Here we are at the fourth and final day of Force Awakens Week and I’m wrapping up my look at this initial assortment of 6-inch Black with the sexy new Stormtrooper armor of Episode 7. Yes, I am aware that Chewbacca was included in this assortment, but I opted out on him as I already have the previous Black Series release. If anyone out there got him and wants to chime in on whether he’s any different, please be my guest!

Once again, there’s the newly redesigned packaging for the series and I’m still totally digging it. You get a little blurb about the new First Order Stormtroopers on the back of the box, but no answer to the one question I want to know: Can they shoot straight? When the film was first revealed, it never even occurred to me that anyone would try something so bold as to redesign the iconic Stormy armor and yet we soon got a shot of the helmet and it was love at first sight for me.

Probably the most fun thing for me about getting this figure in hand, at least initially, was having the ability to scrutinize the new armor with the old. I was expecting more similarities, and in turn some parts sharing between the figures, but everything here appears to be brand new. And if I were to pick the one thing that impresses me most about this guy it would be the lovely sheen on the armor. The regular 6-inch Black Stormtrooper is an excellent figure, but the armor isn’t shiny enough for me. Put the two figures together and you can see a huge difference and that really drives home the concept of old and new.

Another thing that struck me straightaway is the new armor looks and feels a tad bulkier. There’s more definition between the armor plates and some of the exposed black undersuit, particularly in the inner thighs. Somehow I just think this new guy is a little more convincing as a guy in armor.
Obviously there isn’t a whole lot of paint variety on this figure. What’s here is mostly good. There’s a little slop here and there and some even black lines, but most of that is just enhanced by the camera’s merciless eye and I find it barely noticeable with the figure in hand.

Articulation is a little different than what we saw in the original Stormtrooper. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, and there’s enough clearance in that socket so that the shoulder armor doesn’t become an issue. The bicep swivels are gone, but the elbows are now rotating hinges instead of double hinges. The wrists are also on rotating hinges. The legs include ball jointed hips, swivels in the thighs, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a very generious ball joint in the torso and a ball joint in the neck. I presume the head is removable, but mine is on there pretty good, and I’m not going to force it until I get at least one more.

Weapons include a rifle and a pistol sidearm. The rifle looks like the natural evolution of the E-11 Blaster. It’s somewhat similar, but with a more pronounced scope on top and some white added to the deco. The pistol also sports some white paint and almost looks like an adorable super-deformed AR-15. There’s a tab slot on his right thigh and either weapon can be pegged there when not in use.

I’ll confess that this new Stormtrooper was my most anticipated figure of this assortment and I’m happy to say he didn’t disappoint. The plastic feels great, the joints are all strong and serviceable and he just looks outstanding. There are definitely going to be at least two more of these guys in my future and I’m looking forward to the variant armors like the Flametrooper and Snowtroopers. To be honest, if he wasn’t so hard to find in the wake of Force Friday, I’d probably have a squad of First Order Troopers already.

Naturally, you can expect to see more Force Awakens toys here in the weeks ahead. I’m on board for all the 6-inch Black figures and already have the second wave pre-ordered. I would have picked up some of the 3 3/4″ figures, but they appear to be in short supply, which is rather interesting to me since collectors were so down on the 5POA style. Could it be? Perhaps kids are actually getting those figures? Wouldn’t that be something!