WIth Star Wars: The Bad Batch on the way, here’s a look at the different heads that LEGO Clone Troopers have used since they were introduced in 2008.
For over 20 years, LEGO Star Wars has given us countless unique minifigures. From LEGO Jedi, to droids, to wookiees – we’ve seen it all. Some of the best and most appealing are Clone Troopers. Clone Trooper minifigures have proven themselves popular enough to warrant countless variants throughout the years. From jungle camouflage print to the iconic blue markings of the 501st Legion, Clones have come in all sorts of colours. But throughout LEGO Star Wars history, there have been only four primary heads used to represent these fearless soldiers of the Galactic Republic. Here, we will compare and contrast these four heads: which will reign as the superior Clone head?
The solid black Clone head made its debut in 2002, being placed inside phase one Clone helmets. Often disregarded as antiquated, the solid black head does bring one thing to the table that the rest of the heads do not. Neck coverage. In the Star Wars films and shows, we observe that a Clone’s helmet does not cover the troopers neck, yet the soldier’s skin is never visible. This is because underneath their traditional white armour, every Clone wears a black bodysuit. This bodysuit encases their body like a glove, thus covering their neck entirely. Because LEGO minifigure heads have a very small neck built into them, whatever the colour of the head is the neck will be the same. Thus, unless a Clone’s head is solid black their skin will be ever so slightly visible, which is inaccurate. This head was last used for a Clone minifigure in 2010.
In 2008 came the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and with it many LEGO sets based off the series. Every Clone Trooper minifigure based off the show was given more cartoony prints to better represent their animated counterparts. That is why The Clone Wars head stands out so much from the rest. The most distinct features are the large animated eyes rather than traditional dots. As a kid and fan of the show, I didn’t think much about how creepy these stylised heads looked, but AFOLs at the time weren’t too fond of these.
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Known as the ‘angry Clone’ head, this more movie accurate version first appeared in 2013. It has become a running joke in the LEGO community to call this head the ‘angry Clone’ due to its overuse throughout LEGO Star Wars. At first it was used exclusively for Clone Troopers. After having the Clone Wars head for so many years, this head fit in more with other less cartoon-like minifigures and was generally accepted as an upgrade. This same head was given to every Clone – which made sense, after all, Clones should look alike. But once the LEGO Group started using this head for non-Clone characters such as Stormtroppers, fans started to get tired of seeing the same face over and over. It has since been used in other themes such as LEGO Super Heroes. If you can ignore its overuse, the angry Clone head still does its job.
Some say that the modern Clone head, introduced in 2020, is the most accurate Clone Trooper head yet. What makes this head stand out is its more accurate skin colour, which is closer to actors Temuera Morrison, Bodie Taylor and Daniel Logan. As of April 2021, you can find this head in three sets – 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers, 75283 Armored Assault Tank and 75286 General Grievous’s Starfighter. Accurate skin tone is what puts this minifigure ahead ofthe rest, and it’s likely that the LEGO Group will be using this head going forward for the Clones. It would be nice to see Captain Rex, Commander Wolfe and Commander Cody with the new piece.
Given that LEGO Star Wars set featuring Clone Squad 99, the Bad Batch, is surely on the way, it will be interesting to see whether the squad will use the modern Clone head, or if specialized heads will represent their unique looks. Echo, for example, has been kept prisoner and out of direct sunlight for so long, that he has become so pale he’s almost grey, while Tech has unique eye gear that helps him spot enemies from a distance. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can check out these new minifigures.
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