I love jet packs. From Adam Strange to GI Joe, The Rocketeer, and Boba Fett, jet pack characters always fired up my imagination as a kid and inspired countless hours of aerial action figure adventures. The Gamestop Exclusive Imperial Jumptrooper is inspired by a trooper from Rebels and Battlefront II, two of my current Star Wars obsessions, so I’ve been looking forward to this one. Let’s take a look at the Imperial Jumptrooper!
The Jumptrooper comes in the standard Black Series packaging without the specific number since it’s an exclusive.
The figure comes with a standard Imperial E-11 blaster rifle that most Stormtroopers come with and a triangular action figure stand.
The blaster is not flashy, but has a nice metallic dry brush and it fits securely in the holster.
The stand is interesting. First, the triangular shape stands out to me as somewhat unusual in action figure stands. There is a little clip at the front of the stand and you are meant to slide the figure’s foot in there for support.
It works fairly well, though it’s slightly awkward for a regular, vanilla pose as there’s not a lot of room on the triangle for both feet up at the clip end of the stand.
Where it does work nicely is supporting a running pose with one foot in the air. It helps balance out action poses well. I also like the look of the logo etched into the clear stand.
The foot clip is a very stiff plastic with no give, so there might be figures who can’t utilize the stand if their feet are too big.
While the stand and rifle are fine, I would have really liked a couple of new weapons. The aerial trooper uses an RT-97C rifle and a rocket launcher in Battlefront II, so it would have been nice to have one or both of those.
The Jumptroopers use E-11s in Rebels, so it’s not inaccurate to have them here, but I do have some 3D printed versions of the game weapons, so that’s an option if you are willing to pay. Some little jet pack blast effects would have been nice to include too.
That does bring me to the overall sculpt as there are slight differences between the game and Rebels version of the Jumptrooper. In the game, the Jumptroopers’ mask hoses attach to a TIE fighter/ AT-AT drivers style chest box.
The shoulder armor in the game is also more like the standard Stormtrooper. This figure tends to match the Rebels version more where the hoses attach to the jet pack and the shoulder armor has a more elongated shape to it. I like both versions, so I was going to be fine either way.
Other than the head, shoulder armor and pack, the figure is basically the standard Stormtrooper we’ve seen in the line all along. I do like the shiny plastic quality on the white armor as it seems to match the film look a bit better than some of the earlier troopers.
The articulation is Black Series standard, though it does have double elbows with nice range of motion. The hip and shoulder movement are hindered somewhat by the armor pieces, but the head moves really well for something hooked up to hoses and a jet pack.
Overall, I think this figure is very good. I’m all for more Battlefront II and Rebels inspired figures and I like the figure stand. The Jumptrooper does seem like it would have been ideal for adding a flight stand and I would have liked some more Battlefront II specific accessories, but the figure does a great job capturing the look and feel of the Jumptrooper. I bought two, but I wish I had maybe two more for a full squad.
