The anouncement of a new Snowtrooper had a lot of fans excited, and Commtech Stormtrooper-styled articulation and a much more detailed sculpt was what many were hoping for. But what most fans didn't expect was that Hasbro chose not to do any ordinary old Snowtrooper, but a Snowtrooper Commander. Here's a quick run-down of the differences between a normal Snowtrooper and a Snowtrooper Commander: The Commander has a rank badge on his chest plate, a holstered sidearm (apparently a blaster pistol), has upside-down shoulder armor, wears what appears to be Stormtrooper forearm armor with cuffed gloves over it, wears a different style of boots, does not wear a backpack, does not have the two large pouches at his waist and wears a slightly different helmet (there are two small silver disks on each side of the helmet). To see actual photos of the Snowtrooper Commander and compare them to the regular Snowtrooper, check out The Snowtrooper Resource Center. So now that you have a better idea of where Hasbro started with this figure, let's talk about where they went with it.

	Sculpt--4/5 Apparently Hasbro couldn't quite decide between a regular Snowtrooper and a Snowtrooper Commander and instead opted to combine the two together. For the most part though, this figure is a Snowtrooper Commander. However, Hasbro decided to give the commander a backpack, a standard Imperial blaster rifle and the regular Snowtrooper's helmet. Everything else is based on the Snowtrooper Commander. In terms of sculpting detail, this figure is an improvement over the POTF2 Snowtrooper. The body armor is nice, defined and appropriately shiny. The wrinkles in the cowl look great and Hasbro even sculpted two "nostils" which does in fact exist on the actual Snowtrooper costume. A nice improvement is that the head is sculpted separately from the body this time, which adds an extra bit of realism to the look of the figure. The sculpted skirt has a nice texture to it, giving it the appearance of wool or some other slightly fluffy fabric. Articulation--3/5 For me, the articulation of this figure is one of the more disappointing aspects. The Snowtrooper has ball-jointed neck, shoulders, waist, hips and ball-jointed right ankle. The ball-jointed neck is one of my favorite points on this figure. While there's not a lot of left-to-right neck movement, the joint is still surprisingly useful for action or static poses. The ankle joint is another uncommon joint and is useful for making slight adjustments to his stance. Everything else is very basic, and a bicep-cut and/or wrist-cuts would have been a very, very welcome addition. It would have been nice if he could hold his rifle with both hands. Features--5/5 The feature in this set exists in its accessory and not in the figure--just the way I like it! The included E-Web repeating blaster has the appropriate feature of firing a projectile. You fire the projectile by pushing on the handles of the weapon which is kind of cool because it's a good way to hide the button and adds that extra bit of realism--when your Snowtrooper uses the cannon, he'll really be using the cannon! Accessories--5/5 You get the Snowtrooper backpack, a standard Imperial blaster rifle, the huge E-Web repeating blaster, and a projectile. The backpack looks great and is very accurate with the correct designs on its sides. The Imperial blaster rifle is like the one that comes with Cloud City Capture Chewbacca, in that it has an enlarged grip. The E-Web tripod blaster is, for the most part, the same as the one from the POTF2 Deluxe Snowtrooper or the recently released Imperial Forces 4-Pack. The only difference is that the actual cannon section has been totally redesigned; the barrel of the cannon is slightly bigger, and the detailing of the cannon is different all around. This version of the E-Web blaster actually ends up being slightly taller than the previous version because of these changes. The projectile is also noteably different than the previous version; the old vesion's projectile was sculpted to look like the tip of the cannon's barrel, making the cannon look strange when the projectile was not loaded. This new version has solved that problem and now the projectile looks like a huge, red laser blast. The set doesn't come with the power box and hose that came with the previous version, but if you have them, you can connect them to the new version in the same fashion. In the end, this is a huge accessory once it's put together and you'll definitely feel like you've got your money's worth. On a side note, sticklers for accuracy will note that the E-Web blaster is actually too big! The top of the weapon should come to the mid-chest area of a standard trooper as seen here. As it is, the gun is almost as tall as the Snowtrooper figure! Paint--4.5/5 The paint job is pretty clean overall. All the red and blue buttons and the rank badge are painted well. The cream color of his pants and sleeves nicely offset the white armor. Overall--4/5 I think Hasbro should have just went with a regular Snowtrooper instead of the Snowtrooper Commander; I know a lot of army-builders are hating the fact that they can't buy a ton of these figures without breaking accuracy. I think it was a mistake to sculpt the commander and then try to pass him off as a regular Snowtrooper. Granted, casual fans may not know the difference, but for those that do, it's a shame that Hasbro has mixed things up like this. This is still a great figure with great sculpting and a nice accessory. The articulation could be better, but in the end it is a set you should not be without if you are a fan of the Battle of Hoth.