It's been over 30 years since Star Wars figures returned to retail in 1995. Thousands upon thousands of figures have been released in that time. You have to mine the absolute, obscure depths of the Star Wars universe to find a character who is not immortalized in plastic. And, one of the reasons why it's tough for fans to rally around a single desired product is because pretty much everything exists. I might clamor for a "perfect" Boba Fett. Yet, thousands of other collectors are finely satisfied with one or more of the dozens of Boba Fett figures that already exist. The only aspect of Star Wars fandom that isn't over represented in toys is the new TV media. But, even here, the roster is pretty good.
Everything I've ever known about Star Wars collecting generally comes down to a few truisms. Major characters in their classic looks always sell way better than collectors want them to. Weird aliens are never the retail hit that collectors think they will be. And, army builders (especially Clones!) are a guaranteed hit. But, in recent years, these have eroded a bit. This Commando has one of the cooler designs we've seen in new Star Wars media. And, he appeared in the popular Mandalorian universe which is the one property that's really been able to escape the manufactured drama of Star Wars fandom. Despite that, the figure hit clearance all over the country. Why? Well, read on....
We'll just jump right to the meat of this figure. He was priced at $32 when he was released. $32!!! The notion of a "deluxe" figure offering has been around since at least the '90's. Companies got cute with gimmicks to raise the price of a standard figure by a couple of bucks. The thing is, those gimmicks at least gave perceived value. I don't care about a huge backpack with a sound chip in it. But, there were lots of kids who got a figure that included one and loved it. The extras justified the increased price.
Now, look at this figure. He comes on an oversized card. This is supposed to give the appearance of value. But, it's just more trash to recycle. Supposedly, the selling point is the extra accessory complement. The figure has a shield, baton, 2 guns and a knife. That's it. Truth be told, Vintage Collection Star Wars figures haven't included massive accessory complements. Usually, it's one or two pieces with each figure. But, that's offset by the inclusion of attached soft goods or other accoutrements like working holsters, bandoliers and other fun things that couldn't exist at 3 3/4" scale in the 20th century. This Commando lacks those features aside from the sculpted holster belt. So, the double price point was for a riot shield and baton. When put in those terms, you can see why this figure struggled. There's just nothing there to justify double the retail price of a Vintage Collection figure. The deluxe figures have, generally, been easy clearance finds in the past few years. Many have even made it to Ross at really cheap prices. Yet, Hasbro is hell bent on continuing the concept. So, they must sell enough to make the clearance worth it. At some point, they'll break. Until then, I'll take my clear conscience and cherry pick deluxe figures for 1/2 to 1/3 of retail at clearance.
Since the Vintage Collection returned a few years ago, it's produced a good amount of amazing figures. There are figures that I didn't think would ever get made all the way to redos of characters in a look that already has dozens of prior releases. Somehow, the modern Vintage Collection is both one of the great runs of Star Wars figures and a huge disappointment at the same time. Much of this, though, stems from the line's history. I vacillate between two distinct eras as the greatest times to be a Star Wars figure collector. The first would be the latter half of 1996 through the middle of 1998. The second was between 2006 and 2009.
Each of these eras have commonalities. Both of them produced the best versions of characters that were available at the time. Both balanced their lineups with: main characters, blink and you miss it minor aliens and droids, offbeat and collector oriented Expanded Universe entities and army builders galore. Both eras saw massive availability, affordable offerings and a constant stream of new releases. And, both eras ended with retail malaise setting in. You can argue that a poor Hasbro decision was the cause of these runs fading away. But, really, both were about three years long and that's about as long as anything can dominate pop culture without seeing some decline.
My kids aren't huge Star Wars fans. They like it. But, it's more of a background show than anything they really dig into. But, they are all excited to see the new Mandalorian movie in a couple of weeks. Sadly, it's not tracking well and it's unlikely to resurrect the Star Wars theatre-going experience. But, we're going to be there on the first weekend. It will the first Star Wars movie I've been able to see in a theatre with them. (They were too young for the others.) So, it's going to be a great time: regardless of the film's quality.
Sadly, the days of tracking down toys for them are over. They've aged out. I planned to give this figure to my youngest. But, he said he had no interest. I've got a bad of cheap Mandalorian universe characters that I've found on clearance in the past year. And, no one wants them. So, they're going to go into storage. And, maybe they'll be something that, in a couple of decades, grandkids find fun. It's kind of tough to realize that my boys are past their toy years. It seems like it was just starting up. Toys, to them, were always playthings. A fun way to spend time. But, most of it was spent with each other. So, the toys were just background to the time they shared as siblings. That's a vastly different toy experience than mine. But, that's good. I was always careful not to push anything too hard to them. And, they did find their own interests. It's a lot more fun to see them entering their teen years as fully formed people instead of the stunted mess that I was at their age.
At the end of the day, my Star Wars passion isn't going to die out. I'll pick up figures here and there. I'm really enjoying the Retro Collection and hope it finds legs for another hundred figures or so. And, as cool designs show up, I'll snag one here and there. I still watch the shows. Mostly, though, I view the content with my kids. We enjoy it together. When they're not around, I'm unlikely to just fire up any movie or show. Maybe, in a few years, that will change. I still have my DVD's. (Heck, I still have my set of original trilogy VHS tapes that were released before the Special Edition!) So, I can watch it whenever. Knowing it's there is sometimes the comfort you need, even if you have no plans to actually ever watch it, again.
As for the figure itself, it's cool. The Commando is a neat design. He's that bridge between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. 20 years ago, this would would have been worth triple his price on the secondary market. Now, though, he's lost in a sea of Clones and advanced Stormtrooper designs that make him seem another in a large string. There's nothing that makes him jump out and leapfrog any of the multitudes of cool army builders that have been pouring out of Hasbro since 2002. If you like the Mando-verse, this guy is a worthwhile pickup if you find him cheap. He's a good foil to the legions of Mandalorian figures that Hasbro's churned out while also being useful as a backdrop for main characters. In short, he's fine.
This figure debuted at $32. Die-hards bought him for that price. But, generally, the figure hung around. Around the holidays in 2025, Target started to clearance the figure out. I found two of them for $12.50 at my local store. They dropped to at least $21 on Target's website. (They might have dropped further. But, I didn't check every day.) These sold out. In spring of 2026, Wal Mart began their clearance. My local store dropped their stock of 8 or so figures down to $16.50. A week later, they were $11. I haven't been back since them to see if they dropped further. It's just hard to justify much over $12 for a Star Wars figure. Few figures really hit that sweet spot of nostalgia, absence from my collection and full on quality to get me to spring for one. At $11, this guy did, though.
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