bit and makes it look funky. But slightly raise it and it’s pretty movie accurate. I really, really like the base Stormtrooper.
It’s when you get all the equipment on him and try to move the upper body that the problems arise.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s possible to get some good poses. But it’s frustrating. The pauldron is the hard plastic that is common with these kits, and moving the right shoulder in turn shoves the pauldron up and moves the head around. Alternately, the pouch over the left shoulder hangs in position nicely in neutral position, but try to pose the arm and it gets all wonky, sticking up and shoving out of alignment. Finally, the backpack looks great with all its separate pieces, but, again, it’s a hard plastic and gets in the way of some poses. It’s also slightly heavy when on the back of a hollow, light figure, so slightly leaning the figure forward is required to keep a solid stance.
Saying all of that, some good poses can be had, especially with the awesome stand, but it’s mostly shooting from the hip or low weapon holds.
As mentioned, the backpack gear is all separate pieces and can be arranged in three different ways according to the instructions. I went with load-out A.
He also comes with all the same weapons and hands as the Stormtrooper, except for the addition of a heavy rifle. I don’t care too much for the stiff strap, but that’s easily removable.
There are some armor differences between the model kit Sandtrooper and the first Stormtrooper. The eyebrow band, of course. The white straps over the shoulder between the chest armor and back piece are also different — the Stormtrooper has ribbed ones, the Sandtrooper has smooth ones. Then, there are pouches on the right and left side of the belt instead of the usual holster.
The ab pieces are have different sculpted details.
Finally, and most obvious, are the left kneepads.
Overall, though, the are the same base figure. Although, unless I’m crazy, it seems like the head on Sandy sits a little higher than Stormy’s. It just looks like there is more clearance, especially without the pauldron.
Comparing him to the Black Series Sandtrooper, you can see the same differences as the Stormtrooper comparisons. The sculpt on the kit is crisper, the backpack more detailed, and the proportions just look better.
But I’ll be damned if I don’t like the Black Series version better. I don’t know what it is. All of the problems that popped out at me over time with the Black Series Stormtrooper are nonexistent on the Black Series Sandtrooper. And no, it’s not the dirt paint job. The articulation is a little more restricted, but because all of the gear is rubber, the range of motion isn’t as hindered. The pauldron also has a lot more sculpted detail to it. It just looks more full and rugged.
Now, in order to make the model kit Sandtrooper more accurate, you’d need to dirty him up quite a bit. But he came out so nice, white, and clean that I think I’m just going to add him to my Stormtrooper ranks. Sure, he’s slightly different, and it may not be totally movie accurate, but he makes for a great addition to the army.
Or even mix and match. Just pauldron, maybe?
Naw, I like him without all the equipment. But that’s the cool thing about the kits and your own preferences; you can do whatever you want.
So I don’t love the Sandtrooper. I like him okay just standing there, but he looks off. But I do love him as another Stormtrooper. I probably should just order more regular Stormtroopers, huh?
