Sideshow's Sixth Scale Snowtrooper...

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Wow. Ain't the title of this post a mouthful? Hahaha. Anyhoo, honestly I can't even remember when was the last time I got myself a 1/6 Sideshow figure. All of my recent one-sixth haul were exclusively from Hot Toys. But when it comes to Star Wars inevitably I have to go back to Sideshow (even though Hot Toys acquired the license as of late....have you guys seen their Bespin Luke? Excellent!). Not withstanding the fact that Hot Toys can now also produce Star Wars figures, this is one Sideshow offering that you can't afford to give a miss as I doubt Hot Toys is gonna do a similar character anytime soon. As mentioned in my earlier post sometime last month, my dear wife snagged me not one but TWO 1/6 Star Wars figures....this excellent Snowtrooper and the Padawan Obi Wan (which I'm gonna look into sometime later this month.....I hope!). So let's look into the Snowtrooper first shall we?


Rebel's rant.

I just want to get something out of my system before we start. I was mulling over some reviews at tfw2005.com the other day and I came across a very nasty comment by some dude who commented that a particular review done on the new Generations Voyager Springer wasn't up to mark simply because that particular review was full of pictures and had contained less words aka less of the 'review' elements in it. Of course, the reviewer came to his own defense by saying that his pictorial reviews speak a thousand words...and he is not wrong! I mean, everyone has their own style of reviewing stuff. That's what makes every and each of our blog/post unique, right? If you're not too keen on seeing pictures, then I suggest you move on to the the next review where it's more 'wordy' and has minimal (I'd say 2 or 3) pictures. Sites like www.oafe.net is a good example. Sorry, I'm not jumping to this particular reviewer's defense too but I feel kinda irritated for people who post those kinda 'comments'. If you don't have much (nice things) to say, then it'll probably be better if you don't say anything at all ain't it?

Ok.....rant over. Let's really get onto the Snowtrooper this time! LOL.

Packaging

Nothing you've never seen before. Rectangular black box...magnet enclosures....no irritating twisties....two-trays.....character bio on the inside....yada, yada, yada.....

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

Here's the figure in its tray. You can clearly see here in the main tray the Snowtrooper, his E-11 carbine blaster (if you buy the 'Exclusive' version you'd also get the long-rifle blaster gun), his thermal backpack and his thermal detonator at the bottom right. The figure stand that comes with the Snowtrooper  comes with a snow 'layer' which is really a nice touch by Sideshow.

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

If you can make it out in the picture, there is a second tray underneath the main tray. That one has 4 extra hands, each with its own pegs. Nice one Sideshow, at least we won't have to take those darn pegs out every time you wanna switch hands (Hot Toys please take note!).

Sideshow 12" Snowtrooper

'Custom' headsculpt

I don't have much spare 1/6 head sculpts laying around and even if I had one, the neck peg isn't compatible at all with the Snowtrooper's peg. I've always been intrigued by the man (or woman) beneath the Stormtrooper, Scout Trooper & the Snowtrooper's helmet. Before the prequels came, we were shrouded by the identity mysteries of the persons behind the 'troopers and even Boba Fett's mask. Now after Lucasfiilm gave us the Prequels, we can more or less imprint inside our heads (no pun intended!) that them Clones/Boba Fett look like Jango Fett/Temuera Morrison underneath their helmets

History has it that the 'post ROTS' Republic Troopers however, were not exclusively originated from Jango's DNA duplications. I've read somewhere that after the events of ROTS ('Revenge of the Sith'), most clones fought on for the self-appointed Emperor but soon after, a bunch of 'em eventually rebelled against him and left the Republic (later the Empire) army. Some became mercenaries and some even went into hiding. That eventually lead the Empire to recruit more 'normal' humans aka non-clones to fill in the gaps within their military forces since the Emperor had decided against continuing the reproduction of more clones on Kamino. Taking these 'facts' as basis for my quick custom, I decided to ask Tobey Mcguire (from the Spiderman 3 fame) to double up as my 'helmet-less' Snowtrooper for today's pictorial review. I totally love that 'emo/angst-ridden' head sculpt so he didn't disappoint when he was asked to don the Snowtrooper uniform. Take a look...

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Articulation-wise, I had no problems at all posing him in various poses and stances. The joints were a bit tight when you first try to move them but after a while they get easier to rotate and stuff. The 'armour' does not restrict the limbs movements too much which is really a great effort on Sideshow's part!

