"I have dismantled and destroyed over 100,000 of you Type One Battle Droids."
‘Clones of the Republic’ is a brand new sub-line in 2024 for the Star Wars Black Series. These 2-packs sit outside the usual Galaxy Collection Series and are shared exclusives between Hasbro Pulse and Shop Disney. The first set released is the pack of Mace Windu and the 187th Legion Clone Trooper.
This new ‘Clones of the Republic’ line features a tweak on the existing Galaxy Collection packaging and includes both left and right slanted sides complete with illustration - with Mace on the left and the Clone on the right. Unlike the Galaxy Collection, there appears to be no link between the images or any hint of a wider montage through future sets and their artwork. The box is a window box and uses the standard black base colour, and then uses a very light blue as the accent colour on these two art panels as well as on the nameplate. Round the back, there is a repeat of the artwork and a short piece of background text around the Republic and its Clone army. These new sets are numbered, with the Mace & 187th Legion set number 01 in the series.
Looking at Mace Windu first, he combines his original Jedi Master release from 2019 with the clone armoured forearms from the 2022 release from the Tartakovsky Clone Wars series, with this new version also giving Mace a pair of Clone Trooper hands. The body is cast in the brown tones of the Jedi robes with a lighter colouring to the legs and a darker brown on the tunic, skirt section and upper arms.
The dark brown boots are painted, as is the belt section with a silver buckle. The forearms have the white clone armour painted which does leave an imperfect finish where the armour meets the robes. There are some similar paint issues with the hands which are painted with the white of the armour on the back of the hands as well as the black of the gloved section with the fingers then painted as flesh. The left armoured bracer is finished with a burgundy Jedi symbol transfer.
Mace’s head sculpt is the same as has been used on all his prior releases. It is a good likeness to Samuel L. Jackson, supported with face print tech, but isn’t in any way a standout.
Mace comes with a single accessory, his lightsaber, another re-used part. This features a relatively complex hilt with black, silver and gold paint detail - into this slots the purple blade. Wielding of the saber is supported by 16 points of articulation, although giving Mace Clone Trooper hands does limit the wrist motion and also presents Mace with a trigger finger that has no practical use for a lightsaber.
The legs are double-jointed, but pinned and feature a good range of options with the softer plastic skirt moving with the legs to a point. The arms have a single joint at the elbow and no butterfly shoulders so lightsaber poses are more or less restricted to a single grip - or a very neutral dual grip. For some reason, our figure has very loose joints at the neck and torso which is disappointing.
Our new 187th Legion Clone Trooper is based on the original colours assigned to Mace’s 187th Legion in releases by both Lego and Hasbro and also across some of the comics. It is not technically accurate to the 187th we see during the Clone Wars episodes as their armour is more burgundy in a finish and this figure has already been replicated in 2022 as an exclusive release.
The 187th Legion Clone, like Windu, is a re-cycled figure utilising the newer Clone Trooper body where the armour is cast in white plastic and the connecting joints are in black. The armour is then painted in the purple tones, with some stripes also included on the biceps and thighs in a dark blue colour. This is all applied as a neat ‘factory’ finish with no weathering or battle damage applications.
The Trooper features a removable helmet, and this follows suit with the body with a white cast base overpainted with purple markings. In addition, we also have a painted black visor and blue markings across the forehead and cheek sections. It is a softer plastic, but holds its shape well and can be displayed on the head, or being carried. The head beneath is the standard Clone Trooper head with ‘flat top’ hair and a basic likeness to Temurra Morrison, it recently saw an outing as Commander Appo and has appeared on other Clones too over the last few years.
The 187th Trooper comes with both of the standard Clone Trooper weapons, the DC-15S blaster carbine and the longer DC15-A blaster rifle. These are cast in dark grey with a good level of sculpted detail but zero paint applications. While the recent Commander Appo release saw an enhancement to the Clone Trooper body with the addition of a left trigger hand - this new 187th version reverts back to the older hands meaning he can only hold the weapons in his right hand.
Articulation is pretty extensive across the Clone body with 19 points of articulation in total. Our 187th Legion Trooper can achieve a wide range of positions with the option to raise and shoot his weapons from a standing or neutral position. The knee and elbow armour remains fixed on this version, despite another enhancement recently to have them floating so they can move with the joint for a more natural look. That inability for the armour to move when the knees or arms are bent does create a slightly odd look.
This first Clones of the Republic set brings us two fully recycled figures with no new features or additional selling points. Neither figure is a stand-out in terms of execution with Mace featuring some slightly wobbly joints and missing his robe, while the Clone Trooper reverts back to some older formatting with the hands and knee/elbow joints despite better options existing in the Black Series catalogue.
I am struggling to see why we needed this new sublime within the established Galaxy Collection with the Clones of the Republic packaging causing more headaches for in-box collectors, particularly with its dual-aspect artwork. This could have been a two-pack under the Clone Wars banner, or single releases - exclusives or otherwise. The fact that one of the figures is also an army builder defies a bit of logic on sales opportunity with very few collectors willing to stump up for spare Mace Windu figures if they want to build out an 187th Legion. The offset to this is the price which is a relatively reasonable £44.99 and therefore technically a fiver less than two individual releases. How much longevity this line has will depend on future releases and if they go down the same route of individual characters with a Clone Trooper, or if they will perhaps explore two Clone Troopers per set enabling the army-building options.
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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...