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By Julian H. Betancourt |
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ANIMATED IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER MAQUETTE
In
April of 2007 the artists at Gentle Giant Studios in cooperation with
Lucasfilm, inspired by the animation style of the Clone Wars Television
series, made available as part of their Maquette line another very
popular Original Trilogy character, an indispensable piece, the Imperial
Stormtrooper.
Loyal
to the way characters are envisioned for the range of Animated
Maquettes, the almost 8" tall dreaded white armor trooper was recreated
sporting the signature caricature approach in mind, a refreshing look
for an old favorite and a departing interpretation from its fearsome
image we are more familiar with.
The
Stormtrooper Animated Maquette's edition size was limited to 4000 pieces
worldwide, offered fully painted and nicely protected in a 30th
Anniversary box and that included a hand-numbered Certificate of
Authenticity.
ANIMATED STORMTROOPER: A LOOK AT HE SCULPT
The
Stormtrooper's running action pose departs from the commonly seen
OT maquette where the character is given more of a standing straight
stance. Armed with his E-11 blaster rifle, which he holds at waist
level with both arms, the trooper's only contact with the black
Death Star floor base excerpt beneath him is his right foot which
serves as the connecting piece to keep him standing. Under his boot
there is a metal connector that gets inserted into a small opening
on the base securing the sculpt. His left leg is raised and bent at
the knee recreating the running effect. Some people considered this
to be an odd pose and were not thrilled with it as they would had
preferred the Stormtrooper to be simply standing, flanking the Darth
Vader Maquette. However, the pose has been in fact a welcoming idea
to others, displaying not only one but two Stormtroopers on each
side of Vader as if they were on their way to "maintain order" on
the outer worlds of the Empire after receiving precise orders from
the Sith Lord himself or just raiding the Tantive IV as seen at the
beginning of A New Hope, while Vader stood there, cold and imposing.
It
is easy to feel the overall slightly light weight of this piece
when compared to others in the Line. Seems possible a less heavy
material might had been used for its construction perhaps to
avoid too much stress to the one point touching the base, the
thin leg, and better support the weight of the sculpt.
Just
like the previous General Grievous and Anakin did, the iconic
Stormtrooper comes disassembled in the box. The body
and base are packed separately in corresponding Styrofoam
protecting slots, avoiding any possible stress on the
Stormtrooper's brittle leg while in shipment.
The
application of the paint is good except for the base where the
gray squares around its edge were sloppily painted.
ANIMATED STORMTROOPER: FINAL THOUGHT Stormtroopers can strike with speed and accuracy and so can this new Maquette by Gentle Giant. Despite some negative reaction caused by the action pose giving the false optical illusion the Stormtrooper is shorter than it should be, or perhaps the cartoonish lines of the face mask's out slung jaw, the sculpt is in fact well proportioned and rendered to match the rest of the characters in the Animated Line. The fact is, the Animated line is hard to screw up since likenesses is simply based on the artist's interpretation of the character in animated form, following an already established design.
Furthermore,
this is a maquette pictures don't do it much justice and it
should be looked at first hand to appreciate its sleek
tooling. There is a pleasing feeling obtained from the striking
contrast of having the Stormtrooper displayed next to the
Animated Vader and once it's up on a shelf, disappointment is
basically nonexistent. A thumbs-up piece overall.
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