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

His body armour was a joy to put together. I mean, they main chest piece was already attached on the figure when I first pop him open but you gotta strap him together with the thermal backpack and onto his back to complete his look. Nor problems at all there. You need not spend more than 1-minute to do all those...it's that simple! And the thermal detonator clips onto his belt...you can place it anywhere on his belt. Sweet!

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

snowtrooper helmet vs sans helmet

My 5-year old son quickly pointed out to me that I was factually wrong when I placed dear ol' Pete Parker's head onto the Snowtrooper's body. He came rushing at me saying..."Daddy, he looks different!". He is NOT wrong by the way. He showed me this.....


That 3.75" Snowtrooper came from his AT-AT crew member ensemble. All of them had the clone/Jango/Temuera head sculpt. Now, my question to Hasbro is...how can that be? This is a 'young' clone head sculpt we're talking about here. Simply not possible since the clones have aged considerably (hey, their growth WERE accelerated since they were young, right?) since the end of ROTS. Don't tell me that (according to Hasbro's version of the SW movie-verse) the Emperor suddenly decided to continue with the 'production' on Kamino? Brownie points to my son for pointing this fact out....and a slap to Hasbro's corporate face for not paying attention to the history of the clones. LOL.

Helmet...on!

I think one of the most menacing portraits from the Star Wars universe belongs to the Snowtrooper. I've always been intrigued by the Snowtroopers more than the other 'Troopers. They look more mysterious than the rest of the 'Troopers. I felt sorry for that particular Snowtrooper who fell prey to that Wampa in the blu-ray deleted scene in ESB. Hilarious, but I thought these guys were much more battle-alert and more resilient....what more being surprised by a wampa! I wouldn't have felt so bad if that were to happen to a Stormtrooper or a Sandtrooper.....LOL.

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

I love the 'flexible' plastic used in place of cloth for that drape of err...cloth hanging from his helmet. It looks hard but when you touch it you'll immediately feel its soft rubbery texture. You'll be able to turn his head with such ease as the drape of cloth/plastic doesn't limit the head movements at all.

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

One of the major complaints received from collectors out there is that this figure has 'squinty' eyes. It does look a bit on the smaller side but I'm not too concerned with that really. I love it that we can see that the lenses are green in colour, similar to that of the stormtroopers.

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

Paint and Weathering

There's not much to talk about when it comes to paint. For God's sake, he's all white! But that does not mean that he's supposed to be clean as a whistle. Sideshow has successfully given this figure one of the most weathered look I've seen on a white-themed action figure. Every nook and cranny here has some sort of wash or smear to replicate the effects of real-world wear and tear. His gloves and his jumpsuit underneath the armour has stains. His armour plates have scratches and dings. His boots are downright 'dirty'. Even his helmet and the drape of plastic has some smudges on them (Hoth's apparently a very dirty place indeed underneath all that snow!). Real top-notch work here by the Sideshow team. Excellent!!!

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

E-11 Carbine Blaster

It's no secret that George Lucas created many of the weapons used in the SW original trilogy films from real-life items from the real world. The Snowtrooper's E-11 Carbine Blaster is also used by the Stormtroopers. Ol' George crafted this weapon from the Sterling machinegun used by the British during WW2. Of course the E-11 is made out of plastic here but the paint and dry brushing made it look battle-weary and battered. Nice!

E-11_carbine blaster

It even comes with the 'folding stock' option below. But of course, the 'unfolded' mode never made it appearance in any of the films so naturally I'll display the blaster in its 'folded' mode aka its iconic position.

E-11_folding stock

THE REBEL'S VERDICT: Definitely a MUST-HAVE in your 1/6 Star Wars collection! Heard that he's pretty limited worldwide (not sure exactly how many were produced though) so if you wanna get him for your Imperial collection you better search for him now before he disappears like the rest of his OTC 'Trooper brethren. My only grouse is that he should've come with a 'generic' head sculpt/portrait (be it 'Temuera' or some John Doe) so we'd get an alternative display option. Mind you, the prices of these Sideshow figures have risen steadily over the years to catch up with the benchmark set by industry leaders such as Hot Toys and Enterbay. Luckily for us, the quality has improved tremendously too in tandem to their price increase. Nevertheless, this Snowtrooper here is worth every penny (my wife) paid for him. I wish I had caught the 'Trooper-collecting bug sooner coz now I found myself in a very difficult mode to track down the earlier Stormtrooper (fat chance) and the Sandtrooper for a bargain.

Sideshow Sixth Scale Snowtrooper

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