1/6 Hot Toys - TMS 023 - The Clone Wars: 501st Battalion Clone Trooper (DELUXE VERSION)

[RandomHero]

One of the Youtube guys, I can't recall which one, was saying that the pre-order numbers of this are very low in Hong Kong and that it may ship internationally quicker than expected. I for one can't wait to get my two 501st Battlalion Troopers in hand.

Honest question, does Star Wars ever sell well in Hong Kong? I don't know if anyone would have those numbers, but Star Wars is woefully unpopular in Asia, with Japan being the exception. They're much more into Marvel/DC over there.

I don't know how sales on the 501st compare to other Star Wars characters, but I can't imagine they'll be so low they get to Sideshow way quicker than usual. And, if sales truly are that low, it probably doesn't bode well for 212th and other Clones, unless the Western markets really picked up the slack.

 

[CrankbaitJon]

Honest question, does Star Wars ever sell well in Hong Kong? I don't know if anyone would have those numbers, but Star Wars is woefully unpopular in Asia, with Japan being the exception. They're much more into Marvel/DC over there.

I don't know how sales on the 501st compare to other Star Wars characters, but I can't imagine they'll be so low they get to Sideshow way quicker than usual. And, if sales truly are that low, it probably doesn't bode well for 212th and other Clones, unless the Western markets really picked up the slack.

For SW, troopers tend to do better than characters in the Asian market. At least the non-ST troopers do. CW are not popular in Hong Kong though, that's for sure.

I wouldn't worry about having the Western market driving sales for CW troops, it's probably the case for Rex and Cody.

 

[CrankbaitJon]

One of the Youtube guys, I can't recall which one, was saying that the pre-order numbers of this are very low in Hong Kong and that it may ship internationally quicker than expected. I for one can't wait to get my two 501st Battlalion Troopers in hand.

I was bored so I looked up Secret Base FB page for some info. The initial pick up for 501 troopers are for orders made on Aug 26 before 16:00. The figure was announced on Aug 26 so this first batch is only for orders on the first half of the day (they close late).

By comparison, Rescue first batch pickup was for 4 days of PO as it was announced on the 24th and pick was up to orders made up to the 27th.

Of course, they can have a huge shipment of Rescue and a tiny shipment of 501 troopers so my info could mean nothing, lol. If the number of units are similar, the 501 is doing really well.

 

[chrisstbh]

The Phase 1 helmet just doesn't look right at all, it looks massive. Also never been a fan of Phase 1 clones with markings anyway, prefer them shiny or with the minimal markings from AOTC.

 

[Centrocal]

Ratchet joints on the hips, thats a big improvement over Cody.

 

[dukefett]

One of the Youtube guys, I can't recall which one, was saying that the pre-order numbers of this are very low in Hong Kong and that it may ship internationally quicker than expected. I for one can't wait to get my two 501st Battlalion Troopers in hand.

I can see that there in HK, but I remember seeing several people saying they were ordering 4-6 of these guys since there's so many options. I ordered two myself.

 

[fantasticfrog]

I ordered 3. It seems that many people are doing at least 2, so hopefully sales are good. Depending on what I think of these, determines if I get 2 or 3 of the coruscant guard. Now we need sidious. Just like the boba 2 pack, one as sidious and one as chancellor. Ha, that will never happen (unless he appears in the mandalorian).

 

[CrankbaitJon]

I'm still waiting for that airborne trooper.

 

[Mike86]

Watched that review on YouTube. Overall it’s a Trooper. Nothing super special, but looks like a good release. I would like a couple, but may just grab one. We’ll see.

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

The Phase 1 helmet just doesn't look right at all, it looks massive. Also never been a fan of Phase 1 clones with markings anyway, prefer them shiny or with the minimal markings from AOTC.

Yes.
I agree.
It looks good on Hasbro figures...but not at 1/6th.
Hoping some phase 1 and 2 clean armour will be shown at whatever virtual cons are happening this year!

 

[SOU7567]

The Phase 1 helmet just doesn't look right at all, it looks massive. Also never been a fan of Phase 1 clones with markings anyway, prefer them shiny or with the minimal markings from AOTC.

Feel like the Phase 1 helmet with these 501st markings always looked a bit off, Sideshow did it with their last batch of 501st clones too.

When it comes to Phase 1, always preferred the standard white look too, a few exceptions were Fives and Echo's one off Phase 1 armor in Season 3.

 

[MyenShi]

I wish they would tone down the weathering for these troopers.

Hot Toys is good at being consistent with their paintwork so the weathering effects are always very crisp and clear, making it exceptionally clear that the distinctive wear marks are identical on every trooper if you have multiple.

At least that won't be a problem for the inevitable vanilla Clone.

 

[Rbeato]

Yeah...if orders are low on this it’ll definitely hurt the chance of other clones. Most probably gravitated towards Rex over this. If this ends up with a low run, it’ll go the way of the remnant trooper on the secondary market with the ol a year from now “looking for this for a good price”

 

[Chamberlian]

Saw this video:

looks like HT spelled “Battalion” wrong on stand lol.

 

[wantanin]

Saw this video:

looks like HT spelled “Battalion” wrong on stand lol.

repost....

 

[SOU7567]

Honestly don't think we have to worry about sales for this one, it'll do fine.

 

[Chamberlian]

repost....

Guess with all the ads of not being signed in I missed the OG post.

 

[Chainedstream]

The one thing rushed on this figure is the Phase 1 helmet. Sad, I was thinking about using it on one of the clones. But that’s out of the window since they failed to replicate the correct size. Current one is oversized, as you can see in the promo shots and the one review on YouTube.

I hope they fix it for future releases. Can’t have a clean AOTC clone trooper with an oversized helmet.

 

[chrisstbh]

The one thing rushed on this figure is the Phase 1 helmet. Sad, I was thinking about using it on one of the clones. But that’s out of the window since they failed to replicate the correct size. Current one is oversized, as you can see in the promo shots and the one review on YouTube.

I hope they fix it for future releases. Can’t have a clean AOTC clone trooper with an oversized helmet.

Basic paint job aside, the actual sculpt for the Phase I helmet looked way better in the tease we got for them with CW Anakin. Much sharper.

 

[Chainedstream]

Agreed. But it's still somewhat oversized. Believe Sideshow made a better sculpt of the phase 1. They made more clones, therefore more experience with the development of said sculpts. So not that strange.

Future sculpts will be better, HT won’t settle with this one! They improved the body for this release, weird if they stopped improvements now.