Drawn from many homeworlds and species, Rebel troopers were the Alliance’s front-line soldiers in the war against the Empire. They defended the Alliance’s leaders on countless worlds and during many operations, changing uniforms and tactics to meet each challenge. ﹘ Packaging blurb, Star Wars: The Black Series #69 Rebel Trooper
Hasbro introduced the 69th Star Wars The Black Series 6-inch scale action figure, Rebel Trooper, a little over two years ago at the International Toy Fair, an annual event held in New York City’s Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center. Based on a minor character seen in the opening sequence of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, this figure was one of three new figures introduced in an assortment that also included Tobias Beckett (#68) and Han Solo (Bespin) – the latter being the 70th figure in the Star Wars The Black Series collection.
This “wave” started shipping out to retailers – both “brick and mortar” and online stores such as Amazon and Entertainment Earth – in July of 2018, thus increasing the ranks of Star Wars character-based action figures in the Star Wars The Black Series, a Hasbro product line (or collection, if you prefer) that started in 2014 and is popular among Star Wars fans and collectors alike.
Launch into lightspeed adventures with a collection of classic and new characters, vehicles, and role-play items that feature the authentic movie-styling and battle action of the Star Wars universe. ﹘ Hasbro promotional blurb
What’s in the Box?
Star Wars The Black Series Rebel Soldier comes in a distinctive red-and-black box, a style of package Hasbro introduced six years ago. The box features the collection’s logo above the “window” on the front panel, and there’s an illustration of the character – done in a muted silver-gray color – on the lower right hand corner of the package’s obverse face.
A close look at the illustration reveals that Rebel Soldier isn’t just a generic trooper, but represents the first Rebel character seen in Star Wars: A New Hope – the steely-gazed veteran soldier who is the first to raise a DH-17 blaster and aim it at the hatch through which a boarding party of Imperial stormtroopers will invade Princess Leia’s Tantive IV (aka the Rebel Blockade Runner) in an attempt to intercept the stolen Death Star plans.
In the box?
Well, Star Wars The Black Series Rebel Trooper (#69) is a 6-inch scale figure that depicts a gray-haired, blue-eyed veteran soldier with prominent gray eyebrows and an expression of grim determination sculpted on his face. He wears a Rebel Alliance fleet trooper’s uniform that includes a vest (removable), a helmet (removable), blue uniform shirt, gray combat trousers, and black service boots. In addition, Rebel Trooper comes with a BlasTech DH-17 blaster pistol and a set of the Death Star plans.
(Incidentally, the simulated “data card” in this figure’s set of accessories links Rebel Trooper to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as well as to Star Wars: A New Hope.)
My Take
Build your Star Wars collection with authentic, highly detailed Star Wars collectible figures, vehicles, and Force FX lightsabers from The Black Series. Advance into battle with role-play gear that includes blasters, masks, and iconic, customizable lightsabers that are part of the Star Wars blade builders system. ﹘ Hasbro promotional blurb
When I collected the original Kenner Toys action figures – or, as Kenner called them in 1978, “micro-action figures” – in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rebel Trooper was one of the two characters from the 1977 film that I most wished to have a figure of. (The other one was Grand Moff Tarkin; apparently, a figure based on the Governor of the Imperial Outlands and commander of the first Death Star was designed, but it was never produced.) It wasn’t till the mid-1990s that Kenner – now a division of Hasbro – finally released action figures of the Rebel trooper and Tarkin.
I own two different versions of the 3.75-inch scale Rebel Trooper action figure: a bulky Rebel Fleet Trooper that looks like he’s taken too many steroids, and a 2000s-era Tantive IV Defender variant from the Star Wars: Power of the Jedi line. As a result, I didn’t exactly need #69 Rebel Trooper from the Star Wars: The Black Series collection. Nevertheless, Hasbro did well when it picked one of the more prominent (yet anonymous) crew members of the Tantive IV as its choice for a “minor character action figure.”
Rebel Trooper is truly a top-quality figure. The sculpt/paint job on the figure, which literally could have represented any of the Rebel defenders assigned to delay Vader and his boarding party long enough for Princess Leia to get the Death Star plans away from her captured Blockade Runner, is outstanding. Both the action figure itself and the line drawing on the packaging are so well-done that I immediately knew who the figure was supposed to represent.
When I ordered Rebel Trooper earlier this year from Amazon, I didn’t notice those details; I just saw that Hasbro had made the figure and that it was available – from a third-party seller – for a reasonable price ($25.98 vs. the MSRP of $19.99). I also didn’t notice that the figure comes with the “data tape” with the Death Star plans and a removable helmet until I received my figure back in late February.
This Star Wars The Black Series figure is, I believe, a Star Wars collectible that is worthy of adding to anyone’s collection.
Product Information
- Manufacturer: Hasbro
- Source Film: Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope
- Year: 2018
- Original Retail: $19.99
- Assortment Number: E1210/B3834
- UPC Number: 6 30509 68391 8
A Certain Point of View, Too 
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