SWS has 750 of the Yellow AOTC clone

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Actually, I've never been a big fan of the coloured clones. It always seamed to me that, in stead of a addition to a great concept and design, the colours where a bit of kitschy overkill. Besides that, the colours where not a real believable path to go when it comes to linking the PT to the OT IMO. I mean, what is left of the colour code in the OT? Apart from the (pretty extreme, and equally implausible) shadow trooper colour scheme? The Sandtroopers rank pauldron? Is that it?

Just out of curiosity, does anybody here know what the (official) explanation for the disappearance of the colour code is? I mean, how do they explain that the colours on the clones armors disappear once the OT begins - barring the Sandtroopers in ANH that is.

Ideas?

 

[Smudger9]

Not really something SWS is responsible for, but, I agree, the extra costs hurt. Would be nice if SWS would find a solution for International and European customers.

For some reason the customs charges for Sideshow items is much less then from SWS. With SS items I acutally get charged the correct 17.5%, with SWS it can be anything upto 50% which is crazy. Personally I blame Fedex, SWS should use an alternative shipper.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

For some reason the customs charges for Sideshow items is much less then from SWS. With SS items I acutally get charged the correct 17.5%, with SWS it can be anything upto 50% which is crazy. Personally I blame Fedex, SWS should use an alternative shipper.

The reason for that is simple. You get charged 17.5% VAT from SSC, because they have an official branch in Europe, and therefore have to raise (or are allowed to administer) the going European tax rate (17.5 presumably).
You have to pay 25 -30 % tax PLUS handling fees when you order from SWS, because they are an US firm with no branch in the EU and therefore are treated as such. You can't really blame FedEx for the VAT, but you can blame them for the handling fees. Other shippingcompagnies may be cheaper, or more expencive...
This may explain it pretty roughly, if anybody can get into the details, please do.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

It's been almost a month since I ordered one of those Troopers. These are suppose to ship in August. Did anybody get a shipping notice or an update or something?

 

[Buttmunch]

Actually, I've never been a big fan of the coloured clones. It always seamed to me that, in stead of a addition to a great concept and design, the colours where a bit of kitschy overkill. Besides that, the colours where not a real believable path to go when it comes to linking the PT to the OT IMO. I mean, what is left of the colour code in the OT? Apart from the (pretty extreme, and equally implausible) shadow trooper colour scheme? The Sandtroopers rank pauldron? Is that it?

Just out of curiosity, does anybody here know what the (official) explanation for the disappearance of the colour code is? I mean, how do they explain that the colours on the clones armors disappear once the OT begins - barring the Sandtroopers in ANH that is.

Ideas?

I fully expect Lucas to color code the Stormtroopers in the next OT alteration.

At least on Endor it would make sense. WHY would they wear bright white armor on a forest planet when they had camo armor 30 years prior?

 

[tomandshell]

Endor wasn't an open combat zone--they were probably regular troops doing boring patrol duty. If they were sent during war time to a hostile territory/battlefront they would probably have pulled out all the stops and had pretty armor. As it was, the troops in ROTJ were probably at the bottom of the food chain and got stuck with humiliating Ewok patrol.

 

[FQRizzo]

Endor wasn't an open combat zone--they were probably regular troops doing boring patrol duty. If they were sent during war time to a hostile territory/battlefront they would probably have pulled out all the stops and had pretty armor. As it was, the troops in ROTJ were probably at the bottom of the food chain and got stuck with humiliating Ewok patrol.

A legion of his best troops...

 

[BuddyGus]

Gonna chime in on this with my own opinion of colored troopers. I think the colored "ranked" troopers made sense in Ep 2. They were a secret army turned over to Generals that had no idea they even excisted until being turned over on the very active battlefield. It made perfect sense then to mark the troopers assigned to leadership postions. This enabled the Jedi generals to quickly identify to nearest ranking officer. During Ep 3 the trend continued by identifing units by colors and Officers by Kamas, Paulderons, Etc. As for the Ep 4-6 Troopers. By this time the troopers were basic Peace Keepers, Enforcers, Police Action type unit. White armor made them easly scene by mobs, crowds and so on. It was used as an intimidation factor. Just me thoughts. I am sure some one will bring up Sandtroopers and for that I have no answer.

 

[automaton]

by the point of ROTJ, the Empire has such an encompassing grip on the galaxy perhaps there is no need for armored rank... they are just drones at this point... expendable, never ending tools of the Emperor (Endor was a trap gone bad unbalanced only by the unpredictable alliance of the Rebels and the Ewoks).

i think it is a necessary device to contrast the days of the Republic.

