altcunningham
Laura Rings Enthusiast
I just wasn't sure which one I should pick up. Probably the sandy one. I just want one for the squad. He was always my favorite back in the orange card days.
Star Wars Black Series
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Ru already answered that they are, indeed, fairly different. But I'll add that I originally got the Jedha Trooper specifically because I wanted a Sandtrooper on the new body. It did not last long because I just couldn't get past the differences. So it went from 'stand-in Sandtrooper' to 'okay, just a different trooper in the display' to 'I don't think I really need this' within several months.
Also, yeah, if I'm only going to have one sandtrooper, I prefer him to be sandy like the PotF figure I had as a kid.
I'll also happily take the new sandtrooper with different gear on a re-issued Dewback, Hasbro.
altcunningham
Laura Rings Enthusiast
Could we argue that since it's a Jedha trooper it's not meant to be Sand and just shares the pauldron for...whatever reason that exists. Rank?
Ru1977
The Irishman
I had a similar path, but I got the dirty Remnant Stormtroopers and put the Jedha gear on them, then had the naked jedha guys as regular Stormtroopers.... then decided I really just wanted true Stormtroopers and Sandtroopers and sold all that when they announced this new Sandie.
Definitely. The remnant guys were dirty but in a different way from the ones on Tatooine.
Ah man.... that would be extremely tempting, especially if they do one with the folded pauldron, which they've yet to do in Black Series. Or, at least for these guys.... the Death Trooper that came with Cassian and Jyn sorta had a black version.
Definitely. And I went with that for a while, then decided I'd rather have a few of the guys I really like than one of every trooper and got rid of stuff like the Jedha and range troopers and so on.
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I don't think it has to be argued - my understanding of the lore is the Jedha troopers are literally Sandtroopers, but outfitted for a slightly different desert environment than the OT ones were (mountainous desert vs. sandy desert). Sandtroopers are just 'desert-specific Stormtroopers,' after all.
So the Jedha trooper is 100% a sandtrooper, just not a Tattooine sandtrooper. But you can use them however you want, of course. I'm a big proponent of the 'they're your toys' argument.
Ru1977
The Irishman
I may be wrong, but I think the POTF2 Sandtrooper was the first one I got really excited for as far as never done in the old line. I got a few of those, then the cardboard playset with another one, and the dewback with one, and some of the crowd control troopers since they could pass for the seventh guy in the docking bay who has no pauldron or backpack. That is definitely when my Sandtrooper obsession started.
There used to be a wonderful website in the late 90s that was something like looksirdroids.com or something and really did a great job of laying out their gear, with a heavy focus on Davin Felth*, the trooper who says that like and appears in every Sandtrooper scene. He's distinguishable by the dirt mark on his forehead this new Sandtrooper has, but he wears the white pauldron.
*I forget which book named him, Tales From The Cantina maybe?
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@Ru1977 You will always be way more of a serious fan than I am when it comes to that stuff. But I share your enthusiasm. I remember, as a kid, going through every one of those SW magazines and companion books to figure out how everything in the universe worked and what it all was. You know, the 'why does this guy have this color, but this guy has this backpack' kind of stuff. It just didn't stick with me that well. Probably the ADHD. I moved on to other stuff and I don't retain things well unless I stay on it.
Ru1977
The Irishman
Yes, I LOVED those kinda books and magazines. The guides, the encyclopedias, the tech manuals etc. I wore out the cross-sections book when an adult as hard as I did the storybook of the movie when I was a kid. And I don't know if 'more of a serious fan' is as apt as 'obsessive', and sometimes I do wish I wasn't so obsessive with things. It rarely ruins the movies for me, but at the same time I'm studying everything so hard rather than just watching. When they showed the interior of Slave One on the Mandalorian, I lost. my. shit. I've watching the Fett episodes of Mandalorian more than any single episodes of any other television series, no question.
One of the coolest things my dad ever was was probably 1998 or 1999 even, but it was before TPM came out I think... but they had the Magic of Myth tour, where they went around the country with tons of costumes, props, and models from the trilogy (and several from the new movie as well), and my dad got tickets for it and took me one day. For some reason, it's something I never would have done on my own even though it's exactly the way I would love to spend a day. The first thing when you walk in was a six-or-so foot long Star Destroyer. I think from Empire... I can't remember. And neither of us brought a fucking camera. But he immediately regretted taking me because I spent maybe fifteen minutes just staring at the Star Destroyer. He kept saying "There's probably a lot more after this, ya know?!" But I was examining every damned angle I could see through the glass. I can't remember much else they had but I think they had the original Landspeeder, which also blew my mind. One of the very last things before the exit was the Boba Fett display, but I looked at that for maybe thirty seconds because I'd used up all my dad's patience by then and he was hungry. I just remember it was an amalgam, using parts from the ROTJ costume but also some of the pre-production suits, and possibly the ESB helmet. But again, no camera damnit.
