General Information:
Release Date: December 2011
Price Point: $5.99 (varies depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Rifle

Images:

• On Card*
• Official Photo (Vehicle Mode)*
• Official Photo (Robot Mode)*
• Scan of Card (Front)
• Scan of Card (Back)
• Scan of Insert
• Vehicle Mode
• Vehicle Mode (Side)
• Vehicle Mode (Back)
• Vehicle Mode (Forward view)
• Vehicle Mode (Angle View)
• Robot Mode
• Robot Mode (Side)
• Robot Mode (Back)
• Robot Mode (Close up)
• Robot Mode (Focus on head)
• Robot Mode (Angle view)
• Robot Mode (Holding Rifle)
• Robot Mode (Alternate pose)
• Robot Mode (Holding rifle and Lightsaber)

Text from Hasbrotoyshop.com:
The clone pilot’s Y-wing fighter blasts into space on another dangerous galactic mission, then converts to a powerful mech warrior to fight the battle droid army.

Get the galaxy-crossing awesomeness of Star Wars and the conversion action of TRANSFORMERS! This CLONE TROOPER Pilot figure is an unstoppable force in mech mode with his blaster. Then when the action is heaviest, you can convert him to vehicle mode so he can "fly" back into the battle! Keep converting him back and forth so he can handle whatever his enemies throw at him! Ages 5 and up.

The Star Wars Transformers line has continued to grow over the years. Though not as complex or intricate as their mainline Transformers cousins, the pure strength of the Star Wars brand has helped this brand not only go on in its semi-Deluxe-almost Mega Class price point, but now the series has moved into a smaller size class. Not quite big enough to be a Scout Class and not small enough to be considered a Legends Class, this new scale of Star Wars Transformers offers a nice and compact series of figures for Star Wars and Transformers fans alike.

Part of the second wave of "Basic" Star Wars Transformers figures is a Y-Wing Fighter that tranfsorms into a Clone Trooper. This sets this vehicle in the "Clone Wars" era of Star Wars, which makes sense as the primary media for Star Wars is the "Clone Wars" Animated Series at the time this figure was released.

Vehicle Mode:
I grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy, so when you say "Y-Wing Fighter" to me, the picture that pops into my head is of a ship with a flat front end, a long neck that leads to the a rectangular section in the back connected to two large tubes, thus forming the "Y" for this vehicle's nickname. However, during the Clone Wars era, the Y-Wing fighters were quite different. While the basic "Y" shape was retained, most of the body of the craft was covered in armor paneling, creaing a much bulkier looking vehicle. That is the design used by this figure. While the engines/tubes on the sides and the front end of the vehicle resemble their original trilogy counterparts, the middle of the vehicle is covered up completely, creating a very wide section and no "neck" to speak of connecting the two sections.

Many of the smaller, requisite details on the vehicle are present. Aside from those mentioned above, the front end has two cannons and the cockpit. Behind the cockpit is a bubble turret where a gunner would be stationed. A bit behind that is a small dome representing an Astromech Droid that would help the pilot control the ship and if necessary effect repairs in battle.

The Y-Wing fighter is cast in white plastic. Yellow paint is used to provide most of the details including stripes around the cockpit leading to the back and adding color to the front and sides of the engines. Smaller details are provided in red, silver and black. The red is used on the sides of the engine, forming the symbol of the Galactic Republic. The silver is used on one spot: the dome that is meant to be the Astromech Droid's head. Finally, black is used to paint the gunner dome and cockpit windows. Overall, the color scheme very much jives with the colors most fans (old and new) have come to associate with the Y-Wing: yellow and white. The extra tiny details are very welcome in a toy this size.

The Y-Wing/Clone Trooper figure comes with a rifle, but there's really nowhere to properly stash it in this mode, so get those Ziplock bags ready to store it unless you want to lose it. On the botom of the figure are two landing skids sculpted onto the engines (in larger versions of this vehicle, they typically swing down from the engines). The front end has a single skid in the middle that can swing down, providing the vehicle with proper landing gear. Towards the middle of the vehicle's underside is a panel that swings down and looks like it is meant to attach to something (or something is supposed to attach to it but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what. It's a weird feature and if anyone has a clue what it's about, feel free to contact me about it.

Transformation to Robot Mode:

1. Push the ends of the engines in to separate the front and back halves of each engine.
2. Swing the front ends out.
3. On each front end, swing out the inner panel to form the forearm, then from the forearm, swing out each fist.
4. Swing each half of the vehicle's front end to the sides.
5. Using the central hinge on the underside of the vehicle, swing the rear section of the engines forward to begin forming the robot legs.
6. Swing the ends of the engines down to form the robot feet, then rotate the lower legs around to face front.
7. Lift the panel at the back of the vehicle mode's middle section and swing it back to reveal the robot head.
8. Attach the rifle weapon to one of the fists.

Robot Mode:
With many Star Wars Transformers figures, you're basically dealing with a Star Wars character head on a robotic body with bits of a Star Wars vehicle hanging off of it. This is very true for the Clone Trooper Mode of the Y-Wing Fighter. Most of the body looks like extended parts of the Y-Wing itself, especially the torso and waist area, which are all parts of the Y-Wing without any extra panels or armor on top. On the one hand, this subtracts a bit from the illusion of this being a true "Clone Trooper", but since this is actually meant to represent a transforming mecha that the Clone Trooper is piloting, I give it a lot of leeway. What I find interesting is that the Y-Wing Fighter is known as a fairly "bulky" ship (compared to its sibling ships such as the A-Wing Fighter) but in this form, with all its parts stretched out the Clone Trooper winds up looking quite thin and lithe. The bulkiest parts are perhaps his upper arms (formed from the front of the engines) and his feet. He looks a bit odd when you compare his relatively thick arms to his thin legs, but I think it works out well overall.

Newly revealed pars including the fists and head. The fists are sculpted in a fist shape, clenched and ready to hold his weapon. The head has the Clone Trooper helmet design with an antennae on the right side. This includes a thin visor leading to tubes that look like rebreathers on a scuba diving suit. The sculpting is nice down to the ridged lines on the tubes and the visor eyes.

All of the colors seen in the vehicle mode are represented here. The rifle itself is cast in a gunmetal-like color while the newly revealed fists and head are cast in white, just like the rest of the vehicle. The same paint colors from the vehicle mode carry over into the robot mode. Yellow lines are found on the sides of his feet as well as parts of the helmet. Black paint is used for the visor detailing on the helmet as well as part of the fists. A touch of gunmetal paint is used for the ridged part of the "breathing tubes" on the helmet and his head features two red Galactic Republic symbols on the top. Combined with the yellow lines from the vehicle mode, the Clone Trooper looks quite ornate and not dull at all despite having white as its base plastic color.

The Clone Trooper mecha has fifteen points of articulation. This includes three on each arm and four on each leg. What surprised me was that the legs had so much articulation. The hip joint for instance is a ball joint that not only allows the leg to swing forward, but also out to the sides. His elbow articulation is slightly hampered by the landing skid on his arm, but you can still get it to bend at a slight angle. While his weapon has a flat handle, his fist holes are circular so he can hold weapons from other Basic sized Star Wars Transformers such as the Lightsabers included with the Jedi figures.

Final Thoughts:
I've always liked the Y-Wing Fighter. Along with the X-Wing, it's burned in my brain as one of the iconic Star Wars vehicles. This is a really cool version of that vehicle and I really like the articulation on the robot mode. Good sculpting and good play value equals a recommended figure. It's not perfect, but it is fun!