Review – Star Wars ARC-170 Elite Squad Battle Pack

“A small number of the Republic starfleet’s ARC-170 starfighters are crewed by elite clone troopers, trained to go deep into enemy territory on the most dangerous scouting missions and raids. These squads undergo advanced “aggressive reconnaissance” training taught by Advanced Recon Commandos to equip them with the skills necessary to survive the varied and treacherous mission profiles to which they are assigned. The ARC-170 Elite Squads served with distinction during the Outer Rim Sieges, providing crucial intelligence and support during campaigns on the major Separatist homeworlds.”
— from the back of the box

Target loves exclusives. At least, that how it feels to me. It seems that as if every year (for the last few years) there are exclusive G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars releases at Target. Sure they’re repaints and repacks, but every now and then one of these Battle Packs jumps out as something really cool. It probably comes as no surprise to you that I think this particular pack — that includes clone troopers — is one of those really cool packs.

Packaging

The window boxes that have become so common these days certainly look cool — I mean, just click on that image above and check out how all of the figures are posed on a background as if it were a scene — but they’re really annoying to me since they take up so much room and the twist ties and plastic pieces in the box are a hassle to deal with. I’d be happier with a smaller box, with the figures bagged and loose inside, but I understand why Hasbro uses these boxes since it no doubt helps sales and it’s the sort of presentation retailers are looking for.

It’s an attractive box, it’s just wasteful and frustrating to unpack. Toy Bender had a great piece on packaging last week — Toy Garbage, Come On Already — that showed just how much trash some of these boxes produce. I’ve never been a huge environmentalist or anything, but I think toy packaging is getting ridiculous; and this ARC-170 Elite Squad Battle Pack is a perfect example of just how much trash we get when buying a toy.

As I said, though, it does give the designers space to create some very nice packages. The photo above, the back of the ARC-170 Elite Squad Battle Pack, shows a great photo of the five figures that are included in the box. (And in the background you can see an ARC-170; but we’re not reviewing the vehicle today, so I’ll skip any discussion of what I think of that vehicle’s design.)

Astromech Droid

“These multi-use droids are found everywhere, thanks to their many functions that include repairing ships like ARC-170 fighters and providing navigational support. They are equipped with a variety of tools to meet almost any need or situation.”
— from the back of the box

So once you’ve reviewed one or two Astromech Droids (R3-T7 reviewed here and R5-A2 reviewed here) then you’ve reviewed them all, right? Wrong. The Astromech Droid included with this set — the poor guy doesn’t even get a name — may look like some of the older Astromech Droids that I’ve reviewed, but he’s got one major difference: this guy’s leg extends/retracts depending on which direction you turn his head.

Otherwise, this Astromech Droid is a lot like any basic R2 unit, with the distinctive shape that we’ve loved for over thirty years. His coloring, as with all of the droids of this design, is the only thing that sets him apart from the other droids of this design, but unfortunately the color choices don’t feel all that appropriate for this set. The droid’s color scheme makes him stand out from the other included figures; I would have rather seen the droid get a pattern identical to that on the clone troopers in the pack (below), and a gray-blue that matches the pilots’ flight suits. This is just personal preference, though, and there’s nothing really wrong with this droid.

If you wanna know more about Astromech Droid action figures, hit this Complete Modern Astromech Droid Checklist. I’ve linked to this before, but it’s a cool enough list that it’s worth a re-link.

ARC-170 Troopers

“Bred and trained for combat, clone troopers are the huge fighting force of the Galactic Republic. Within this vast army, select clones are chosen to serve as ARC-170 troopers and are put through an intense training program that includes advanced survival and gunnery skills.”
— from the back of the box

The ARC-170 Elite Squad Battle Pack comes with two identical clone troopers in distinctive, attractive armor. A fairly basic Revenge of the Sith clone trooper design, the two troopers in this pack stand out from the pack because of the paint jobs: patterns on the legs, shoulder pads, and eye decoration painted above the visor make these look unlike any other clone trooper in my collection.

The clone troopers feature okay articulation: ball-jointed head, ball and hinge shoulders, knees, and elbows, twisty wrists, waist, and feet, and simple rotating hip joints. As with many armored figures, though, some of the articulation points are limited in motion because of the armor. The figure’s legs can’t bend all that far and the arms can only pivot in slightly toward the body before the armor on the chest hits the arm. It’s not a huge issue — especially if you’re used to this basic figure design — but it is a little annoying.

The armor’s clean on both figures, which is okay, but it would have been nice if Hasbro had given us one dirtied, weathered figure and one clean figure.

Clone Trooper Pilots

“Clone pilots fly ARC-170 fighters that see combat during the Clone Wars, from Coruscant to Nelvann and Cato Neimoida. Special helmets remove combat glare, and their chest plates have forced-ox rebreathers in case of severe damage to the fighter.”
— from the back of the box

Where the included clone troopers have useful, modern articulation, the two clone trooper pilots have an older style of figure design that looks really bad when compared to the clone troopers. The head doesn’t move, the shoulder and hip joints just rotate, the elbows are the weird “rotate on point without really changing position” design that I dislike (a diagonal cut), the wrists and waist rotate, and the knees are on ball-hinges. And that’s it. It’s not a great figure when compared to the clone trooper.

The figures do look great when posed, though, since their uniform is the basic clone trooper pilot design which is a cool blend of AT-AT Driver and TIE Pilot. Unfortunately, the paint job isn’t one of the best that I’ve seen. The details on the suit and helmet are pretty good, but the flesh paint applied to the face completely obscures the figure’s facial details. Someone with patience and skill could no doubt apply a wash to the face that would solve this problem, but it would have been nice if Hasbro had poured a few pennies into the set and had this wash added at the factory.

I do like the pilot figures, but they would have been a lot nicer if they’d been built with a newer base design and if the paint had been just a little nicer.

Closing Thoughts

Despite the fact that these are just repaints — and the Clone Trooper Pilot is a slightly older action figure design — this is a great set. I paid $20 for my box, which feels like a steal for five Star Wars action figures.

For another look at the ARC-170 Elite Squad Battle Pack take a look at this review at mastercollector.com. I’ve gotta support the review’s conclusion:

“In any case, if you’re any fan of the Star Wars action figure line, especially if you particularly like the Clones and the Droids, then you will definitely want to add the ARC-170 ELITE SQUAD to your collection! It has my highest recommendation!”

Yes, if you love stormtroopers and droids (which appear to be the most popular types of figures for people to collect), then you want this pack! It’s very cool. The only things that could make it even cooler would be for the pilots to use a better figure base and to own the ARC-170 toy that the figures go with.

Philip Reed would admit to sitting on two more Clone Trooper Battle Packs . . . but then you’d know what a complete stormtrooper geek he is. Though it’s not as if he keeps it a secret since he wears his stormtrooper hoodie out in public.