VC Deluxe Darktrooper Review

 

If you played the Dark Forces video game back in the 1990's you should be familiar with the Darktroopers. Hasbro made one for the POTF2 Expanded Universe wave in 1998 and around 2010 featured a build-a-droid version exclusive to Wal-Mart. When the 2nd season of The Mandalorian came in 2020, they were brought into Disney Canon by kidnapping Grogu on Tython and served as fodder for Luke Skywalker's rescue of Grogu 2 episodes later. Hasbro once again has made a Darktrooper figure, but this time as deluxe figure. There are some good, and some not so good things about this figure.

The bad thing originally for this figure was the $27.99 price tag. Now you can find these half off at Target, I paid full price for all 4, yet bought 2 with a gift card. Is it worth $28? Well, no. But inflation being what it is, that's the price for a deluxe figure. The figure comes with a "charging station" that is very simple to build. It took me less than 2 minutes to put the stations together. The longest part of building was inserting the cables, which really don't attach well to the figure and are really just ceremonial pieces. It doesn't help keep the figure in the station, so this could be optional for you. The station is 3 separate pieces: 2 walls and a back board. It easily snaps together, you don't need the included instructions but you should give them a once over before you put it together. The advantage of having more than one is you get better display options.

How about the figure itself? Well, it's pretty good, with 25 POA! However with all that articulation there are problems getting him to stand on his own. Taking pictures was a literal pain in the ass as he kept falling over, so I had to lean him against things to get most of the pictures. And since he's in all black, I used a white comic book backing board so that he would stand out in pictures. Posing him was a problem. His shoulder and hip joints are very tight, as are some of his elbow and knee joints. He comes with a blaster that can be stored on his right thigh. I didn't think it would fit as the peg looked too small, but it does fit. He can hold the blaster the best with his right hand, and no I didn't attempt a two-handed weapon grip, he feels too fragile to pull that off and I don't want to break the figure.

The other accessories are swappable fists, which is easy to do, even though it feels like you'll break the figure trying to do it. You might want to place the parts in just boiled water to swap the hands out to prevent breakage. Flame effects are also included, but while they can go in the center of the foot, I found they fit best in the heel. I yelled many F bombs trying to get the flames in the center, and gave up. A feature I couldn't photograph is his light up eye feature. Hold the figure next to a light source and his eyes will "glow". It's a similar feature to the Super Powers Darkseid figure from the Kenner days, but sadly I couldn't get a shot of the glowing eyes.

Now should you get this figure? Yes, but only at the discounted price. At best, this is a $20 figure. Had he not come with the charging station he could have fit on a card as he isn't a big figure. You can find some of these in the Target clearance section now, unless they've all been scooped up. My only complaint is the figure is hard to stand on its own, and feels gummy in certain places. It is well sculpted and painted, and having the blaster properly fit in the leg notch and not move is a plus. If you love the Mandalorian series you need these guys to kidnap Grogu, punch Din Djarin and serve as Luke Skywalker's punching bags. But if you don't like the Mandalorian, you might want to skip them, at least at full price.

All pictures were taken by me, also please feel free to share this post on your social media so I can gain new readers! Thanks for reading!