Imperial Rocket Trooper (Battlefront II) — Star Wars The Black Series #GG 01

Overview

The Imperial Rocket Trooper at #GG 01 opens the Gaming Greats Collection — the Black Series sub-line dedicated to characters from Star Wars video games rather than films or TV. Released June 2021 as a single-boxed GameStop exclusive. MSRP $24.99. Two accessories: a jetpack and a blaster. 23-joint articulation. The figure depicts the Rocket Trooper reinforcement class from the 2017 Battlefront II video game — the elite Imperial unit players can call in mid-match to rain down fire from above. It’s also a repaint of the 2019 Black Series Imperial Jump Trooper (figure id=20339), with a new helmet, new shoulder bells, and the Battlefront II-specific paint application.

The Gaming Greats Collection

This is the first numbered figure in Hasbro’s Gaming Greats sub-line — the Black Series collection specifically for video game tie-in figures. The collection covers Battlefront II, Jedi: Fallen Order, Knights of the Old Republic, The Force Unleashed, Republic Commando, and other Star Wars games where the source material is interactive rather than cinematic. All Gaming Greats figures ship as GameStop exclusives, which gives the retailer the dedicated video-game-collector channel and means the entire collection runs through one purchasing pipeline.

The Mural Collection packaging treats Gaming Greats as a single panoramic display — the box artwork on each figure shows the full Gaming Greats lineup, with the specific figure highlighted. For collectors building boxed displays, lining up multiple Gaming Greats releases creates a continuous mural the same way the Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi collections do.

The Battlefront II Source

The 2017 Star Wars Battlefront II is EA DICE’s multiplayer shooter that drew significant criticism at launch for its loot-box monetisation but was substantially overhauled in subsequent updates and is now generally regarded as a strong Star Wars combat experience. The Rocket Trooper is one of the game’s “reinforcement” classes — premium units that players can spawn into a match by accumulating in-game points. The class is defined by its jetpack mobility and rocket-launcher armament, used for vertical engagements and air-to-ground harassment.

For collectors who played Battlefront II, the figure captures a recognisable in-game enemy class in physical form. For collectors who didn’t, the figure works as a generic jetpack-equipped Imperial trooper — fitting alongside other jetpack troopers (Jump Trooper, Mandalorian Death Watch units, Boba Fett-class characters) for flight-capable Imperial display configurations.

The Jump Trooper Repaint Question

The figure is a repaint of the 2019 Black Series Imperial Jump Trooper from the Solo movie waves. Same body sculpt, same articulation engineering. The differences: a new helmet (with the specific Battlefront II Rocket Trooper fin design), new shoulder bells (the armoured shoulder pieces are tooled differently), and a different paint application (the Battlefront II colour scheme rather than the Solo Jump Trooper’s mud-and-grime palette).

For collectors who already own the Jump Trooper, the Rocket Trooper is functionally a costume variant — same character class, different deployment context. For collectors who want the Battlefront II-specific configuration without the Jump Trooper duplicate, the Rocket Trooper is the better single purchase. For collectors building army-builder Imperial flight-trooper displays, both figures work together.

The Jetpack

The jetpack plugs firmly into a hole in the back of the Rocket Trooper. Solid mounting — the pack doesn’t slip during posing or display, which matters for a figure where the weight distribution shifts with the additional gear. The cables are permanently attached to the helmet but they can be unplugged from the jet-pack, giving collectors a small amount of disassembly flexibility for transport or storage without forcing the cables to remain plugged into both ends.

The cable engineering is appropriate for a flight-trooper figure. Hard-attaching one end (the helmet) means the cables can’t be lost, while making the other end (the jetpack) removable means the figure can be displayed jetpack-off for ground-deployment configurations. For a character class defined by its mobility equipment, the dual-state design is the right choice.

