Review : Deathtrooper
Star Wars 6-Inch Hero Series
Wave/Series : Lidl UK
Released : December 2017
Price : £5.99
Pro's : Nice sculpt and shiny black armour. Blaster is pretty detailed
Con's : Too short, articulation is limited
As well as producing the successful 6" Black Series range of Star Wars figures, Hasbro do produce and distribute a budget series of 6" figures. These limited articulation figures share similar qualities to the 12" Hero series. They were predominantly made for the Far East market as well as discount stores in the US and of course the UK, where Aldi stores have become the retailer of choice.
These first hit UK stores in 2015 in line with The Force Awakens release. The first set of figures included Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Finn, Kylo Ren and a Darth Vader. A second set was released in December 2016 as part of the Rogue One merchandising, but didn't contain any Rogue One figures - instead we got figures of Rey (Force Awakens), Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Han Solo and Kanan Jarrus.
The only Rogue One figure released in 2016 was a Deathtrooper, and as far as I am aware it has only been available in Canada.... until now.
In December 2017 the discount retailer Lidl confirmed that they would be selling a number of these figures in their stores. The assortment in Lidl was predominantly re-releases made up of Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, First Order Stormtrooper, Finn and Rey - but also included was the elusive Deathtrooper.
The Deathtrooper comes in Rogue One branded packaging, the only figure to do so to date and of course the only figure in this 6" Budget range that is from the movie. The actual design of the box is the same as that used in 2016 for Darth Maul and Rey with the base black colouring with the scratches of blue emerging at the side.
The top half of the figure is viewed through a window and behind this sits a red backing card. The packages are fitted with a hanging tab - but this is folded back as like Aldi, Lidl only merchandise these in a cage.
The rear of the box is headed with the Star Wars logo, but with Rogue One slotted underneath. We then have a short description in red text of the Deathtrooper and their role as bodyguards and enforcers for Director Krennic. This is taken from the back of the 2016 Black Series release, although it has been truncated and stops after the mention of Krennic and is missing the additional line from the Black Series that explains who Krennic is.
The 2015 and 16 releases had wonderful artwork on the side panels and the Deathtrooper is arguable one of the best with a very dynamic image of the Deathtrooper in action.
Out of the box the Deathtrooper is strapped directly to the card back - there is no inner tray. The cardback itself, like the 2016 versions of Rey and Maul, is not plain red but does hold a pattern. The figure is held in place with four elasticated white ties.
Our Deathtrooper stands 5 3/4 inches high and looks beefier and bulkier in overall proportions vs the Black Series version. The armour is very well cast in a hard plastic and the glossy black is impressive - although there is no contrasting matt colouring, so the figure is just shiny from all angles.
The only colouring aside from the black is a silver belt buckle and the green accents on the lenses of the helmet and the breather holes.
The gun is a good sculpt of the rifle used in the movie, and is cast in a lighter grey plastic - no paint apps. It is cast with the hand attached and then plugged into the figure.
You can see the size variance to the full 1/12 Black Series line when you place the Deathtrooper up against his Black Series counterpart. He comes in a good inch too short - but looks wise there is not a great deal in it.
Articulation is very basic and the Deathtrooper has 5 points of articulation - one more than most of the figures in the series. We start with the arms which are jointed at the shoulder and simply rotate forward and backward.
As a result of the gun being cast with the hand, the plug at the wrist can also be used to articulate the right hand and allows the blaster to be turned to the side.
The head rotates to the side and there is a similar joint at the waist allowing the torso to be turned independently of the legs.
Below the waist the leg section is all fixed. These are sculpted to stand flat on a surface, and there is no stability issue until the arms are raised. Due to the hollow lightweight nature of the figure, the arms can overbalance the figure if both are swung out in front.
I only learned of this figure recently via the excellent Toy Run podcast, and it is great that this has now shown up for UK collectors. The budget series is very niche, but I have supported the line from the start and therefore he is a must to keep me up to date. Sadly, as these figures are made to a fixed height and not a true scale, the Deathtrooper is too short to be used in any Black Series display - otherwise he would have made a very affordable army builder.
Articulation will never be a strong point of this line, it is how the price is kept so low. And the same applies to the paint application. The figure does have a good sculpt going for it and for that I score it a 3 out of 5.
