Sideshow Imperial SandTrooper Review II

"Look Sir, Droids!"

The stormtrooper detachment dispatched by Darth Vader to investigate a crashed escape pod on Tatooine just prior to the Battle of Yavin consisted of Sandtroopers. They had heavy weapons, survival gear and shoulder pauldrons denoting rank.

Continuing from the previous post, here are more pictures of the Sideshow Collectibles 1/6 scale 12-inch Imperial Sandtrooper. This would be the Sandtrooper Sergeant as denoted by the White shoulder pauldron he is wearing.

Close-up pictures of the Sandtrooper anti-blaster cocoon shell armor

The distinctive 'diamond' shaped left knee plate, one of the visual differences in armor between the Imperial Sandtrooper and Stormtrooper

Close-ups of the 1/6 Stormtrooper Blaster, E-11 BlasTech Standard Imperial Sidearm, a souped up Sterling L2A1 with folding three-position stock. The magazine is now the power cell which carries enough energy for 100 shots.



Besides the standard Imperial Stormtrooper blaster (E-11 BlasTech Standard Imperial Sidearm), this Sandtrooper is also armed with the MG-15 Blaster Rifle (listed as RT-97C Heavy Blaster Rifle in Star Wars Wiki). I'm quite sure this is the first time a 1/6 version of the MG-15 Blaster (or RT-97C Heavy Blaster Rifle, take your pick) has been released.

The Sideshow Collectibles Imperial Sandtrooper comes with an additional pair of gloved hands which I used for posing him with the MG-15 Blaster Rifle. The extra gloved hands basically turned him into a left-handed firer.




Much of the backpack (portable air-conditioning unit, among other things) have been covered in the previous post






Close-ups of the Sandtrooper Sergeant with his MG-15 Blaster Rifle


How good is Sideshow's 1/6 version of the MG-15 Blaster? It is very well made and all the intricate details are very well realized in one sixth scale - amazingly accurate especially since this sci-fi weapon is based on the German Luftwaffe WWII MG 15 Machine Gun (including the MG 15 75-rd "Doppeltrommel" or Saddle Drum Magazine) and three added scopes.

Until 2008 this weapon had never been given an official name by any Star Wars reference material, and so was usually just referred to by fans as the "MG-15". It was eventually given the official name "BlasTech RT-97c" in the Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection (DK Books 2008). The designation represents the artists of the blueprints Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas and the year they first met - R(eiff)T(revas)-(19)97c(hris). [ source: star wars wiki ]



Now we scour the horizon for more Sandtroopers (at least two more) to add to the collection.

Next Post: Comparing Sandtroopers as well as Stormtrooper

To get a full review of the Sideshow 1/6 scale 12-inch Imperial Stormtrooper, check out this link.

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