The Blaster

The blaster fits into the holster, and the figure is able to hold it well in both hands. Standard sidearm engineering — nothing exceptional, but functional across the standard combat-pose configurations. The single blaster is the figure’s only handheld weapon; the jetpack is back-mounted, and there’s no rocket launcher accessory despite the character class’s name being “Rocket Trooper.” The video game depicts the Rocket Trooper firing rockets from forearm or shoulder mounts that don’t exist as separate accessories on this figure — for purists who wanted the launcher in plastic, the figure is under-equipped.

The Helmet and Permanent Configuration

There is no head underneath the helmet. The helmet is integrated as part of the figure’s permanent sculpt — consistent with how most Black Series Imperial trooper-class figures are tooled, and appropriate for a faceless army-builder character. Collectors who want unmasked head sculpts for kitbashing should look elsewhere; collectors who want a screen-accurate Rocket Trooper get exactly the configuration they expect.

The McQuarrie-esque helmet design — with the long fin running over the top and the markings and the specific colour tone — captures the Battlefront II character class faithfully. Hasbro committed to the source material’s visual reading rather than genericising the helmet for cross-context display.

Articulation

23 joints. Ball-jointed top neck, swivel-jointed lower neck, ball-jointed shoulders, swivel-jointed biceps, swivel joints above the elbows, swivel joints below the elbows, ball-jointed wrists, ball-jointed waist, ball-jointed hips, swivel-jointed thighs, swivel joints above the knees, swivel joints below the knees, ball-jointed ankles. This is significantly above the standard 17-joint Phase 4 baseline — the additional swivels above and below the major joints (biceps, elbows, knees) provide the kind of fine-grained articulation that supports dynamic flight-combat poses.

The figure stands solidly without falling over. The increased joint count means Hasbro had to engineer the lower-body stability carefully (more joints typically means more potential for drift), and the Rocket Trooper passes the standing-stability test even with the jetpack adding back-weight. For collectors building flight-action displays with the figure caught mid-launch or mid-firing-stance, the articulation supports the configurations the character class requires.

The Mural Collection Position

The Rocket Trooper sits at the leftmost edge of the Gaming Greats Mural Collection display, opening the visual run that continues through the rest of the collection’s video-game-character roster. For loose display, the figure works best alongside other jetpack-equipped Imperial troopers — the 2019 Jump Trooper, various Mandalorian and Boba Fett-class flight characters, and the eventual Battlefront II Jet Trooper at #GG 06 (which is the natural pairing partner from later in the same collection).

Secondary Market

Single-boxed GameStop exclusive, June 2021. Aftermarket prices on the secondary market have generally tracked at MSRP or slightly above, with the GameStop-exclusive distribution and the Battlefront II tie-in keeping demand firm among video-game-collector segments. Verify the jetpack and blaster are both included; the cables should be present and intact (the helmet-attached portion is permanent, the jetpack-end is removable). No production variants documented.

Verdict

If you don’t own the 2019 Imperial Jump Trooper and want a flight-equipped Imperial army-builder, the Rocket Trooper is the right figure. The Battlefront II paint application is sharper than the Jump Trooper’s mud-and-grime alternative, the helmet design is more visually distinctive, and the jetpack engineering is solid. If you do own the Jump Trooper, the Rocket Trooper is a costume-variant repaint that depends on whether the Battlefront II-specific look matters to your display.

The figure opens the Gaming Greats Collection with a competent video-game-tie-in release. The 23-joint articulation handles dynamic flight poses cleanly. The McQuarrie-esque helmet captures the source material faithfully. The lack of an actual rocket launcher accessory is the figure’s most defensible negative.

The first Gaming Greats figure. The Battlefront II flight-trooper class. The Jump Trooper repaint with the new helmet and the proper paint scheme. GameStop exclusive, fair retail pricing.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 Gaming Greats Collection. Related: Cal Kestis (Deluxe) P4-GG-02 | Battlefront II Jet Trooper P4-GG-06 | Flametrooper P4-GG-03.