Review: Star Wars Black Series Tactical Ops Trooper, Revenge of the Sith Anniversary
- Mephitsu
- 44m
- 5 min read
"There's been a rebellion, sir. Don't worry. The situation is under control"
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Revenge of the Sith, Hasbro released another series of Star Wars Black Series figures on cardbacks inspired by the original 3.75” releases from 2005. Like most Anniversary releases to date, these were a mix of re-packs and tweaked characters picked from the existing line-up of figures.
We have had a few releases of 501st standard Phase II Clone Troopers over the years, starting with the 2016 Order 66 multi-pack, then the 2022 Archive release, and to the most recent 2023 Flashback Commander Appo figure. The latest iteration of the 501st Troop Building releases is the 2025 Revenge of the Sith Tactical Ops Trooper.
The Revenge of the Sith Anniversary series cardbacks are taken directly from the original 2005 toyline, with a cardback shaped as Darth Vader’s head, with the head sitting over a flaming lava scene from Mustafar as the bottom third of the cardback. Vader’s red eyes stared out from behind the blister, while reflected in his helmet was the duel on the Lava Plains between Obi-Wan and Anakin. The cardfront is the same for all releases with the circular shaped bubble including the character image and details as an inserted sleeve section that wraps around the front of the figures feet and with the cut out of the character raising upward on the left hand side of the packaging while the central portion is turned over to the original Revenge of the Sith logo in orange and yellow. The character name, the Tactical Ops Trooper, is derived from the original 2005 release, at which point the 501st was not truly embedded into Star Wars lore until the Clone Wars was fully explored through the animated series. The cardback carries further imagery of our 501st Clone Trooper as he appeared in ROTS, as well as an image of the posed figure, but it lacks any background for the character, with the text turned over to a positioning piece about the Anniversary series as a whole. As with any cardback, the packaging is damaged to open the figure.
Our 501st Tactical Ops Clone Trooper is wearing the Phase II armour from Revenge of the Sith, as seen when they marched upon the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The figure uses the latest iteration of the Clone Trooper body with gloss white armoured panels connected by black, ridged joints and connections that also reflect the Clone’s undersuit. The 501st markings are added in a blue colouring, and done in a way to reflect their battlefield application, so the lines are not completely true, and the paint itself is scratched and worn.
The figure comes with a standard Clone Trooper likeness of Temura Morrison, with a flattop hair style in jet black and face printed features over the base flesh colour of the head. This is not necessarily accurate to the scenes in Revenge of the Sith, but is now fairly standard fare with any Clone Trooper issued release.
The helmet is designed to fit snugly over the head, more or less covering the lower portion of the chin, although this can remain visible from some positions, depending on how your Clone Trooper is posed. The helmet follows the same principles as the body, with a gloss white base plastic and blue markings. Further detailing like the visor, the main ridge around the helmet, and the breathing vents, are all picked out in black with further detailing in grey and silver.
The figure is essentially that of Commander Appo from 2023, but side by side, you can see that the 501st markings are a much deeper blue and more aligned to the original Trooper release and most of the other 501st characters like Rex, Fives, and Jesse. The head sculpt is also the same one across both figures, with our Revenge of the Sith release showing the progression in facial print likeness in just 2 years with a much crisper and more realistic look overall.
vs Commander Appo release 2023 (right)
Our Tactical Ops Trooper can choose from either of the core Clone Trooper weapons, with both the DC-15S blaster carbine and the longer DC15-A blaster rifle included in the pack. Both weapons use the latest cast, with crisp detailing but zero paint apps across the dark grey base plastic. They can fit into either hand, with a trigger finger now included on both right and left hands, with plenty of articulation range for two handed posing. There is no holster options.
Articulation overall is 21 points in total, all pinless and all with a good range of movement to support a whole variety of display options from firing either of the blasters, to running into battle, to standing to attention. The arms in particular work really well thanks to the butterfly shoulders in particular, but also thanks to the flexible hinge on the shoulder pauldrons, which move with the arm both up and down, but also in terms of any rotation.
The same is applicable at the knees, where the armour panel is now left floating so they can be moved with and positioned naturally against the joint rather than being fixed and sticking out at odd angles when the knee is bent. The feet are ratcheted securely, and once planted, the Trooper stands securely on display.
Considering the importance of the 501st and the potential for Army Building, this reflects only the third time the Trooper has been released singularly, and one of those was the Commander Appo figure who’s markings differed due to the lighting and armour decor seen in the Flashback scenes for Kenobi. This Revenge of the Sith release presents both a lovely looking figure on card paying homage to the original 2005 line of 3.75 releases, but also is a fairly fault-less release in hand for display on his own or as part of a wider Troop Build either marking behind Anakin into the Jedi Temple, or recreating earlier battles from the Clone Wars era itself alongside the named characters who still outnumber the basic Troop type in releases.
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...