 

[Darth Cruel]

George Lucas has the rank structure so screwed up that anyone trying to make sense of it is spinning their wheels. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Deal with it. Accept the fact that the clones were differentiated by colors to distinguish between Arc and regular troopers at one point, legions at another point, and Rank at yet another point. They have even used the kamas to distinguish between rank sometimes and Arc or regular troopers at other times, and then gave them to some legions of regular troopers.

Accept the fact that in the PT at some points we see that the officers are in cloth uniforms. And that when we see the armored Stormtroopers, they sometimes have colored rank designation like the Sandtroopers Pauldrons and sometimes they don't like the regular Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers.

There is no straightening it out now. It is too advanced.

 

[Coorectghosting]

Just out of curiosity, does anybody here know what the (official) explanation for the disappearance of the colour code is? I mean, how do they explain that the colours on the clones armors disappear once the OT begins - barring the Sandtroopers in ANH that is.

Ideas?

It was all about with bringing order and control to the new Empire. Can't have your own troops parading around like that making a mockery of it all. In my mind, after he declared that the Republic was now an Empire all the troops got their armor replaced with the same Phase 2 design but were forbidden to mark themselves or wear custom helmets. And at some point they were called Stormtroopers even with the Phase 2 design. Then maybe about 10 years after ROTS they all switched to the final Phase 3 design you see in the OT.

By the time you get to ANH the only remaining pieces of flair (colored pauldrons) are reserved for an elite squad that landed on Tatooine. They also had some heavy duty blasters. and some TIE pilots added a few marks to their helms. And there was that Snowtrooper Commander who had some slightly customized armor.

 

[shocktrooper_au]

I think it's just the way it is - During War troops are generally allowed (or a blind eye is turned) little bits of freedom ie: personalised weapons, equipment & noseart on aircraft. During peace the military instills stricter discipline to keep the bored troops inline.
IMO
Ii think for the most part the OT is considered a peaceful period (piece with an iron fist mind you) and the fight against Rebellion is considered a police action rather then a full blown war.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Anyone got a update on when the shipping for these will start? Just 2 days ago I also ordered the Shock Trooper (what's in a name? The cooler, the better it seams). Wonder which will ship first. I read on the SWS site that they don't combine orders. Anyone have experience with that?

 

[The Josh]

I've not gotten any notices and SWS isn't know for being real accurate on their dates.

 

[Darth Cruel]

They still have 11 days to make good on the "August" estimate on shipping.

 

[orbitingx]

Cancelled mine after watching the prices fall on Boba, Jango, and recently Shock Trooper.

As a consumer who paid full price for all of my current ones, I'll sit back and wait for future Medicom releases

 

[Darth Cruel]

Cancelled mine after watching the prices fall on Boba, Jango, and recently Shock Trooper.

As a consumer who paid full price for all of my current ones, I'll sit back and wait for future Medicom releases

It does seem that the Medicom Clonetroopers are in a downward spiral for popularity.

Better for me, though. I want a bunch of them and I will be able to get them cheaper.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Yes, waiting seams to be a good method for most Medicom figures, even the ones that are limited to only 600: SSC had 20 pieces of the Boah 12", it took some time to sell out. On top of that, a few came back on 2nd chance. That must have been the most expensive 12" I've ever bought, with shipping and taxes...
It's about time that the Medicom stuff get's offered at 'normal' 12" prices. The most recent RAH releases are just insane:

Royal Guard RAH: $164.99
Han Solo RAH: $179.99
Anakin Skywalker RAH: $179.99

 

[Scarlet]

I find it rather interesting why medicom prices on the Sideshow website have increased where as prices here in SG retailers have actually decreased in general.

Here's an example,
Son Goku US$150 vs SG$160 .
Han Solo US$180 vs SG$200

Note the prices SG$ I've mentioned are advertised price which means, they actually sell for about $20 less(about SG$180 for Han Solo)

The last time I checked, bank rate was about SG$1.45 to the US$.

 

[Scarlet]

Also, here are a few prices I just got to know from my Singapore retailer.

Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark) -- $180 ea

Dr Henry Jones (The Last Crusade) -- $180 ea

Star Wars Emperor's Royal Guard -- $200 ea

Speed Racer "Speed" -- $180 ea

Speed Racer "Racer X" -- $180 ea

Sweeney Todd -- $180 ea

Indiana Jones (Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull) -- $180ea

Mutt Williams (Kingdam Of The Crystal Skull) -- $180 ea

DragonBall Z Piccolo -- $180 ea

These prices are in Singapore Dollars of course and knowing this particular retailer, the actual prices are SG$20 and sometimes $30 less than advertised.

SO another words, these figures could be got for much less at a local RETAIL and no delivery charges to boot.

You can compare prices on the newer Medicom figs distributed by SS here

https://www.sideshowtoy.com/listing.php?manu=Medicom Toy&type=12 inch Figure

US$180+Shipping vs SG$180 for Medi Han?