The figure is the one which comes in the Gelagrub Patrol pack, this one was sent from Hong Kong as a single figure, though.
Re. articulation the Gelagrub trooper is just like the new style Cody, except for the swivel wrists he has all ball-joints and ball-hinged joints.
He comes with a soft goods kama which looks and feels a lot more natural than the molded plastic kamas we are used to. I will, however, try to install kamas made from artificial leather on a future custom figure as I think it may look even more like the blaster-resistant hide it is supposed to represent than the textile kama used in the Gelagrub trooper.
Still, I'm tempted to say that for a stock figure this softgoods kama is a decent step ahead.
Back to the figure on hand:
The trooper comes with a new type of belt with a pair of holsters hanging from the belt by drop-leg straps.
No more cutting away excess plastic from the belt/holster/kama one-piece molding to attain a more realistic look from now on.
The new type DC-15 Blaster Pistols fit very tightly into the holsters, but that way you’re obviously not running into danger of losing them easily.
His shoulder pauldron is the new type with what I suppose is to represent a free-swinging bandolier as it does not connect to any place on the belt. This is one aspect I am not too fond of, though.
Hasbro knows how to do working bandoliers, they are a basic feature on the GI Joe figures and the Clone Wars Commander Gree also has one.
Once more the pauldron causes the helmet to sit too high on the head so you see the trooper’s chin, a prob we all know since these pauldrons were introduced.
Other than that, I can’t find fault with this figure.
It has great conversion potential and somehow I have the odd feeling that the figure will not be too expensive when getting them from the Far East so they should be well-suited for army building or unit customizing.
I surely hope that the super-articulation as we see them on these two guys here will now become the standard for Clone troopers. Actually, there is no real excuse for lame articulation any more, Hasbro has proven that their Star Wars action figures are up to standard now.
