Blocks is examining the history of one of the most beloved LEGO Star Wars minifigures — the LEGO Clone Trooper, beginning with the Phase I variant.
Search ‘LEGO Star Wars’ on YouTube and you’re bound to find plenty of content with LEGO Clone Trooper minifigures — be it MOCs, stop motion animations or Clone armies. LEGO Clone Troopers have seen a resurgence in recent years, as the generation that grew up with the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series is entering adulthood. Just like their fans, LEGO Clone Troopers have grown and changed significantly over the years, so it can be difficult to keep track of all the different minifigures.
There’s dozens of different LEGO Clone Troopers, and Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, is beginning its dive into LEGO Star Wars history with the version that started it all — the Phase I Clone Trooper, first seen on screen and in the brick in 2002 with the release of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. There have been four main versions of this trooper to date, each with its own distinct style and variants. Blocks makes a visit to Kamino to inspect the ranks of the Phase I LEGO Clone Trooper.
2002 — Attack of the LEGO Clones
The first batch of LEGO Star Wars Clone Troopers was incredibly simple by modern standards, but there’s a charm about these old figures that cannot be matched. The first LEGO Clone Troopers featured a brand-new helmet mould that had a cut-out visor rather than a printed one, much like the Boba Fett minifigures at the time. This meant that the first LEGO Clones had to have a black head piece to create the iconic black visor. For a first outing, it’s a solid minifigure, but future versions would surpass it in terms of details. This iteration of the LEGO Phase I Clone Trooper only ever appeared in two sets — 2002’s 7163 Republic Gunship and 2003’s 4482 AT-TE, making it one of the rarer Clone Trooper minifigures.
2008 — Begun, the LEGO Clone War, has
With the highly stylised designs of Star Wars: The Clone Wars came highly stylised minifigures in the accompanying sets. The Clone Wars style of minifigures is far from beloved by fans, but most tend to agree on one thing — the Clone Troopers are excellent. 2008 was the Phase I Clone Trooper’s first appearance since 2003, and this new version was a total redesign. The helmet now had a closed and printed visor, there was a proper face underneath the helm and the printing matched the cartoony style of the show. This LEGO Clone Trooper was wildly popular with fans at the time, especially when three were included in 8014 Clone Walker Battle Pack, and is still looked upon fondly to this day. The plain white version of this figure appeared in a variety of sets but was only around from 2008 to 2010, while decorated and specialised variants stuck around until 2012.
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2013 — Back to Live Action
While 2013’s 3D release of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones was ultimately cancelled, a wave of sets based on the climactic Battle of Geonosis still made its way to shelves. The first set to feature the new style — 75000 Clone Troopers vs Droidekas — released in the winter, ahead of a summer wave packed with Clones. Like the 2002 design, this minifigure was based on the live action version of the armour, so it uses a more realistic art style than the figure from 2008; this resulted in a sleek, modern look for the new generation of LEGO Clones. There was a new head print to top it all off — the beloved ‘Angry Clone’. This style of Clone Trooper also came with plenty of variants — a pilot, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and commander accompanied the standard trooper. The 2013 appearance saw a slight change in 2015 with the addition of leg printing, but otherwise maintained the same design.
2022 — Merging Live Action and Animation
After two decades of differentiating between live action and animation, the styles merged in 2020 with 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers. This new style carried over to the Phase I Clone Troopers, first featured in 2022’s 40558 Clone Trooper Command Station. The 2022 version uses a similar helmet to 2013, but everything else is vastly different. The new design uses white hips, boot printing and the new Clone Trooper face first used in 75280. Only two variants of this Clone Trooper have been made to date — a standard trooper and a commander. But with this style seemingly sticking around for years to come, there’s plenty of opportunity for new variants of this design in the future.
Do you have a favourite of the LEGO Phase I Clone Trooper designs? Let Blocks know on any of our social media channels.