Review: Star Wars Black Series Clone Commander Thorn from The Clone Wars
"We can't get to you! I suggest you get to a ship as soon as you can!"
Summer 2026 saw us welcoming two more Clone Commanders to the Star Wars Black Series collection. Clone Commander Thorn and Clone Commander Doom were both Fan Channel Exclusive releases based on their Clone Wars appearances. Not a wave as such, the figures were announced together but released separately (at least here in the UK), with Clone Commander Doom arriving first in early August, followed by Clone Commander Thorn in very early September.
Clone Commander Thorn is number 24 in The Clone Wars Galaxy Collection and arrives in the matt black packaging, with the Clone Wars yellow accent colour across the character name, the source material, and on the side artwork. This imagery shows Thorn holding his mini-gun and looking towards the camera with a backdrop featuring the landing pad and buildings from Scipio. This artwork connects in the wider montage to Commander Doom and will connect onward to Gar Saxon when he arrives in Autumn 2026.
The same illustration of Thorn is used again on the back of the box alongside the usual supporting text that talks about his key storyline as he escorts Senator Amidala to Scipio, and how he faced off against a Separatist droid assault. Thorn and his accessories are set in the usual inner tray, with a colour-coordinated cardboard backdrop using the same yellow as the box highlights, but also incorporating the same Scipio landing pad and entryway as the main artwork.
Thorn is built onto the newest Clone Trooper body where the armoured panels are cast in white and are then connected at the joints, which are black plastic and ribbed to represent the Clone’s undersuit. Painting across the black and white sections is then virtually zero, and each armoured panel is therefore crisp and defined with no overpainting or paint bleed from one area to another. The red paintwork of the Coruscant Guards is applied over the white of the armour. This includes fully red shoulder pauldrons, the left of which features a grey flexi aerial. The upper chest is painted red around a silver rank badge with red, blue and black painted squares. Elbow armour is red, just under two rings painted around the biceps and done so as though hand-painted by Thorn himself, with rough edges and wear and tear.
The legs include fully red knee armour, shins, and feet - the latter then returning to the white at the soles, and you can see here how the white is the colour added over the red, as it holds a pink hue. Thorn is wearing a kama shirt which is connected by a belt cast in red and left red around the entire circumference and across the pouches, with the exception of the rear circular canister, which is painted white. The belt also features slung holsters in grey which hang down from the belt and lie flat against the kama shirt. The skirt has a glossy, almost plastic finish, but is in fact soft goods with a red trim incorporated around each of the exposed edges. The way Thorn is packed can lead to some kinking and creasing of the skirt; you can see it on the figure we had delivered, where one side has been pinched together.
The helmet for Thorn is a relatively standard Commander helmet with incorporated visor and comms equipment. This is new to the line, shared with Commander Doom, and an upgrade on the similar Commander Cody lid. It is white in base colouring, with a red faceplate and black visor. The patterning around the face, visor, and over the top of the helmet is impressive and likely printed. These pattern lines sit under the visor around the mouthpiece, across the top of the visor, and back over each side of the main dome of the helmet. There is no unmasked version of Thorn; the helmet is just that, and there is no head underneath, painted or otherwise.
Thorn’s articulation is, like all modern Clones, built around the armour components, and there are 19 points in total, all of which are pinless. The range of the figure is impressive, with the legs able to kneel or sit, the Kama skirt in soft goods moving with the legs as they are posed. The knee armour is left floating on the knee joint, and when the knees are bent, the armour can be posed in the right place.
The arms with butterfly shoulders can extend out and up; the shoulder pauldrons are hinged to move with them. The elbows bend to 90 degrees, and the wrists are hinged to move vertically, not horizontally, so they can aim the blasters much more naturally. The torso includes a ball joint for leaning in or backward movement, while the neck is dual-jointed and the head is able to rotate and pivot on any axis.
Thorn comes with two DC-17 blaster pistols, the standard weaponry for most Clone Commanders, and like all the predecessor releases, they are cast in black with no paint decor. The weapons can be holstered when not in use, or held in either hand, with both hands including a flexible trigger finger.
For most collectors, the DC-17s will likely live in Thorn’s holster, and he will be displayed with the other included weapon: the Z-6 rotary blaster cannon (nicknamed "The Hammer"), which is the rapid-fire blaster cannon he wields fighting off the Separatists on Scipio until he is overwhelmed. This is brand new to the line, but is already getting a re-use with the upcoming Hardcase figure in the 2-pack with Dogma. It is a silver/grey finish in the main, with the central vented section in black. Behind this is a brown/gold power core and ahead of it a similarly coloured central barrel set within the rails of the outer casing.
The weapon is held by a rear grip, with a hinged handle also fitted just ahead of the rear power cell, which is gripped by the other hand to swing the weapon up and into firing position. Thorn’s articulation allows the weapon to be posed out as though firing, slung low as though in a ready position, or raised upwards. There is even sufficient arm articulation for slinging it back over his shoulder as he moves position or surveys the damage he has just wrought.
As a Fan Channel pairing, Doom and Thorn are essentially the same figure but delivered in wildly variant looks that are accurate to their Clone Wars episodes and with a level of decor complexity we don’t usually see in standard releases. While Doom has better weathering, Thorn boasts crisper and more intricate detailing, particularly on the helmet. Thorn also boasts the enormous Z-6 rotary blaster, which adds some much-needed weapon variation to a Clone Wars-era display that has been dominated by the three types of DC blaster weapons for some time.
Like Doom, there is no real flaws to Thorn as a figure. Proportionally, he is great, designed to be a live-action version of Thorn rather than taken from the animation style for The Clone Wars. Decor, as mentioned, is impressive, and the articulation and accessories give him plenty of display variation. The figure is available at the time of our review, but certainly feels like a figure that will sell through quickly, and that will go on to be highly sought after on the secondary market. One to consider grabbing while you can.
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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...
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