Revenge of the Sith turns 20 this year, and it's undoubtedly a celebration that deserves a whole lot more attention than any other movie in the franchise. Between the many events that unfold, the quotable dialogue, and the saga-changing actions of Anakin Skywalker as he falls to the Dark Side, Episode 3 feels the most "Star Wars" out of the other films in the 6-part saga. While the merch celebrating Episode 3 is smaller than the usual MCU anniversary crap (likely because Disney has more of their canon schlock to splurge out), we still have a few figures in the nostalgic blister cards unique to the movie's line in addition to the regular packaging. Let's see how these Order 66 enjoyers turned out!
Here we have Commander Bacara in-hand, who is new to the line and comes with a unique sash to go with his additional shoulder pads and skirt flaps. The burgundy is also complementary to the white on his armor, which was more purple in the stock photos but is thankfully not the case here. The armor is typical of the Clone Trooper sculpt we've seen before, though the new parts do give it a sense of being newly made, at the very least.
His helmet sadly suffers from not being sharp around the edges of the visor and the botches mouth area. Some would argue that the cheek guards and the overall proportions would make the likeness hard to nail, but the prototype images looked much better by comparison. Why is this so blotched around the visor's edges? The articulation is standard for both Clones, with ball jointed necks, shoulders that move front ane back as well as in and out while the pads flex somewhat, the biceps swivel, the elbows bend somewhat past 90 degrees, wrists hinge up and down on the right hand while they hinge in and out on the left hand. There is a diaphragm joint, hips are on limited ball joints due to the armor but you can swivel them so they can move forward, and they move outwards okay. The thighs can swivel somewhat, but the range is found from the swivel above the knee, and said knee bends past 90 degrees like the elbows. The feet can hinge up and down as well as pivot.
In addition to the usual blaster, he also comes with a rifle that he didn't use to kill Ki-Adi-Mundi but any blaster is better than no blaster. Anyways, here he is next to the Jedi Master he murdered during the events of Order 66! So as it stands, the new parts are always a treat, though the articulation is the same as with other Clones. It's just the helmet and maybe the lack of battle damage that makes the figure fall flat.
As for Commander Cody, this is another stab at the character with tooling different from the previous version of the character. We'll get into the comparison later down the line, but it needs to be said that how the armor is integrated into the sculpt differs from the original, like the torso piece being separate from the blank body under earth and the shoulder pads being integrated into it instead of part of the shoulders themselves. It's easier to say that one area this excels in is making the Clone armor seamless, though how that affects the range of articulation may be a case of your mileage varying. On the plus side, the battle damage is presented decently on the armor, which is a plus for anyone who wants these Clones to not look fresh from Kamino. I am concerned about the antenna on the left shoulder given how flexible it is.
His helmet looks just as great as ever, even if it is a bit softer than usual because of the way it works and accessory.
He has a removable helmet which reveals a possibly altered face from the one we usually get, but we also get a hologram of Darth Sidious for when the time has come to execute Order 66. Also, Clones conditioned to loyally follow orders >>>>>>> inhibitor chips, any day.
Here he is next to the Archive version, which used the outdated Clone tooling. I don't know which one would.bw considered better or worse than the other, since the original had double jointed elbows and knees with comparable range to the new one while the floating armor pieces on the new one can be distracting to anyone not expecting them to be made of PVC. The new Cody is still one I recommend more, but maybe not if you got the original and don't mind it lacking the removable helmet or the hologram.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Bacara)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Cody)
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