Hot Toys The Force Awakens Exclusive Stormtrooper Squad Leader.

[mynameschris]

*VERY* lame to have the pauldron glued/attached to the armor - this is definitely a figure I'll skip, but so far I've got the regular troopers on my tentative "to buy" list - but I'll watch the movie first. This whole TFA being good is going to be problematic-long term.

I hear that, there are a few on my list like Kylo Ren and the Snow Troopers but I want to see the movie first before getting too interested in these figures and most should hopefully still be available in 3 months time. This I have actually ordered because I thought he looked pretty good and may pick Phasma up when she goes up because if I don't buy anything else from TFA they will look great in my collection. Need to see what the characters do and see what options for display I may have especially with the Lightsaber wielders as would love (before seeing the film or the second figure) to set him up against Finn (based soley on the Instagram teaser).

Back to this guy though, having the pauldron glued on sucks as it would obviously be cool to have the option to buy one and display him as either the Squad Leader or a regular Trooper (and if they release more swap the pauldron colour) but I really like the design of these new Troopers so this was a fairly easy buy for me even with what I already have on order and everything else which may be coming up over the next year.

 

[Darkseed]

Crappy poses but with kids activities this time of year, I don't get much time to play.

 

[Rorywan]

Fun Coupons!

I didn't pay much over what the normal would ship from sideshow. It's nuts paying that much for a stand. It is a neat figure and at first glance alone it appears really beefy. The thigh armor because it is so round like a cylinder lends to the thunder thighs, but when i stood him next to ANH TK he was really not that much bigger/thicker. It really is the smoothed, less defined armor that is accentuating the large proportions. The helmet is really nice. I didn't appreciate all of the contours till seeing a higher quality version in person. The mic hole looks like it is actually metal, but its so small I cannot really tell for certain. The upgraded E-11 is really cool and a fitting upgrade. I know the white is a turn off for many but the white guns go so well with the trooper.

The under suit is really flexible rubber and I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing.

The rubber arm and leg limbs from the shoulders to wrists and mid thighs to ankles are sewn into a pleathery body suit. Pauldron is definitely glued. I wonder if heated hot enough if it would just peel off as it looks like it is affixed right on the plastic very simply. Knee pads are not that great with the rubber have to futz them around a bit to get them too look natural and not shooting off at angles.

Overall great quality and detail as we have come to expect. Happy to have the first (order) of many.

Some detail pics and with a ANH ST.

The knee pads come off and are velcro'd for easy repositioning.
The Pauldron is glued because it is structured and hard, not like previous stormies. It's actually an armor piece.

 

[hokietwo]

The knee pads come off and are velcro'd for easy repositioning.
The Pauldron is glued because it is structured and hard, not like previous stormies. It's actually an armor piece.

Well that would explain why my left kneepad was so goofy. Just removed and reapplied. Thanks for the tip Rory.

Yeah I don't mind the pauldron being attached. The textured paint on the armor piece itself was kind of different. It appears they were trying to achieve a cloth or leathery texture look with the paint.

 

[Jaycepticon]

good to know about the kneepads, mine was a little weird too. Now, if only Sideshow did that with their Jango Fett knee armors

 

[YankeesFanboy]

Very cool vid, Jay.

Would love to see more pics of the OT and ST Stormies together. Kinda like passing the baton of ineptitude.

 

[canadaclone]

I like seeing the white shoulder pad...we already have a black one....so we are due for a 2nd Sandtrooper PO anytime now HT....

 

[Chronos1919]

Very cool vid, Jay.

Would love to see more pics of the OT and ST Stormies together. Kinda like passing the baton of ineptitude.

*OT Stormtrooper tosses the baton to ST Stormtrooper, misses by a mile*

Nice pictures, hokietwo, looking forward to this one.

I agree with holding back until seeing the movies. That's why I've been pre-ordering everything that I would want at retailers that don't charge a NRD. I understand that these companies need to sell all of their product to be profitable, but forcing people to follow through with a purchase that ends up not looking like the prototype or when the movie it's based on ends up being terrible just doesn't feel right.

 

[FullMetalHippie]

Squad leader EX just released in Hong Kong. That was fast and I'm quite relieved I didn't drop the coin on the TRU version.

 

[Pixelpiper]

They should put up a big sign at Secret Base that says "Haha, suckers!"

 

[mynameschris]

I am surprised there were people who were adamant they would not sell another in HK, these things they will be able to milk money from collectors with easier than Iron Man with various versions with different coloured pauldrons, weapons, weathering, throw in a Finn head etc etc.

So now anyone ordering from a US retailer is probably 6-8 weeks away from getting one of these and the rest of us in the first couple of months of 2016, the retailer I ordered from had April I think as the Eta but I am going to assume now anytime from March based on previous Hk > US > UK timeframes.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I am surprised there were people who were adamant they would not sell another in HK,

There's no reason to be surprised. The fact of the matter is HT has lied here and the only people who should be surprised are those who took them at their word.

 

[mynameschris]

Did they actually ever come out and say that the 300 TRU ones were the only ones to be sold in HK though? As I have never heard anyone say that HT said that and instead a couple of days after Force Friday the Squad Leader appeared in the Secret Base store with a plaque saying coming soon?

 

[Pixelpiper]

It was announced as an exclusive with limits of 300 for HK, 900 for Japan and an unknown number for the rest of the world. It turns out that the only thing exclusive is 300 stands for Hong Kong and that's it. Everyone else gets the same figure which has no published edition size. Disingenuous to say the least, a manipulation.

 

[mynameschris]

Thats true but still not long after Force Friday they had him on display saying "coming soon" so the fact he would be available in HK has been known for the best part of a month that there would be another local release.

This to me is like the special edition War Machine from Iron Man 2 where they had 2 versions of the same figure, one being an 'exclusive' edition and then the other being a super limited release exclusive edition. Hot Toys' MO is pretty clear cut when it comes to this sort of thing even to a relative new comer to collecting their products (known about them since 2012 started collecting last year) so its still not that much of a surprise to anyone who found out what the plaque next to the figure on display said.

Im not disagreeing with you here though, I agree it is manipulating their market base but companies do this, Bandai did it with the Legacy Power Rangers line having a gold plated convention exclusive for the Green/White Ranger which people went nuts for as there hadn't been a toy of it in the 90s and you know gold and exclusive... then dropped a much cheaper regular version. Not quite the same but a similar concept.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Looks like it's even more confusing than we thought...

2 x Hot Toys Exclusives released on 8th Oct 2015 in HK for VIP members and lottery.

The Squad Leader is one of those figures. I've asked him if he knows how many are allocated to these VIP and Lottery winners.

 

[mynameschris]

Tbh it doesn't matter how many Budget Stark videos I watch on the subject Secret Base and HK in general is really confusing! Glad we get our figures locally even if we have to wait a while longer (and longer again for us in the UK!)

The fact the retailers are calling this an exclusive is confusing in itself as I have seen the majority of them have this up for order, then again they all had Maria Hill too while 12 months ago with Python the only place I found to order the Python exclusive was Sideshow.

 

[Eamon]

So if I have some one in Hong Kong right now, can I get one and if so, where would be the best place to get one?

 

[Pixelpiper]

So if I have some one in Hong Kong right now, can I get one and if so, where would be the best place to get one?

I'm waiting for confirmation from Budget, but as I understand it, "VIP and Lottery" means the boxes of figures coming in are pre-allocated. If there are more out there for everyone else, I hope he lets us know, if only to clear this up.

 

[Jaycepticon]