Pros : New Trooper Head Sculpt. Cloak works well. Weathering is well applied and looks realistic. Gun is the updated E11 from 2016
Cons : Articulation has issues in places thanks to the armour - this is a historic issue with the Stormtrooper body
The Mimban Stormtrooper, as his name suggests, is part of the Imperial force on Mimban at the time Han Solo was serving in the Imperial Infantry. The Stormtrooper appears to be some for of commander or elite trooper while Solo's unit, the Mud Troopers, are more conscripted infantry fighting on the front lines.
The figure is an exclusive release, being sold in Walmart in the US and as a shared exclusive in UK through the usual independent stores. While it is essentially a Phase 3 red line release, the first thing that strikes you is the use of a brown colouration on the box. While muted, it does give the figure a neat point of difference.
The rear of the box confirms the Stormtroopers role on Mimban alongside the usual warnings. The oversticker we see on our review copy, purchased at Kapow Toys, confirms this as supplied from the Far East.
The brown colouring of the box continues in the inner tray. This doesn't enhance the figure so much as the red on say the Range Trooper, but it does work considering the background and environment these Stormtroopers find themselves in. The figure is slotted into the inner tray with the cloak gathered up to one side. The standard E11 blaster sits to the side of the figures head.
The first thing to mention is that this is not just a standard Stormtrooper with dirty paint wash and a cloak. The figure has a brand new Trooper head sculpt as the Mimban troopers come with a larger processing dome for enhanced sensors (source : Solo Visual Guide). This new head still carries the standard Stormtrooper proportions.
The visor is more muted than we'd normally see and the edge of that dome section is a grey. The same grey is used on the cheek vents, these would normally be blue. The whole dome is weathered with a mud effect brushed quite effectively onto the white of the helmet.
The rest of the Mimban Stormtrooper is a direct re-use of the existing Stormtrooper body. This is now nearly 5 years old, but still holds up against the newer releases. The armour shape and panels are all crisp and then we have a further application of mud paint effect, which gets progressively worse as we move down to the legs. The Mimban Trooper finishes with grey painted feet rather than white. Not sure if this is the actually boot colour or if this is meant to be the final colouring of mud - in which case I would expect it to be brown not grey.
The cloak is a new addition and this is attached via stitching into the chest piece, not round the neck as you might expect. The cloak is the newer floaty material as seen on recent releases like the 2017 Vader. It is cut in two pieces, one of which initially looks like a hood - but it isn't. While I had expected the cloak to look odd being bright black against the dirty trooper it is a pleasant surprise to find the cloak too has been weathered and dirtied.
The Stormtrooper is packed with one weapon, the standard issue E11 blaster. This is not a re-use of the standard Stormtrooper figure E11, but is instead the one packed in 2016 with the Scarif Trooper and Hovertank Pilot. The gun isn't a single tone cast piece, but is accentuated with silver highlights across the weapon.
It slots neatly into the right hand, with a flexible trigger finger on the figure which will slot into place once the gun is in hand.
Articulation remains as it was in 2014 when this base body debuted, but that isn't too bad when you consider this body comes with double jointed elbows allowing for some two handed weapon poses even with the stubby E11. The figure comes, in total, with 16 points of articulation starting with the ball jointed head and followed underneath with a further ball joint in the chest.
The arms are ball jointed shoulders although these can't raise too much because of the larger shoulder armour pieces. The figure pre-dates the ability to have the shoulder slide into the chest when the arm is raised. As mentioned we then have double jointed elbows, and sitting above these is a bicep swivel to aid rotation. The arms end in pivot and swivel wrists.
The legs also find themselves restricted as the ball jointed hips are also held back but the armour around them. The knees are double jointed and we finish with ankle rockers. While the Stormtrooper can kneel, the leg articulation in the main is restricted to some wider action poses.
In the grand schemes of things, the Mimban Stormtrooper got nothing more than a passing shot in Solo, but with anything Star Wars if we embellish it via reading the visual guide and see it in toy form then us collectors are going to want it. While it is a US Walmart exclusive, it hasn't been too hard to get in the UK and the price has not been anything silly. It is also a bonus to find the figure is a little bit more than a dirty stormtrooper with a cape.
The Mimban Stormtrooper is a figure that has exceeded my expectations and I score it a 4 out of 5.
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