Review – Star Wars Spacetrooper

“The ability of spacetroopers to operate exclusively in space made them a valuable asset to the warlord, Grand Admiral Thrawn. These highly-armed stormtroopers wear full-body armor and have equipment that enables them to function as personal space-capable assault vehicles.”
— from the card back

From the same 1998 toy series as the Dark Trooper (reviewed here), the Star Wars Spacetrooper figure is another “expanded universe” character, this time taken from the comic adaptation of Heir to the Empire. Unfortunately, unlike the Dark Trooper this particular figure feels cheap; there’s something weird about the plastic that makes the spacetrooper feel as if he’s going to break every time I handle him. And not only does the toy feel cheap but it also looks . . . well, pretty bad. The coloring is dull, the paint minimal (sure, it’s a white figure, but many stormtrooper and clone trooper figures look a lot nicer than this one), and overall the figure just feels like it’s not worth playing with.

As with all of the releases from this series, the figure’s articulation is limited to leg, arm, waist, and head; forget trying to bend the knees or elbows. The spacetrooper, as poor a toy as it is, didn’t even come with any accessories (beyond the cardboard display). The spacetrooper’s weapon is retractable, swinging out from beneath its left arm. And no, it’s not a cool feature. It’s cheap, looks cheap, and forces you to pose the spacetrooper in a lame position if you want to aim his weapon at anything.

Do not buy this toy!

If I didn’t already own the spacetrooper, and if I had the chance to check him out before I bought him, I would not bother even looking at this Star Wars toy. This is easily one of the worst of the 1998 series, which is sad since I usually love all stormtrooper figures. If you can find one of these cheap somewhere — the original $6 price is about right — and you love stormtroopers then you may as well grab him. But don’t bother paying the prices I’m seeing online; $30-$40 is ridiculous for this toy.

www.rebelscum.com has more photos and information on the spacetrooper figure, including a nice shot of the packaging (which I was unable to take since I chopped the package apart over a decade ago). The site’s got an entire page devoted to this series and it’s worth poking around at if you enjoy the Star Wars expanded universe.

For a completely different look at the “spacetrooper” in Star Wars, take a look at this blog post at TK-899’s White Armor Chronicles. I never thought twice about those two stormtroopers in “A New Hope” but looking at the first still I can see how their backpacks are different. I wonder why Hasbro hasn’t made a figure of these guys yet.

Philip Reed feels bad that he hates this toy, but he would feel even worse if he hadn’t paid $6 for it over a decade ago. Hasbro needs to work on releasing a new spacetrooper, and this time put some thought into the figure! As soon as a good spacetrooper hits the market Phil will grab it; until then, this sad excuse for a stormtrooper will live in a box.