Introduction
This new release from Hot Toys arrived from Sideshow yesterday. Hot Toys' coverage of Rogue One has been spotty, but they did show some love for imperial trooper types, producing the Rogue One Stormtrooper (in a couple of versions), Death Trooper (in three versions), and Shore Trooper (in a couple of versions?). All these have seen second release due to their appearances in The Mandalorian. The only Rogue One imperial trooper type left (they sorta covered the revised Imperial Ground Crew as Jynn Erso's disguise version) was the Imperial Assault Tank Commander (with Pilot variant). This is the product just released. It, too, has a Mandalorian version, of sorts, the Transport Trooper, a hybrid between Rogue One's Assault Tank Commander/Pilot and Solo's Mud Trooper. It seems like trooper figures keep on giving and multiplying and army-building should be easy... except, of course, for the price.
Packaging
The Assault Tank Commander comes in a long-familiar standard Hot Toys shoe box-type cardboard container with a colorful image of the product on the cover. Another colorful image is found on the card covering the single plastic trey (with transparent lid) containing the figure. Everything is snug, safe, and collector-friendly.
Sculpting
Sculpting a fully-armored figure with futuristic armor is, of course, a challenge, yet not quite the challenge of making a faithful, lifelike, and realistic representation of an individual's features. As usual, Hot Toys rose to the challenge, and created a very fine replica of what was seen on screen. The edges are suitably sharp and clean, the proportions quite accurate (for some minor issues see Source Accuracy below), the detail is rich and distinctive as needed. The figure stands just about 12 inches tall, and scales well among other Rogue One figures by Hot Toys (see last image below).
Paint
In principle, the paint work on a subject like this, need only be sharp, if the armor and clothing are in pristine conditions. But since the subject is meant to be dirtied up and weathered, there is still plenty of room for a complex and nuanced paint application. The armor has been supplied with the appearance of wear and tear, grime, scratches and stains. Overall, it is believable and appropriate. At the same time, the paint job is suitably sharp in the areas where it ought to be. Apart from the weathering, the paint is mostly black and white, with some details in red and brownish gray. The blaster rifle is also given a little weathering.
Articulation
Hot Toys used to lead in the field of hard plastic open-jointed bodies, which used to be available as base bodies. That no longer seems to be the case, but the bodies that come with most of their sets still tend to sport a good articulation. More often than not, however, this is compromised by the use of tight and stiff cloth for the outfit and, even more so, by the insertion of padded undergarments. These are ostensibly to improve the appearance of the figure, but do so only marginally, while at the same time significantly impairing articulation -- and this without additional limitations imposed by armor and accessories. This is exactly the case with this set. The apparent padding makes it difficult to achieve the full range of articulation; the outfit is not exceedingly restrictive, but also does not help. The armor is mostly out of the way, except for the vambraces in the wrist area and for the tabs (boxes?) handing from the armored utility belt. On the other hand, elbows, knees, and ankles have excellent articulation. As a result it is sometimes difficult but not impossible to achieve more dynamic poses. I have not yet explored this option with this set, but previous experience suggest removing the padding would greatly facilitate the articulation with almost no impact on the look.
Accessories
In this area, the figure is woefully short. There is, of course, an action figure crotch-grabber stand with an optional printed graphic card to cover the base, and an optional additional detail piece to add to the base. There are alternative parts, namely two additional sets of hands, for a total of three pairs (relaxed, gun-grip, and fists). There are spare parts, namely the two extra wrist pegs. But none of these are really accessories. The sole accessory is the E-11 blaster rifle with its Rogue One flashlight add-on. The blaster rifle is beautifully and precisely realized, with a folding three-position stock. Now, I realize we can't expect the Assault Tank Commander to come with an Assault Tank as his accessory, but this is exceedingly light. And it should be reflected in the price (see Value below).
Outfit
Apart from the molded hard or soft plastic armor (see Sculpting), the outfit consists primarily of the gray-brown cloth pants and some sort of black garment visible primarily at the elbows -- since I have not taken the body apart or seen the set parted out, I'm not certain if this is a whole top or even a whole bodysuit (perhaps unlikely). The belt combines cloth and molded plastic pieces.
Source Accuracy
The top part of the image below is for reference, from https://www.starwars.com/databank/imperial-combat-assault-tank-commander
On the whole, Hot Toys has rendered the character's appearance very well and quite accurately. It is possible that the helmet has become slightly vertically elongated, but it might be an effect of my camera lens. The only certain inaccuracy I spotted is the treatment of two of the recessed areas on either side of the segmented element in the middle of the abdominal area. The reference image shows larger recessed parts in dark gray, whereas in the figure they appear to be significantly narrower (see images in previous and succeeding sections).
Fun Factor
Without a tank and a couple of pilots (which would effectively be slight variants) to boss around, the Assault Tank Commander runs the risk of being a lonely figure. The presence of a single accessory (the blaster rifle) also does not open a huge field of possibilities for fun. However, one could pair him with any or all of the other imperial trooper types from Rogue One produced by Hot Toys. The Jedha patrol stormtrooper would be a particularly apt companion (I could not easily excavate mine, so I substituted a virtually identical regular Rogue One stormtrooper in the photos here).
Value
This is the tricky bit. Retailing at $230 (USD) before taxes and shipping, this figure is at once pricey and yet more affordable than so many other Hot Toys releases these days. I don't know if this is a nod to the dearth of accessories or to the potential for army-building (although one is unlikely to be looking for an army of Assault Tank Commanders, I suppose). Even so, "objectively" speaking, it seems difficult to justify such a hefty price tag for a figure this simple -- no detailed realistic human face, no extravagant bases or accessories (in fact, only one accessory), a trooper, reused or duplicate parts (from the Shore Trooper, Transport Trooper, Mud Trooper, and not even talking about the standard Rogue One blaster rifle) and so on. Yes, Hot Toys quality is (as it should be, but apparently not always) very good, the sculpt and paint are excellent, but I don't see why this figure is not almost $100 less than this asking price (and that prior to secondary market inflation). Other than, of course, Hot Toys' "ambition" and precedent. Some of the recent or upcoming trooper figures are actually slightly less expensive ($220). Of course, the thing about value is that its estimation varies based on a number of variables, most notably one's means and priorities.
Things to watch out for
Nothing much, the only readily breakable area is the folding stock of the E-11 blaster rifle.
Overall
When it comes to protagonists, certain secondary characters, and imperial trooper types, I'm a completist, and Rogue One is quasi-canon to me, so I'm happy I purchased this figure. It is a very fine figure, although I cannot really say I'm blown away by it. Then again, I got it to have a representation of the character (or rather type), not so much because I was specifically drawn to it. The execution is excellent, the functionality is good (without being perfect), the price is hefty (without being totally excessive). The design is cool, if repetitive (the most notable though not only point of comparison is the Shore Trooper design from the same film), and the figure fits in well with Hot Toys' other Star Wars figures, especially those from Rogue One. Given their usual practice, I'm surprised they did not offer the pilot variants, but perhaps they are uncertain of the degree to which this type and this movie would sell at this point.
Where to buy
I got mine for $230 (USD) from Sideshow, using some accumulated points. The secondary market is inflating prices, and I have seen it going for $275 to $542 on eBay. Among others (mostly on pre-order),
Cotswold Collectibles has it for $230;
Monkey Depot has it for $230;
Timewalker Toys has it for $230 (wait list);
Big Bad Toy Store has it for $245.
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I hope this has been useful. As always, what do you think?
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