Review : Clone Commander Gree Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Toys R Us Exclusive Released : September 2017 Price : £27.99
Force Friday II, 1st September 2017, and we have had a wealth of Star Wars Black Series releases & exclusives unveiled as we build up to the release of The Last Jedi. The only exclusive on UK shelves come the 1st of September was at Toys R Us and it was the highly anticipated Clone Commander Gree from The Revenge of the Sith. Gree is exclusive to Toys R Us and is being sold Worldwide. He is priced at a higher RRP than normal Black Series due to the quantity of paint applications that Hasbro have used on the figure - we will see how impressive this is as we work through our review.
Gree continues the Phase 3 packaging design which will continue for The Last Jedi. The box is a gloss black with Star Wars Black Series logo front and centre and the character name in red at the bottom alongside a grey lined image of Gree. In between is the window through which you can see Gree against that deep red background - surrounded by his weaponry and binoculars. The right spine is gloss red with the character name at the top. There is no numbering system as Gree is an exclusive. The other spine has the character name repeated in red text and a cut off larger version in a faint grey against the black of the box.
Round the back of the box we find the Star Wars Black Series logo and a larger version of the front artwork. Over the top of this is a short paragraph that confirms Gree's designation and his deployment to Kashyyyk in the Clone Wars. This text is repeated in three other languages. the multilingual text continues into the various warnings across the bottom third of the box reverse.
While we said earlier that Gree follows the standard phase 3 packaging, there is a further running change that has come into play for all the Force Friday releases. If you compare the Star Wars Black Series logo on the front of the box to any earlier releases you can see it is a much brighter and bolder grey, almost white. You access Gree via the top or bottom flap, both of which are sealed with a short length of tape. The entire inner red tray slides out with Gree and his accessories sitting in a clear plastic tray. There are no fiddly ties or bands - but the inner tray is tight fitting so if you do remove the figure and want to return him later for display be careful not to crease or crack the plastic.
In hand Gree stands dead on 6" tall and the variety of paint and colouring is impressive from the off - we will look at that later. Be careful as you handle Gree coming out of the pack as he has an aerial in his backpack which comes fitted, but is actually a loose piece. It doesn't stay in too well so there is a danger it can be lost if you're not careful It is worth noting that Gree is not a direct use of the existing Clone Trooper sculpt we have seen in previous releases - there are a couple of significant changes.
The helmet arms and groin area are all re-uses of the standard Mark 2 Clone figure. Both legs are essentially reuses also, although the left leg has had an extra holster and strap sculpted on the thigh. The belt remains a separate piece, but is identical to all previous releases. The chest piece is brand new. This incorporates strapping that run down like braces. To the back there is a small backpack into which the aerial sits. There is also a second cylindrical canister that sits above the belt and that is attached to the back of the figure.
The sculpt of the Mk2 clone trooper is pretty spot on and it is nice to see Hasbro re-using this with additional parts and colouring to boost collectors Clone collections. Everything on Gree is smooth and rounded like armour should be. As you inspect the figure you can now see the various layers and applications of paint that has caused the figure to have a higher RRP than normal. The helmet boasts a silver face plate with gloss green visor. There is then a lighter shade of green on the cheek panels and a darker stripe on the dome, trimmed again in silver. There is white around the ears and black trims on these, the nose and round the forehead. All in all that's about 7 different colour on the helmet alone.
From the helmet the paint gets even more insane. The upper arms, shoulders and chest are a relatively plain dark green with dark grey and black details. The edges are "weathered" in silver with some green splashing on top. The belt is another shade of darker green with brown splodges applied in places to represent mud. The forearms, groin and upper thigh armour has a very detailed camouflage pattern incorporating two shades of green and one of brown. There is then a further application of green and brown on this to represent mud and weathering. The boots are the plainest part of the figure in a gloss grey.
Articulation is standard fare for an armoured Black Series trooper. The head rotates, but despite being on a ball joint it has very limited forward or backward movement. The arms can't raise much as the shoulder panels physically block the upward movement. They do rotate though and are helped with a bicep swivel and the retention of a double jointed elbow. The hands are pegged at the wrist, so these rotate and pivot. A torso joint sits under the chest and allows the torso to swivel independently of the legs. The legs themselves are ball jointed hips, but again these are held in place with the thigh armour. You can get wider stances and a degree of crouching but not much else. The knees are double jointed and feel ratcheted so are pretty stiff. Sadly the ankle rockers are not as robust and these are a weak spot and can prove troublesome for getting Gree standing up.
Accessory number one is the DC-15S blaster. This uses the existing sculpt from all previous Clone releases but is now cast in a grey plastic not the original black. There are no paint applications on the blaster. The gun fits into the right hand of Gree naturally and the trigger finger slots into the trigger of the fun. If you want the left hand can hold the blaster as well. The DC-15S can also be held in a two handed cradle thanks to those double jointed elbows and the bicep swivel. Gree can also hold the weapon out straight in a pretty decent shooting position.
Gree is also armed with the larger DC-15A blaster rifle. Again this is an identical cast to the other troopers, and again is cast in grey plastic with no paint applications. Being longer this weapon suits a two-handed pose and Gree holds this pose really well
Gree is also armed with the larger DC-15A blaster rifle. Again this is an identical cast to the other troopers, and again is cast in grey plastic with no paint applications.
Being longer this weapon suits a two-handed pose and Gree holds this pose really well
Gree's third accessory is the Electrobinoculars. These are the ones he is using on Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith as he surveys the battlefield with Master Yoda. This is a new accessory for the 6" range as these differ to the ones that came with the Tatooine Luke Skywalker. The Electrobinoculars are a little softer in sculpt than other accessories, cast in a cream plastic. They do hold some detail and are painted with the same dark green and a black visor. While the articulation doesn't quite let Gree hold these against his helmet visor, it gets pretty close and gives Gree a bit more variation in terms of posing him with your other clones.
As an exclusive release, Gree fits the bill perfectly in that he takes an existing sculpt - tweaks it slightly and gives us a more niche figure than perhaps the main range could sustain under usual RRP. While the price is higher, you have to say value for money is provided with the paint applications alone. But you also get three accessories, two more than most Black Series figures currently. I can't really fault Gree as a figure. He is well articulated thanks to the older style arms and those double jointed elbows. He is well painted ad there were no paint errors or bleeds on the figure I reviewed. If you were being picky you'd ask for some weathering on the guns - but I can live without that (or add it myself).
With no immediate negatives to speak of, my only concern with Gree is those ankle joints which may present an issue in the future. This is a minor issue though and not enough to stop me awarding Clone Commander Gree a 5 out of 5 score.
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