TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Pun-3X's review of: Clone Trooper

Name: ARC-170 Starfighter/Clone Trooper (Star Wars Transformers)

Hasbro decided to take a stab at combining its two more successful franchises, creating the "Star Wars: Transformers," line. The ARC-170 is part of a later wave of transforming Star Wars vehicles. This particular starfighter was designed to be a heavy predecessor of the eventual X-Wing, both made by the Star Wars universe's "INCOM." It is a three-man fighter along with one astromech. The larger fighter makes its debut in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, accompanying Anakin and Obi-Wan as they attempt to rescue Senator Palpatine in the beginning of the movie.

The fighter comes with two sets of guns (two main wing cannons and two rear turret guns), two missiles for the larger cannons and a clone pilot. The overall of the toy quality is very good, and it doesn’t suffer from a whole lot of ‘soft plastic’ parts. For the few kitbashers out there, it’s worth noting that unlike some of the other toys in this line, the ARC-170 is not glued together. Anyone wishing to customize or upgrade parts not to their liking will find it much easier to do so.

Vehicle mode:

The vehicle mode is almost spot-on with the ARC-170. The only real gripe would be that the fuselage is shorter. Otherwise, this is not a toy that had its vehicle form butchered to make the robot mode work. (And with some toys in this line, butchering the vehicle mode STILL didn’t save the robot form). It’s very nicely designed and detailed, complete with functioning parts. The rear turrets swivel independently and can move up and down to a degree, the wing cannons can fire missiles, the upper cockpit opens and the S-foils fold out for attack mode.

Getting back to the detail. The patches under the S-foils have some great detail work considering they're often covered up. The engines have quite the detail to them, and the fact that part of the engines are made up by the robot mode’s arms doesn’t show in any way except the fact that the hands stick out at the bottom. Everything seems to fit snuggly in place otherwise. Buyers should be very pleased with the starfighter form alone.

Robot mode:

The robot mode is probably one of the better designs in this line. It feels a little bit more balanced than a lot of the other models that have come out so far. The wing cannons can be removed and become the toy’s blaster rifles, and the rear turrets also detach and reattach to the shoulders. There is some ‘shell-parts’ kibble at the waist and shoulders, but nothing too bad. The detail of the 'clone' face and helmet are also nice, looking more robotic than some of the other odd attempts within this line.

A lot of articulation exists on the toy. The shoulders rotate fully around, and a separate shoulder joint allows for the arms to extend out to the sides. There is also a rotator point above the elbow, the elbow joint itself and a rotator cuff at the wrist. The hand also bends inward at the wrist as a result of transformation.

Sadly, the head—while capable of turning on its neck joint—doesn’t turn but the tiniest bit as a result of the shoulders being right in the way. The bulk of the ‘helmet’s’ front also prevents rotation as well.

The waist turns all the way around, also a part of its transformation. The legs rotate fully front and back and out to the sides from the hips. A rotator joint is located in the upper leg, and the knee is located lower down. The feet can also fold upward as part of transformation, but not down.

There are some things that are a bit off about the toy. First, the arms are rather tiny. The problem is mostly noted in the hands. They aren’t as bad as those of the Jedi Starfighter mold that makes up Anakin and Obi-Wan (and probably because the ARC-170's body is much smaller), but they tend to look better as a result while he’s holding his cannons. The body is a bit too long, making the waist feel a bit too far down. The knees bend at a point that feels too low on the legs as a result of a slider mechanism that extends the legs out in robot mode. The head-joint mentioned earlier is rendered very much useless.

With all that said, the robot mode is definitely a good one. There’s a lot of room for various poses, and the fact that it has two sets of guns makes it a fun assault toy as well.

Transformation: 6- There are a lot of fold-out components, and probably the only thing complicated about the transformation is sliding the arms/shoulders/engines into place while folding everything else in or out of the way. Otherwise, it’s rather easy to figure out.

Durability: 8- Very durable toy. There doesn’t seem to be a great use of the softer plastic except in the guns and the arms. And the arms are made thick enough that it doesn’t ruin them. The toy itself is quite solid, and I can't see there being many problems about breakage.

Fun: 9- The starfighter mode is just that cool, and the robot form has enough articulation to have a lot of fun with.

Price: 6- $15 is a little bit much. This entire line is really made up of toys that size themselves in the $10 range, to be fair. I’ve yet to see one in this line that towers over any of the deluxes made in the last few Transformers series.

Summary: My favorite in the "Star Wars: Transformers," line so far. I’d recommend him to anyone that is a fan of both genres. It’d be real hard to disappoint you here.