Welcome to our review off the Imperial Patrol Trooper, as seen albeit briefly in Solo : A Star Wars Story The Imperial Patrol Trooper was part of the Star Wars Black Series Wave 19, released in the Autumn of 2018. It was joined in the wave by Val, L3-37 and Rio Durrant all also from Solo, as well as Lando in Skiff Guard, Leia from Hoth and Dengar.
Packaging 4/5
The Patrol Trooper is packaged in the Phase 3 red packaging with black box and red side spine. It is number 72 in the 3rd phase of releases. As is common with the Star Wars Black Series, there is no specific reference on the box to the source movie (Solo) and the figure is titled Imperial Patrol Trooper.
We get the usual illustration from Gregory Titus, drawn to show a side on view of the Patrol Trooper's helmet. Around the back the artwork is repeated over which is printed the simple bio.
"As the Empire reinforces its hold on worlds across the galaxy, local defence forces are being supplemented - and eventually completely replaced - with Imperial Stormtroopers. To cover distances across sprawling settlements and cities, Patrol Stormtroopers police the streets and alleys aboard swift interceptor speeder bikes."
Sculpt & Paint 4/5
Out of the box and it is clear that this is another wonderful armoured trooper sculpt from Hasbro. While the helmet shares similarities with the Mimban trooper, it is not the same cast and has a squarer finish and wider nose piece - but does have the larger "enhanced imaging electronics" dome section. The head is cast in gloss white, with black applied to the visor, breather masks and nose/cheek panels. There is more paint detail on top of this also with silver panels on either side of the head and across the nose.
The body is similarly cast in white gloss plastic with black plastic sections and painted detail. While parts do look familiar here too - particularly the legs to the Scarif Trooper Body - I am fairly certain everything on this trooper is a brand new sculpted part.
Hasbro have a great track record of armoured troopers, and the same execution is seen here with crisp panels overlaid with sculpted grills, panel lines and control elements. The only criticism I have of the body is that it might have benefited from a touch of weathering to line the panels and grime it up a little to represent its role on Corellia.
Articulation 4/5
The Patrol Trooper weighs in with 16 points of articulation - standard for a Black Series figure. We start with the helmet which is ball jointed and has a full range of movement although the ability to look down is hindered once the chin of the helmet hits the chest armour.
The chest itself is ball jointed under the midsection and this allows rotation of the upper torso as well as leaning movement and posing. The stomach armour is sculpted enough so that even when leaning all the way back the lines of the figure are not broken.
The arms are ball jointed shoulders, and unlike other troopers there is no engineering to allow the shoulder armour to slide into the chest piece - that leaves the arms only having the ability to be raised by about 45 degrees. The elbows are also not great and both of mine were ceased and needed some work to open them up and get the joint moving - I suspect a few people may end up with a broken joint here. Once freed up they work well, but it is unusual to have such trouble on both joints out of the box. The elbows are single joint that rotate and bend to just past 90 degrees. The arms end with pivot wrists.
The legs are less restricted by armoured panels and have a ball joint hip, thigh split, double jointed knees and an ankle rocker. I will say the hips feel a little loose on the side ways axis, and while there is no issues in standing the Patrol Trooper in various poses, he can start to slide into the splits.
If you check out the bonus section to the review you will also see the articulation is enough should the Trooper want to "take a ride" at some point....
Accessories 4/5
I missed the first accessory upon opening the box as it is not presented in the packaging and comes ready fitted into the holster on the figure. This is simple baton and is cast in black plastic with a ridged section either side of a central smooth collar. It is basic, but matches what we see on the actual trooper (ref. Solo Visual Guide by Pablo Hidalgo). The baton fits into both hands and when not in use slots back into the two flexible loops on the left hand side of the Trooper's belt.
The second accessory is packed independently of the figure and is the Troopers main weapon. This EC-17 "Hold Out" Blaster is the same one used by the Biker Scouts, but it is a new cast weapon and is larger and more robust than the one packed with the Biker Scouts in 2014.
Considering its size, the sculpt on the EC-17 is impressive. It is cast in grey plastic with a bright silver paint app on the handle, and a gun metal detail on the barrel. It fits into the right hand of the trooper, with the hand sculpted so that the first two fingers slot into the handle to grip the blaster. This is a bit of a cop out as the blaster is not held like that on screen - and it does look a bit odd. If you aren't happy with the Trooper wielding the gun then like the baton it too can we stowed on the belt in a flexible plastic holster into which the blaster fits snugly.
Summary
The elephant in the room for this release is the lack of a ride. In the film he rides a Aratech C-PH Patrol Speeder, and it might have been nice to see another new Speeder added to the line and the figure released with that.
That being said, the execution of the Trooper as a standalone figure is very good with just a few niggles around the shoulder articulation and the blaster and gun holding hand.
I score the Imperial Patrol Trooper a very impressive 4 out of 5.
Got a Ride?
If you are itching to get your Imperial Patrol Trooper mounted on a bike of some description then we are happy to report that the figure can be used with the existing Speeder Bike mould (either standard or Shadow Squadron). There is enough articulation as to get the Trooper seated on the bike, and the only downside is that the holes on the Patrol Troopers feet don't like up with the pegs on the foot pedals.
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