After bringing us Commander Cody, Captain Rex, Commander Gree and Commander Wolffe in the Star Wars Black Series - 2019 saw the release of Commander Fox. Fox was a shared fan channel exclusive and was announced on Triple Force Friday, and arrived in stores soon after.
Packaging 3/5
Fox comes in the phase 3 packaging with the usual red figure backdrop and spine. Being an exclusive there is no numbering on the box. We do get a very good Gregory Titus artwork, but without any colour or distinguishing marks this could be any MkII Clone.
The figure is simply titled "Clone Commander Fox" and like the majority of the Black Series there is no context or sub-title to confirm that Fox is taken from The Clone Wars animated series. Specifically, Fox first appears in The Clone Wars film that launched the series as well as a handful of other episodes. He also appears in some of the Darth Vader : Dark Lord of the Sith comics. Non of this is really confirmed anywhere on the packaging, and the rear box has a very basic background text that confirms Fox as the commander of the Coruscant Guard.
"Commander Fox led the Coruscant Guard, an elite clone trooper unit assigned to serve as peace-keepers on the Galactic Republic capital"
Paint & Sculpt 5/5
The Clonetrooper body has been around for some time, and Fox uses this body along with a re-use of the commander head that was made for Commander Cody, minus one of the side aerials. The head looks great, but the visor does arrive warp and has to be heated to straighten it out. The helmet is cast in red with the white added on top as well as the black of the visor and silver around the mouth piece. The grey second visor is an extra piece glued to the helmet, it is cast in grey plastic and there is a very neat design on top of this in a lighter grey.
The body is a mixture of white and red armour, with an intricate Coruscant Guard motif on Fox's right shoulder amour panel. The white belt is a loose piece and is taken from the Rex figure and comes complete with twin holsters as well as a kama skirt piece in soft goods, this is now trimmed in red and not blue.
There is weathering across Fox from helmet to boots and it is applied to look like splashed mud. After so many bright clean troopers, it is good to get a battle weathered Clone for the display.
Accessories 4/5
The accessories for Fox are all re-used from previous releases, but he gets a good level of weapons - four in total - the most of any Clone Commander to date and the same number as were included in the Hascon exclusive Rex release.
The first weapon is the DC-17 hand blaster, and two are included. They are cast in black plastic with no other paint apps. The weapon fits fine into the right hand, but the left hand doesn't have a trigger finger so when holding the blaster it looks a bit off - the same issue we had with Rex. It may have been good if Hasbro could have included a left hand trigger finger hand option as an extra?
When not in use the two DC-17's can be placed into the holsters either side of Fox's belt. The fit is snug and while they aren't strapped in, they will stay put.
The DC-15S blaster and DC-15A rifle have been around since the first Mk1 Trooper release. These are cast in a grey plastic and both are dry-brushed with a gun metal finish to add depth to the sculpt.
Both weapons slot into the right hand with the trigger finger slotting in place on both weapons. Thanks to the arm articulation, the left hand can cup the barrel of both weapons for two handed pose - but the hands are quite stiff compared to normal so may need warming a little to get them into a grip on the barrel.
Articulation 4/5
As an older body, Fox has 18 points of articulation - two more than a normal Black Series release. The extra joints are found in the arms, where the elbows are double jointed and supported by a bicep swivel above them.
Sadly Fox has not got the updated elbows that were used on Captain Rex - an odd choice considering the Rex elbows do make more of the double joint elbows to bend further into the upper arm and expand the arm poses. Why an improvement made hasn't been rolled out on other figures since that point is odd - other Clone based figures in 2019 have also missed out on the upgrade including Clone Commander Obi-Wan and the Purge Trooper.
Head : ball joint pivot neck
Body : torso ball joint
Arms : ball joint shoulder, bicep swivel, double joint elbow, pivot wrist
Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rocker
The armour does pose some problems in places. This starts with the arms which cannot be raised too high at the shoulder as the shoulder armour panel clashes with the chest armour and blocks the movement.
The same is true of the hips with the shape of the thigh armour hitting the upper body armour and pushing the legs out to the side.
Despite this there is a tonne of pose options to play with for Fox, including a lot of wider stances and action poses firing one of the weapons.
Summary
For Clone Trooper / Clone Wars fans, Commander Fox is a brilliant new addition to the line and features some impressive paint applications with the weathering and the motifs on the helmet and the shoulder armour.
The articulation has a few flaws, but nothing we haven't had on any armoured figures to date in the line and it is a good balance between articulation and looks.
I score the Clone Commander Fox Exclusive a very impressive 4 out of 5.
