SWTOTW, Week 27, 2020 Death Squad Commander / Star Destroyer Commander
- Thread starter Pomse2001
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The 'Death Squad Commander', aka the 'Oh ****, 'Death Squad' Sounds A Bit More Nazi Than We Intended, So Let's Rename Him 'Star Destroyer Commander' Even Though He's No Such Thing' :-D
Of course these days Lucasfilm have renamed this particular Officer the 'Imperial Navy Trooper' or 'Death Star Trooper', but actually the renaming of this figure is the least of its problems, IMHO. As a kid in the 1970's, this was easily my least favourite of the original 12 figures. I didn't really remember it from the film (which isn't surprising, considering Kenner really screwed the pooch on his uniform's colour, which should actually be black and not grey), plus I spent hours scratching my head wondering why he wasn't Grand Moff Tarkin instead, and quite frankly I found it a bit boring as well. The picture on the cardback didn't help as they chose the Galaxy's oldest pensioner (and one wearing space headphones to boot), to illustrate the figure, which hardly increased my excitement levels.
On the plus side, Palitoy brought the character to life on one of the panels of their excellent Death Star playset where they stood him before 5 of his clones, 4 of which they seated in transparent space eggs... Don't believe me?:
This was also the figure everyone tried to (or wished they could) customise into a Rebel Fleet Trooper, on account of the unusual shape of his massive helmet (insert sniggering schoolboy joke here). But massive or not, his helmet was still the wrong shape and looked more like a weird ladies' hairstyle than a giant upside down wok.
Anyway, enough abuse of a 43 year-old toy sculpt! Dull or not, this figure has plenty of variants :-D. There are at least a couple of admittedly pretty similar sculpts, but his rank bar comes in all manner of different shades of blue and red. It can even be found in just red, just blue, or missing entirely. The latter is definitely a bona fide variant, but I'm still not 100% convinced on the solo colour versions, as they may simply be due to one colour rubbing off preferentially. However, my two examples don't seem to have any of the missing colour left on them at all, so in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I am classing them as variants for now. His grey torso is prone to yellowing on certain COO's, but despite that there are also different shades of grey to be found, especially (and most famously) on the dark grey Lili Ledy variant (far right in the line-up below), plus his face paint apps have some variety too, including a mega eyebrows version :lol:. And then there's the PBP 'Disco Boots' variant, with his 1970's platform soles. Sadly that's a variant I do not own, but perhaps another forum member can assist with that particular fashion disaster?
Anyway, here are my 9 different DSC's:
Of course these days Lucasfilm have renamed this particular Officer the 'Imperial Navy Trooper' or 'Death Star Trooper', but actually the renaming of this figure is the least of its problems, IMHO. As a kid in the 1970's, this was easily my least favourite of the original 12 figures. I didn't really remember it from the film (which isn't surprising, considering Kenner really screwed the pooch on his uniform's colour, which should actually be black and not grey), plus I spent hours scratching my head wondering why he wasn't Grand Moff Tarkin instead, and quite frankly I found it a bit boring as well. The picture on the cardback didn't help as they chose the Galaxy's oldest pensioner (and one wearing space headphones to boot), to illustrate the figure, which hardly increased my excitement levels.
On the plus side, Palitoy brought the character to life on one of the panels of their excellent Death Star playset where they stood him before 5 of his clones, 4 of which they seated in transparent space eggs... Don't believe me?:
This was also the figure everyone tried to (or wished they could) customise into a Rebel Fleet Trooper, on account of the unusual shape of his massive helmet (insert sniggering schoolboy joke here). But massive or not, his helmet was still the wrong shape and looked more like a weird ladies' hairstyle than a giant upside down wok.
Anyway, enough abuse of a 43 year-old toy sculpt! Dull or not, this figure has plenty of variants :-D. There are at least a couple of admittedly pretty similar sculpts, but his rank bar comes in all manner of different shades of blue and red. It can even be found in just red, just blue, or missing entirely. The latter is definitely a bona fide variant, but I'm still not 100% convinced on the solo colour versions, as they may simply be due to one colour rubbing off preferentially. However, my two examples don't seem to have any of the missing colour left on them at all, so in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I am classing them as variants for now. His grey torso is prone to yellowing on certain COO's, but despite that there are also different shades of grey to be found, especially (and most famously) on the dark grey Lili Ledy variant (far right in the line-up below), plus his face paint apps have some variety too, including a mega eyebrows version :lol:. And then there's the PBP 'Disco Boots' variant, with his 1970's platform soles. Sadly that's a variant I do not own, but perhaps another forum member can assist with that particular fashion disaster?
