Bandai Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper Model Kit

Star Wars Force Awakens has come and passed. With the hype and excitement is winding down, i find the movie enjoyable even though it was basically modern remake of A New Hope. Anyway, i did previously mentioned from my Black Series FO stormtrooper that i liked the new designs for the troopers but was horribly disappointed with Hasbro's offering. But luckily Hasbro wasn't the only company making FO stormtroopers in the 1/12 scale, thank you Bandai!
Now Bandai made 2 stormtroopers, the pricier but probably the best figuarts one and the cheaper model kit. Since i'm a stingy and poor, i opted to buy the model kit and i am pleasantly surprised!

This model kit is surprisingly solid, all the joints are tight and sturdy, nothing falls off and it feels weightier than the average gundam HGs. Anyway, the stormtrooper already looks great without paint, not that he needed much anyway, but like all model kits he comes stickers. He is made from pretty sturdy glossy plastic which looks awesome.

Like the Black Series trooper, he can store his blaster on his thighs but instead of using slots, he has 2 tiny peg holes which the blaster plugs in very securely compared to Hasbro's.

Accessories is plentiful! With 2 pairs of extra hands, riot shield and stun baton, blaster and rifle stock and a stand! By the way, i only painted the hands and left the weapons bare because screw painting white on black with tiny details. Seriously, white paints are the worse...

Another thing the model kit has Hasbro's trooper beat, DOUBLE JOINTED ELBOWS!

The proportions on the Hasbro trooper is better looking though, the model kit has a shorter neck so it looks a little off. But i kinda like that both figures have different proportions, it gives a sense of different individuals since they aren't clonetroopers.

Articulations are pretty good, worth noting that he has drop down hips and outward movement on the shoulders. His panels and bags on the utility are on pegs so you can swivel them to the side to have move clearance for the hips.

All the weapons are pretty detailed, the blaster especially with tons of tiny details all over. The stock attaches on the back. Like most Bandai model kits, you'll need to split the hands to hold the blaster.

The riot gear is pretty cool but the since the trooper's holding hands are made to hold the blaster, he can't really hold the stun baton securely. It still works just not as well as i hoped it does.

The batons can unfold like what it did the movie and the shield's window is made of opaque clear plastic just like the visor on the helmet.

Also there's a little panel on his back that you can pop off, there's a peghole inside where you can peg him to stands.

The model kit costs the same as Hasbro's trooper here, so given a choice, i would pick Bandai's model kit trooper everytime. If you're willing to spend more, Bandai's figuarts is probably your best bet but for someone like me, the model kit does it's job nicely and it's pretty affordable. Also if you wait a little longer, Mafex is also releasing their FO stormtrooper later this year, talk about being spoiled for choices...


Anyway, thanks for viewing!