Review: Star Wars Black Series Droids retro-carded Imperial Stormtrooper
- Mephitsu
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
“My men will have everything under control.”
Star Wars: Droids (The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO) was one of two animated spin-offs from the original Star Wars trilogy, airing in 1985 across a solitary 13-episode season that explored the adventures of Artoo and Threepio before they found themselves on the Tantive IV in A New Hope. Kenner’s action figure line also continued into the Droids series, with a selection of Droids-themed 3.75 inch figures released in 1985, an extension of the final Power of the Force figures from the original movies, and including a collector coin alongside the figure.
Marking 40 years since the end of Droids in 1986 and some of the final Kenner figures, Hasbro has returned to the Droids series for a wave of Star Wars Black Series Fan Channel carded figures for late Summer 2026. Each figure is carded, paying homage to the original Kenner designs, and comes with a collector's coin scaled up to the 6-inch figure.
These new Droids cards are scaled up for the 6-inch line, but use the colours and artwork of the original Kenner line, with a blue header with the Droids logo at the top. The original Kenner line never featured a Stormtrooper, so where the rest of the card features artwork from the series - namely Episode 10, "Tail of the Roon Comets" - this is an homage design from Hasbro using existing animation shots, rather than a direct replication of any Kenner release. The bubble, including an extension for the coin, sits to the right, and the card area behind the bubble is a coloured panel as per all of the Kenner cardbacks from the 1980s. Like the other carded Kenner homage figures from Hasbro, the card front foregoes the Hasbro logo and instead carries the original Kenner logo next to the age warning sign.
Around the back, the entire cardback is coloured the same blue as the header on the front, with a pictorial checklist of the full 4-figure wave at the top. Under this is the short background text we get on most Black Series releases, talking about the Imperial Stormtroopers' loyalty to the Empire and their imposing armour. As a carded figure, there is no way to open the blister without some level of damage.
The Droids Stormtrooper is a simple reuse of the current Imperial Stormtrooper figure, first released in 2020 and used multiple times since for Imperial variants and Imperial Remnant releases. The armour parts are cast in gloss white and are connected at the joints with ribbed black pieces that represent the Stormtrooper's undersuit. This construction allows for crisper separation between armour and bodysuit, giving a cleaner look with very minimal paint application. The only details on the main armour are some black dots on the front mid-section and grey trim on the belt canister around the back.
So far the Stormtrooper has been pretty standard, but the helmet sees a Droids-specific change to match their appearance in Episode 10 in the employ of Admiral Screed, namely the grey surrounds to the visors of the helmet. In the episode, it is not overly clear if this is a different colour trim to the helmet, or additional eyewear added to the helmet. For the figure, its paint app changes the usual white trim around the eye visors to grey as well as filling in and continuing the grey to the sides, the cheek vent, and up past the helmet dome black trim line into the two rectangular side sections. These grey enhancements aside, the rest of the helmet remains standard with the silver and black vents and the blue pattern that curves up either side of the cheeks.
vs 2020 Imperial Stormtrooper (right)
As is the usual weapon of choice for Stormtroopers, Hasbro has included the E-11 blaster with the Droids Stormtrooper, a black cast weapon that slips into either the Trooper’s right or left hand, where a trigger finger locks into place. The other hand can come around to support the barrel to achieve two-handed cradle or firing positions.
While the E-11 is the weapon we associate with Stormtroopers, in the Droids episode the Troops under Screed’s Command use a force pike-style weapon, and Hasbro has replicated this as a second accessory for this Droids release. The segmented pike is cast in grey with a narrow end at the base and a wider emitter at the other end, shaped into a central core with two side ‘blades’ framing it. The gripping hands that hold the blaster so well also grip the pike perfectly, opening up the Trooper to single- or two-handed weapon poses.
The articulation on the Stormtrooper is extensive, with 19 points in total, all engineered into the figure at the aforementioned undersuit connectors between the armour panels. The legs include ankle rockers, knee joints, a thigh swivel, and a hip joint, and facilitate a number of stances, kneeling poses, or more dynamic walking or running positions - the latter needing some form of aftermarket stand.
The torso includes a ball joint tucked away under the chest armour that provides rotation and an ab crunch, allowing the Trooper to hunch forward or lean back. Above this, the neck is jointed top and bottom, which means the helmet can rotate, be angled to the side, or look up or down.
The arm joints start with butterfly shoulders that sit under a pair of hinged pauldrons that will move as the arm does. We then have elbow joints and wrist pivots, and these all combine to allow the Trooper to have a wider repertoire of gestures or weapon poses, either with the blaster or the pike.
The final ‘accessory’ is the collector coin. The original 1985 Droids figures used aluminium, while these modern replications are simply plastic, but mirror the gold colour and the design of those original coins. Because the Stormtrooper never had a Droids release, Hasbro has interpreted what we might have got from Kenner in 1985, showing a close-up torso & helmet image of the Stormtrooper carrying a blaster. The name ‘Stormtrooper’ sits above this image, and the corresponding word ‘Empire’ underneath. On the back, the coin features the Kenner-era POTF logo for Star Wars and a short piece of text that talks about the “many thousands of drones of the Galactic Empire” and how they brought the Emperor's reign of terror to the many worlds of the Galaxy. Under all of this is the wording ‘May the Force Be With You’. Like the original Kenner figures, there is no stand or display feature for the coin, but these do sit nicely into most 40mm coin stands for display if - like me - you’ve ripped your Boba figure off the cardback.
The Star Wars Black Series Droids release of the Stormtrooper is, like the rest of the wave, a relatively simple repaint that pays homage to the Droids animation and the Trooper's appearance in their episode, while remaining in that realistic proportional style the Black Series always adheres to. The addition of the grey around the eyes is an interesting tweak to the usual look, and the force pike weapon is a neat inclusion and a direct nod to the Droids episode.
In a wave where the other three figures had a direct original 3.75-inch release for those of us around in the 80s to remember, the Stormtrooper doesn’t quite bring the same nostalgia as the other three, but Hasbro has done a great job in mimicking what a Kenner cardback and collector coin might have looked like for the Droids line. It will be interesting to see if this is a figure some collectors may army-build to create Admiral Screed’s squad of Troopers from Droids, or even as a variant to their Imperial Forces, and to that end, this may end up being the most popular figure from the wave.
Keep Track of all the Star Wars Black Series figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive
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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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