Review: Hasbro’s Star Wars Command army men

 

Two things I like in a figure are historical accuracy and realism. I like good poses, good detail and good proportions. A miniature soldier is a story in itself. I like to look at a figure and see the story of the character it portrays.

 

The Star Wars Command figures, which are Star Wars army men, are some of the best figures I have seen in the science fiction genre. Good detail and animated poses make them a charm. They are true to the movie characters they portray. When you look at a Star Wars figure, you know exactly who he is and what he is doing. That is, if you know the movies. My only complaint about the figures themselves is that a few have smallish heads. That is it. The choice of poses and even the plastic colors are just right.

 

I ordered a 51-piece figure set from an Amazon vendor and two smaller sets from Hasbro Toy Shop on Ebay. Wow! Nice figures all around. Along with the various rebel and Imperial troops are characters such as Wookies and Tusken Sand people. They look good. Whether making a diorama of a Star Wars gunfight or playing a skirmish game, the Hasbro Star Wars army men are excellent.

The science fiction genre occasionally gets some really nice figures. The old Ajax figures had six poses of classic spacemen that looked good. Archer’s spacemen were nice, too. Marx produced astronauts, spacemen and aliens worth having. One of the best and most common sets in the old days was by MPC. They were Mercury-type astronauts in various poses. The original MPC figures were well-posed and sculpted. They were followed in the 1970s by the Tim Mee Galaxy Laser Team.

The Star Wars figures are fun both for fans of the movie franchise and for sci-fi skirmish gamers. For games, there are armored infantry, light troops, unarmored station personnel and some weird aliens. In fact, you could easily build a heavy infantry squad with the Stormtroopers. They have a kneeling and standing figure with a short submachine-gun sized weapon and a "sandtrooper" with what looks like a light machine gun. There is even a binoculars guy among the Stormtroopers.

 

Two things I like: good minatures and good sci-fi. I liked the first two Star Wars movies because they were entertaining. I had a problem with the third and its teddy bear Ewoks. I tried to watch the fourth on cable, but it was a kiddie movie. Good sci fi is not kiddie cutesy. Good sci fi is gritty and tough. The first two Star Wars movies had enough edge to them. Farscape and Starship Troopers did not pull their punches, either. That’s what I like.

 

The figure sets I bought were mostly characters from the first two movies. Like good sci fi, the figures were in animated poses and had the right detail and realism. These are the kind of space army men I will enjoy having. They have character.

 

I understand that Hasbro has discontinued the series, so get while the getting is good. I found a great deal at the Hasbro Toy Shop on Ebay. They have four sets total. I got good deals on Amazon, but it seems the 51 piece set is now over $20. Get `em while you can because these are nice figures and great pieces for space skirmish games.

 

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If we judge by movies and TV shows, some of the worst soldiers in space are the Imperial Stormtroopers and original Star Trek’s redshirts. They are lousy shots and take a lot of casualties. Most movie bad guys are like that.

 

As an Army veteran, I would think Imperial stormtroopers and Federation of Planets redshirts would be much more formidable. They would be trained to fight and defend. They would be given intensive weapons training, especially in using personal weapons. The stormtroopers and redshirts would also be taught to disperse and use cover rather than "bunch up" in a mob. Were they handled more realistically, security forces would be crack shots who attacked and defended with skill. Amateurs would have no chance against them.

 

A squad of soldiers just out of basic training in Fort Dix circa 1972 could make short work of a platoon of Imperial Stormtroopers or Federation redshirts. Imagine a sci fi story where the enemy is formidable. Imagine he is motivated, trained and very skillful in use of weapons and tactics. He is a good shot! That would be a good story, indeed!