One of the coolest things my dad ever was was probably 1998 or 1999 even, but it was before TPM came out I think... but they had the Magic of Myth tour, where they went around the country with tons of costumes, props, and models from the trilogy (and several from the new movie as well), and my dad got tickets for it and took me one day. For some reason, it's something I never would have done on my own even though it's exactly the way I would love to spend a day. The first thing when you walk in was a six-or-so foot long Star Destroyer. I think from Empire... I can't remember. And neither of us brought a fucking camera. But he immediately regretted taking me because I spent maybe fifteen minutes just staring at the Star Destroyer. He kept saying "There's probably a lot more after this, ya know?!" But I was examining every damned angle I could see through the glass. I can't remember much else they had but I think they had the original Landspeeder, which also blew my mind. One of the very last things before the exit was the Boba Fett display, but I looked at that for maybe thirty seconds because I'd used up all my dad's patience by then and he was hungry. I just remember it was an amalgam, using parts from the ROTJ costume but also some of the pre-production suits, and possibly the ESB helmet. But again, no camera damnit.
RichardSimmonsRobot
Ponderous
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Got my Black Series Sandtroopers and I can't say I'm overly impressed. The "sand" blotches could have been done more subtly to make it look like they'd been through a sand storm or been weathered. But all these Sandtroopers have the same obvious skid mark right up their forehead. The long gun's handle is too small and bulbous to be held correctly, I don't remember this particular long gun in the movie, just the old MG42 WW2 lookalike thing.
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My condolences.
Did he wear pants?
See, I'm GENERALLY the opposite of what you're describing. I really love the things that I like, but I'm often not observant enough to notice variations and changes. I get too wrapped up in the big picture, as it were, to notice a lot of the small details. The exception to that is medieval stuff. I notice real weapons/armor stuff almost instinctively. But even after having it explained to me (by YOU!) more than once, and having watched every appearance of the character, many of them dozens of times, I still couldn't tell you all the differences in the Darth Vader suits.
Ru1977
The Irishman
I dunno, everyone has their perspective of course, but to my eye the weathering looks pretty good compared to how they were in the movie. (To be fair, the way they are dirtied in the movie is kinda weird when you think about it too, but still.)
Yeah, that was the problem for me too, but I took an exacto blade and slow/gently scraped away at one to make it more subtle, smaller, and a different shape. I have only opened two, but will do it to the third when I open him too. But yeah, the dirt patterns are another reason I may hold out to get more when/if they do some with the other pauldron colors.
It's the one used the least in the movie. The MG42 is probably the most frequent, aside from the E-11s. And the T-21 is only used by one guy, the lead orange pauldron leading into docking bay 94 and in docking bay 94. Yes it makes sense he would still have the same weapon when walking in, and once in, but continuity with the Sandies is rarely that good.
The rifle this guy comes with is the RT-97c, and neve carried by an orange pauldron, which always makes me smile. But there's one in the alley when they all turn to watch the Falcon escape into the sky:
And one, on the far left below, at the checkpoint:
That's all I can remember at the moment... Neither of them have one in the cantina, none of them have one when knocking on the doors in the alley the droids are hiding in.... one may have one when combing the desert though. I think it's one of the guys out in the distance by the pod. So, not showcased really, but definitely there.
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I'm positive that, to Hasbro's mind, this was just a good excuse to get out a rare weapon from the franchise into a package that's -relatively- appropriate for it. They know most Black Series collectors already have lots of blasters from lots of different troopers and can/will mix-and-match as they like. Maybe they even hoped a totally new blaster rifle would be an excuse for some collectors to not skip out on yet another sandtrooper figure.
Ru1977
The Irishman
Haw! Come on... I mean... I enjoy them. And Bill Burr is great. And that costume! Come on. I'll never forget how excited I was about that new suit...
Biggest laugh of the day, thank you!
And it's funny because I kinda envy that. I appreciate learning this things and figuring them out, and a lot of it comes from studying. Photos, the movies themselves, etc. but still... sometimes I want to just enjoy something.
Ah ha, see?!
And that's really awesome... and how it's probably supposed to be! I know it's weird, and unnecessary, to be able to look at Darth Vader and be able to tell you which film that costume is from.
Ru1977
The Irishman
Certainly for me, yes! I said before, but I had a T-21 and a couple of the DLTs, and some different pauldrons, waiting for JUST THIS occasion heh heh. Despite coming with 'the wrong figure', I was so thrilled to finally get this weapon. I've almost bought 3D printed ones on etsy a dozen times over the last couple years, and that rifle was definitely as selling point on the figure for me.
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altcunningham
Laura Rings Enthusiast
For me it was that the OG trooper was never to be seen (I was a living in Beaufort SC at the time and my only toy source was the family Saturday Wal-Mart trip. Occasionally hit Savannah where there was a TRU), but I was able to get Sandtroopers. And I loved the different prepose, the big gun, and the asymmetry. I didn't even remember them from the movie until that big anniversary resurgence leading into the Specials.
Being early POTF, they also looked jacked and bulky, which fit my love of Doom and Quake and Cable in that era.