The red and white armoured Coruscant Guard, led by Commander Fox, were first seen on screen in Revenge of the Sith, and went on to make a number of animated appearances in the Clone Wars. The troopers would make the jump into The Bad Batch in 2021, now called Clone Shock Troopers, and serving as an elite unit within the fledgling Empire.
It is from this latest appearance in The Bad Batch that the new Black Series Clone Shock Trooper is taken. The release is exclusive to Walmart in the US and sold via the Fan Channel elsewhere while remaining a numbered part of the Bad Batch Galaxy Collection, sitting at number 7 in the run with the side art combining with the other numbered releases to create a wider montage.
"Originally founded during the Clone Wars as a security police for Coruscant governmental facilities and bodyguards for Republic representatives, the group of clones known as shock troopers now operate as elite forces of the Empire"
We have had a Coruscant Guard Clone Trooper previously in the Black Series as part of an Entertainment Earth 4-pack. This time around the Trooper moves to the full new Clone Trooper body with pinless joints as seen on the Kamino Trooper and the 332nd 'Ahsoka' Trooper from 2020.
The new body has all the armour pieces cast in white gloss, with the black undersuit parts individual items cast in black removing the need to overpaint and giving a crisper finish. The red markings of the Shock Trooper are added over the top of the armour and painted in such a way that some are scratched and a little rough at the edges to add some realism.
The helmet is also the new format and is a hollow piece glued over an unpainted clone trooper head. Thankfully any early issues with warping do seem to have been resolved. The helmet has additional paint deco with a black visor and silver around the breathing apparatus and the vents down each side. There has been some criticism that the black band is missing from the ridge of the helmet and should sit under the dotted red band. This relates to those Clone Troopers seen in Revenge of the Sith and on Clone Wars. When the Troopers appeared on The Bad Batch this ridge detail had been removed so the figure is accurate to the source material.
The pauldron piece is new and is cast in soft black plastic with red details. It is glued in place so is not easily removable even if you pop off the head. This, and the exclusivity of the figure, will prevent army building.
The Shock Trooper comes with both the DC-15A and DC-15S blasters. These are cast in a hard dark grey plastic and have no additional paint applications. They are both the newer sculpt with crisper details and some minor changes vs the original Clone Trooper weapons. Both new pieces are slightly smaller, with the DC-15S having a more curved barrel and the DC-15A having additional detailing on the final barrel section and the triangular centre section above the sights.
Both weapons fit easily into the Clone Trooper hands and with the new arm articulation, there are some great weapon options for posing including two-handed grips and shooting positions.
The new Clone Trooper body boasts 19 points of articulation in total with a very good range of motion on the arms even with the downgrade from the double elbow joint to single. The new elbows are no longer restricted by the armour and are enhanced with butterfly shoulders. The head also moves well on a dual jointed neck so it can turn fully, be coked and move back and forth within the chest piece. This gives it, among others, the option to look down the sights of the weapon.
While the new body massively improves upper articulation, it does sacrifice leg articulation. The new pinless double joint knees work fine, but the upper hip joints are very restricted by the shape of the leg armour. So while the knees will support kneeling poses, the upper leg can't go far enough out to get the figure into that pose - something the older body could do reasonably well. That aside, the figure stands well enough with no issues with ankle rockers that did present on the older body at times.
You can never have enough Clone's in the Black Series and this is another great release that is sadly marred by the fact Hasbro continue to make troop builders exclusive items at an inflated price to the general releases. Had this, and indeed the other Clones released as exclusives to date (and in the future) been single releases with general wide-ranging availability then I for one would have bought extra. Sadly, my army building isn't sustainable when the figures are so limited on availability and upward of 25% more in price than a standard on shelf release.
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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...