The Star Wars Battlefront Shock Trooper wasn’t a figure I expected to like, but both the excitement for the game and the chance to add another trooper to the army made it irresistible.
But being a Walmart exclusive, I wasn’t hopeful. Especially when it was advertised as coming out during the Star Wars Battlefront weekend event, which turned out to be just one of the six stores in my area, and even then it was just a TV setup to play Battlefront and two employees at the controls. No huge event, no decorations, no crowd. And no toys. But the next Tuesday saw the game’s release and with it, the one store with the game demo station actually stocked the trooper. I was amazed.
The packaging is the new red The Force Awakens design, but it has the Battlefront logo down in the right corner. It looks good with the red markings on the trooper.
Out of the package, the only difference from the Stormtrooper we’ve already gotten in the Black Series is the red paint.
But that’s not a bad thing. Getting this and the kinda sorta battle damaged version in the Amazon 4-pack has made me appreciate the figure itself again. I had forgotten just how articulated it is, especially compared to the later Clones and First Order troops, where the elbows are more hindered.
The paint is clean, especially for it being straight lines, stripes, and rectangles. I really dig the red. It has a nice sheen — shiny and a bit deep.
The design is based on Shock Trooper from the game. For some reason the game completely avoids the prequels altogether, which sucks because the battles would fit Clonetroopers and Battle Droids perfectly, like the previous Battlefront games. So I’m guessing they had to incorporate a design into the classic original trilogy trooper design to differentiate between troops. The Shock Trooper is available when a player is using the Emperor. Other players have the option to choose the Shock Trooper to guard their teammate.
The in-game design has more rough edges and wear to the red paint, which I now want to see on the figure. The clean is cool, but wear and tear would tickle me more.
There are also Shadow Troopers in the game, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that variation in the future.
For accessories, the Shock Trooper comes with the standard load-out. A rifle and a blaster.
All in all, if you have the classic Stormtrooper figure, you know the deal here. Same figure with added red details. I still prefer the Bandai model kit Stormtrooper, but these variations on the Black Series version help fill out ranks, and like I said, getting different takes has made me appreciate the figure again.
I’m enjoying the game, and I’m happy to get this updated version (or a history revision) of the classic trooper featured in the game, but in a perfect world I would have preferred a Clone Trooper Shock Trooper.
We just got the Phase 2 Clone in the Amazon pack, so now make with the different ranks, Hasbro!
