What can I say, I’m a sucker for Star Wars troopers, and it was no different when the Range Trooper from Solo was revealed. But after a bit of pondering I couldn’t help but think the whole get-up looks a bit thrown together. Some off-the-cuff comments in a Weekly followed by a few more mentions and Gus took on a life of his own. Oh, and the figure is pretty cool too.
Let’s just roll with that for a moment.
I don’t know what role this trooper will play in the movie so I can’t say much to whether the whole get-up is practical. It’s a nice look. Some Scariff/Tank Driver thrown together with a bit of Snowtrooper and a white Han parka. But get to the boots and that’s where I get a bit thrown. What do they do? High jumps? Magnetic snow boots or skis? Grapplers? Extendo action for working underneath AT-ATs? Don’t get me wrong, they look different and pretty spiffy with the bars and pistons and hinges. Hopefully the movie explains a bit more.
But as nifty as I think the overall look is, it doesn’t do any favors in miniature plastic form. The cod piece and lower jacket kills a lot of hip movement. The boots tried their best at functional pivot but it’s just too much, although forward and back hinge is fairly impressive. Like parking a monster truck in a small one-car garage. At first you think “Nope, not going to…wait, he did it! But can he get out of the truck?”
No, he can’t. A Range Trooper than doesn’t have a lot of range. Kind of sad. But it looks damn cool.
The waist/ab articulation is just as hindered, but the arms are surprisingly limber, as well as the neck. So overall you’re not going to get super dynamic poses but despite that, I dig the bulkiness and presence on the shelf, wherever I end up putting him.
Which is where I veer into territory I rarely go within the Star Wars universe. I made up my own character.
Like I said, I don’t know how many Range Troopers we’ll see in the movie or their specific role but to me this looks too….personalized? There could very well be whole squads of these guys looking just like this but I’ve gone too far, it’s too embedded in my brain. This is Gus. My old, wise, kind of wacky mountain man who couldn’t take life on Coruscant any longer. He had to get away. Find himself. He doles out sage yet silly advice to people who stumble across his land. That is, if they can get past Snowball Pete, Gus’ sole companion in this solitary existence he’s chosen for himself.
Yeah, I may have went too far, but that explains why there’s a Kurt Russell head on the figure in some of the pictures. I plan on receding the hairline a bit and screwing with the left eye, but this works for now.
Fun is the name of the game, my friends. If it ain’t fun, it ain’t worth doin’. Gus told me that, and it’s stuck with me.
Sad music, fade to black….
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