The Artillery Stormtrooper made its debut in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, supporting Imperial Remnant Troops on Tython as they battled Din Djarin and his new allies of Boba Fett & Fennec Shand. The Black Series figure was announced as being an Amazon global exclusive. It was number 13 in the Galaxy Collection Mandalorian Series. It would be released in late 2021 although the supply was sporadic and several shipped items from the European delivery centres suffered from damaged or defaced boxes.
The Trooper sits in the standard Black Series box with the side art that connects to the other releases in a wider montage for boxed collectors. The artwork of the Trooper shows him loading his mortar while a number of other Remnatn Imperial Troopers can be seen in the background. The accompanying text on the reverse of the box doesn't go into plot points as such, but rather the Troopers role within the Imperial Military
"Specialized soldiers in the Imperial forces, artillery stormtroopers carry specialized indirect fire weapons like mortars onto the battlefield."
The Trooper uses the newer Imperial Stormtrooper Body. This means the white armoured parts are cast in glossy white plastic, while the black joints and undersuit are individual black plastic cast pieces. This approach gives a crisper look to the figure overall and removes the need to paint black over white or vice versa which proved problematic on the older Stromtrooper. The new body is also executed with the helmet as a hollow piece added over a fully sculpted head - but this is glued into position and the head underneath, if you do try and remove the helmet, is not painted.
The yellow that depicts the Trooper's role is added over the white armour, and also applied on the Pauldron which is taken directly from the original Sandtrooper figure from 2013. The backpack is a new piece and cast in black plastic with the artillery shells cast in white clipped in. The yellow panel added to the backpack is a little messy in both coverage and the lines of the paintwork. The backpack is designed to sit into the hole in the Stormtrooper body back, but the fit is quite loose and the pack has a tendency to drop off.
Our Artillery Trooper is armed with the E-11 blaster that was seen on the generic release. This is cast in black plastic and fits into the right hand, where a trigger finger slots into place. Unlike the first release, there is no holster for the weapon when not in use.
The main accessory for the Artillery Trooper is the mortar weapon. This is cast in grey plastic and features a round circular foot and an articulated pivot leg section that gets it stood flat on display. It is fed by artillery shells of which you get four, one loose in the pack on arrival and three more clipped into the backpack which you may be forgiven to think are sculpted parts, but they can be clipped out and used. The Artillery Shells do fit into the left hand of the Stormtrooper.
The new Stormtrooper body has 19 points of articulation. These improve substantially on the original, while are also less intrusive so the overall aesthetic of the figure is much better with no pins on show. While the elbows and knees have been downgraded to single joints, they can bend to and beyond 90 degrees. The legs take advantage of this, and the engineering to allow the thigh armour to slide away into the groin section, to allow the Trooper to kneel ready to load his Mortar.
The arms are given a wider range of motion thanks to butterfly shoulders under the chest armour which helps in weapon posing with the E-11 in particularly - even allowing the Trooper to raise it up to his helmet in a sniper pose. Every joint works as it should with no loose parts, the Trooper can be stood and posed in a multitude of display options.
Stormtroopers are always going to sell in the Black Series line, particularly with all the improvements this newer body brings in both looks but also posing options. The Artillery Trooper, like the Incinerator Trooper before it, is a well-executed figure using the base body and additional parts and paintwork to recreate what we saw on screen. The new Mortar accessory works well and overall the only downside to the pack has been the availability, although that has now settled down and at the time of writing, you can still order the item via Amazon UK.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...