Review: 75121 Imperial Death Trooper
Posted by CapnRex101,
Death Troopers dominate the packaging of the entire Rogue One: A Star Wars Story product line, suggesting that Disney and Lucasfilm have high expectations for the merchandising popularity of these elite soldiers. It therefore seems likely that 75121 Imperial Death Trooper will be a particularly desirable figure.
The set is priced at £19.99 or $24.99 and contains 106 pieces which is fairly generous in relation to the other models which have gone before, particularly since there are a total of six printed pieces included as well as a unique pauldron. This all serves to indicate that 75121 will be among the best Buildable Figures yet released.
The Completed Model
Shadow Troopers have existed in the Star Wars universe for decades but the new Death Troopers are set apart by their unusual helmet design and it looks absolutely terrific on this figure. The sculpting is perfect and I love the subtle green tint of the eyes as well as the lime green lights on the chin, both of which are faithful to the source material. The vents which run down the centre of the helmet look splendid too, as does the targeting equipment mounted on the left temple.
The pauldron is made from a thin plastic sheet and features some detailed printing which lines up nicely when the sheet is folded into place. It is attached securely at the neck and on the left shoulder while three pouches hang down onto the chest. These are represented using printed tiles and I think it looks splendid but the bulky pouches do hinder the poseability a little.
Some Death Troopers do not wear a pauldron so I am pleased that you can customise the figure by removing it, as you can see below. It looks equally impressive but for the fact that some dark green plastic is visible around the neck of the trooper when it is viewed from certain angles.
Despite being obscured by the pauldron, the torso is printed with some impressive details, most notable of which is the belt. This design recalls that worn by Darth Vader while the upper torso features some lovely silver highlights and accurate grey outlines which create the shape of the armour. A pearl silver claw element is placed on the left forearm to represent what looks like a wrist-mounted blaster and the shoulder armour is accurately printed on this side but the right arm is left blank.
The legs incorporate a brand new armour component which covers the thighs. It is placed on the sides of the legs which is somewhat unusual and the inside of each leg is left exposed a result which is a bit of a shame. However, I think they look quite impressive when viewed from most angles and these panels do not restrict the articulation at all, solving an issue which has detracted from some of the earlier Buildable Figures. The more notable issue relates to the ankles which are lengthened using some extrusive dark bluish grey ball cups. These look out of place due to their colour and I think the model is improved by their removal.
The Death Trooper is armed with a variant of the standard E-11 blaster rifle and an SE-14C pistol, both of which are rendered reasonably well. The larger weapon brilliantly incorporates a spring-loaded shooter and the spare missile included can be clipped to the side of the gun barrel but this looks a bit silly in my opinion so I prefer to leave it off to the side. I like the extendable stock very much and a curved slope is used to represent the handguard which looks rather nice. Unfortunately the hands of the figure do not allow it to grip the blaster beneath the barrel and I wonder whether this could be resolved in future by the inclusion of some alternate hands.
The SE-14C consists of just seven pieces but is recognisable thanks to the prominent sight on top. It can fit onto the side of the Death Trooper's leg when holstered or be held in the hand, although the latter looks very awkward due to the length of the grip.
Overall
I had high expectations for this figure and I am fairly satisfied on the whole. The upper body looks fantastic and I love the helmet but there are a number of minor issues which are somewhat frustrating as they could quite easily have been resolved. For instance, I am sure the connector could have been cast in black for the ankle joint and the design of the new thigh panels could have enclosed the grey skeleton a little more fully.
I would recommend this set as I think it looks good overall but I am hoping that we will soon see a Buildable Figure which can match 75111 Darth Vader or 75112 General Grievous. I still think those have yet to be bested and would be delighted to see something even more impressive.
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18 comments on this article
He is awesome. love the helmet.
The figure does look spectacular but I will just concentrate my cash reserves on the System sets.
This is a great figure, but doesn't bear any resemblance to the Legends Deathtroopers.
^Ah so you have also read that horror novel? You think Lego will be able to make SW zombiees in the same way they have their Chima ones?
The figure looks cool, but its not worth the $25 price tag.
Have only bought two of these figures and those are the two you mentioned to be bested!
Definitely a purchase, after he goes on sale a bit.
It will be hard to beat Grevious. He was made for CCBS.
I quite like the head and pauldron. But I think the rest of him is pretty generic and smooth black... I would like to see a review of the TIE Striker next, that's the one set I really have no idea if I actually want or not.
I'm still waiting patiently for a regular OT Stormie to be released.
I'm still on the fence about this set. It looks pretty good to me but I'm waiting to see more of K-2SO first as that one seems even better to me. Thanks for the great review!
Great review as always, it's handy to know how some of the CCBS comes together and where elements are exposed, but it looks like you can pose it to make sure that doesn't happen. I like the small details on the Death Trooper, such as the colours on the helmet, the extra pistol and the wrist mounted item.
Might purchase this to go along with my other CCBS. Grievous and Vader may have set benchmarks that are hard to surpass though. Maybe TLG just need to release another £29.99 CCBS set so there's the pieces to make the figure more detailed again.
SHOPPiNG NEWS: I saw both this set and the Hovertank in my local Asda. Each of the sets were slightly hidden by being on the very top shelf and had no price labels, but the tank went through the till fine at £29.99! Nothing else though.
Do a lot of people like these buildable figures? With the exception of General Grevious and K-2SO (who look awesome), I think these sets look terrible.
@nate-dog7 I'm not really a fan. Most action figures that cost around the same price better resemble the characters much more in my opinion.
I think they're great, and I'm a non-CCBS fan, never having bought any Bionicle etc.
I've got all the helmeted figurines, and the only ones from the SW range that I haven't bought are the ones with stylised faces, e.g. Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, Rey, Finn, etc. as I think they look average at best.
But yeah, none of them have been able to match the Grievous figure. When I first built that I just looked at it and said "....wow!" In my normal rotation of Lego sets coming on and going off display, that's the only one that hasn't been put back in its box and put into storage.
@SprinkleOtter I just googled "Legends Death Troopers". They seriously brought zombies into the extended book universe?!!? SERIOULSY
@Dreamfall31
Yes. And the book is amazing. Can't say the same for Red Harvest.
Oh, and they brought them into a modern Disney game, so *technically* they're canon. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Trooper
The Only 1 I Want