Review: Star Wars Black Series Range Trooper from Andor (Season 2), Galaxy Collection Exclusive
- Mephitsu
- May 4
- 6 min read
"Range troopers are my kind of tough."
Range Troopers were one of a handful of new Imperial Troopers introduced during the 2018 anthology movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story. They were seen fleetingly as Troopers on the hostile world of the frontier world of Vandor, defending the Conveyex from the heist masterminded by Tobias Beckett. The Troopers have recently made a similarly brief comeback in the 2025 second season of Andor, stationed at the Siener Test Facility 73. This has led to an updated release of the original 2018 Range Trooper Black Series figure in its new guise as seen during Episode 1 of Andor, Season 2.
The 2025 Range Trooper is a Target exclusive in the US and sold via the Fan Channel in the UK and other territories. Revealed just as Andor Season 2 got underway in late April, the figure went almost immediately into stock and dispatched, arriving with most retailers by early May. It is part of the Andor Galaxy Collection series, number 14, with the same orange-red accent colour across the base black of the main box. The side artwork connects between the new Director Krennic and the Sienar Test Pilot Andor and features the Range Trooper and the large missile launcher we see one of them wield in the scenes where Andor steals the Tie Advanced.
The back of the box repeats the artwork and confirms the application of the Range Troopers as those assigned to Imperial Frontier Worlds with specialist training and equipment to expand the Empire’s rule. The backing card for the figure features the same orange-red colouring with an embedded image of clouds and stars. This may be a nod to the sky outside of the Siener Test Facility, but it would have been more applicable had they used the large hangar door design.
The Range Trooper is an update on the original 2018 figure and is constructed in a similar way to the other Black Series Troopers with an off white undersuit - similar in style to Snow Troopers - overlaid with the glossy white armoured panels. The bulk of this armour is in the chest piece, which also features painted red and blue lighting and controls as well as a relatively heavily applied section of grey weathering/damage.
A smaller armoured panel sits around the back of the figure with black painted vents. The arms are pretty much unarmoured but feature some wrist control panels on both arms, the right featuring more painted LED controls. The arms end with a pair of grey gloves.
Sitting across the shoulders and fixed under the helmet is a fur effect soft goods capelet. This sits reasonably well on the figure but does move around quite a bit and can ride up at both sides. It also comes out of the box shedding at the edges and will likely be prone to thinning and eventual balding if handled too roughly. The helmet is unique to the Range Trooper but has similarities to the Shore Troopers with an angled front section that comes down to meet the black painted breathing vents. The visor is a gold colour, while the overhanging heavy ridge of the helmet dome includes more of the grey battle damage.
vs 2018 Range Trooper from Solo (right)
The lower half of the Trooper starts with a skirt piece, added around the waist in a softer plastic and in a similar offwhite colour but with an incorporated gloss belt with a pair of compartment sections and an armoured crotch piece. The shirt has a sculpted fur trim, sculpted stitch lines and a padded texture. As well as connecting via the belt, two internal thigh straps circle the legs and connect again around the back of the skirt. The legs themselves feature some upper thigh armour, then end in a pair of glossier white boots.
It is these boots that are the most significant change from the original 2018 release. The larger magboots seen in the Solo movie are replaced entirely from the knee with these slimmer armoured boots and as seen in the Andor scenes. The new lower leg appears to make the 2025 Range Trooper a touch taller. Aside from the lower legs, the rest of the figure remains unchanged but includes different decor, particularly on the upper legs, which are now cream, not grey. There are also some downgrades from 2018, with the soft goods much more robust, and much cleaner in how they sit on the older figure vs thus new new one. The older figure also picked up some additional decorative detail on the arms, whereas these cylinders are left unpainted in 2025. To me, the weathering is also more subtle and realistic on the older figure.
As seen in Andor the Range Trooper that faces down the escaping Tie Advanced wields an enormous Rocket Launcher, a piece taken directly from the 2023 Jedi: Fallen Order Rocket Launcher Trooper release. The weapon is cast in a hard, glossy black plastic and stands nearly as tall as the figure itself. It features a slightly flexible and shaped shoulder support in front of which sits the trigger, and ahead of this, a secondary grip.
The Range Trooper features the same 16 points of articulation as the original release. This allows the upper arms just about enough range to hold the launcher, but it will struggle in the two-handed position due to a lack of butterfly shoulder joints. While a neutral hold is possible, extending it up into a firing position is best achieved using the left hand as support and the shaped shoulder support and then hovering the right hand just over the trigger. In this position the head can be cocked and positioned as though looking through the sights.
The legs are held partly in check by the skirt, but can open up into wider stances ready to fire the larger ordnance. I found the new lower legs lacking in the joint ratchet, which makes the Range Trooper a little unstable, as the ankles and knees have a tendency to slip too easily.
The 2025 Range Trooper release is a standard exclusive for Target, using an existing figure and adding tweaks to mimic what we have seen on screen and considering the fleeting scenes in which these Troopers appear, then this was probably the right decision rather than any new tooling and taking up a slot in the main line which can now concentrate on new figures and character looks. There wasn’t a huge amount wrong with the original 2018 release, and the 2025 Range Trooper carries most of these through while also updating the look to the Andor release. It doesn’t quite get the soft goods as right as they were in 2018, and there are gaps in the articulation, particularly in the arms for such a specific weapon, and with weakness in the leg joints. Exclusivity of an Army Building piece is always a problem, but this one is perhaps not as desirable as some Troopers - particularly without any other weapon options which would have to be borrowed from other releases, or bought from the 3D printing market place to recreate the other Range Troopers we see patrolling the Siener Facility.
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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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