Anyway, here are my 9 different DSC's:
Thread's off to a great start 8)
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Nice [mention]Snaketibe[/mention] amazing informative post from you again. 
Thanks everyone
Anyone else have some to share?
Anyone else have some to share?
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Snaketibe said:Thanks everyone
Anyone else have some to share?
I've got a Kenner 12 back MOC to add, will do it later in the week. Would like a Meccano MOC, but who wouldn't?! :lol:
TheJabbaWookie
Sith Lord
I like this figure too. Actually very nearly my first little side focus before settling on Yoda. Only got a couple of variants now. Will add when have the chance.
TheJabbaWookie
Sith Lord
TheJabbaWookie said:
Terrific stuff!
Thanks for sharing
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That is a lovely 12 back.
Snaketibe said:
Ok I think this is the first time you do not have any good things to write about a figure :lol: I only had one of him when I was a kid and I was so bussy playing with him that I must admit that it was first when I got to old to play with him that I noticed he has the wrong colour :lol:
Anyway great collection that you have and thanks for sharing it
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Here's my Kenner 12b, the figure had really bad frosting when I purchased it. I did the direct sunlight trick and it worked a treat, must be 10 years ago. Ok it's a boring figure but I really do like the Star Wars MOC of this figure, looks top notch to me.
theforceuk said:Here's my Kenner 12b, the figure had really bad frosting when I purchased it. I did the direct sunlight trick and it worked a treat, must be 10 years ago. Ok it's a boring figure but I really do like the Star Wars MOC of this figure, looks top notch to me.
image.jpg
Another great MOC! Congratulations on successfully 'defrosting' it... which makes it sound a bit like a turkey :lol:
Thanks for sharing
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Snaketibe said:theforceuk said:Here's my Kenner 12b, the figure had really bad frosting when I purchased it. I did the direct sunlight trick and it worked a treat, must be 10 years ago. Ok it's a boring figure but I really do like the Star Wars MOC of this figure, looks top notch to me.
image.jpg
Another great MOC! Congratulations on successfully 'defrosting' it... which makes it sound a bit like a turkey :lol:
Thanks for sharing
Thanks and yes defrosted sounds wrong! :lol:
theforceuk said:Here's my Kenner 12b, the figure had really bad frosting when I purchased it. I did the direct sunlight trick and it worked a treat, must be 10 years ago. Ok it's a boring figure but I really do like the Star Wars MOC of this figure, looks top notch to me.
image.jpg
Another beautiful moc, thanks mate for sharing it
and a cool story about the sunlight trick :wink: Was it cheaper to buy it frosting ?
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Pomse2001 said:theforceuk said:Here's my Kenner 12b, the figure had really bad frosting when I purchased it. I did the direct sunlight trick and it worked a treat, must be 10 years ago. Ok it's a boring figure but I really do like the Star Wars MOC of this figure, looks top notch to me.
image.jpg
Another beautiful moc, thanks mate for sharing it
Yes thanks [mention]Pomse2001[/mention] it was cheap, I think I paid £180 for it already graded. As I said though 10 years ago, think I bought it from someone who lived not that far from me at the time and I met him in a garden centre car park and handed over the cash!
theforceuk said:Pomse2001 said:theforceuk said:Here's my Kenner 12b, the figure had really bad frosting when I purchased it. I did the direct sunlight trick and it worked a treat, must be 10 years ago. Ok it's a boring figure but I really do like the Star Wars MOC of this figure, looks top notch to me.
image.jpg
Another beautiful moc, thanks mate for sharing it
Yes thanks @Pomse2001 it was cheap, I think I paid £180 for it already graded. As I said though 10 years ago, think I bought it from someone who lived not that far from me at the time and I met him in a garden centre car park and handed over the cash!
Great story, thanks for sharing it
