Death Squad Commander, MOC.
Death Squad Commander uniform variations.
The branches of the Imperial Military, of the existing nineteen, that are germane to the purpose of this book, are delineated as follows: the Imperial Army, Imperial Navy (a.k.a. Imperial Starfleet), the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps, the Imperial High Command, and the Imperial Palace Guard. Specifically, the Imperial Navy Commander pictured on this action figure’s card front is that of Sergeant Derek Torent, a senior watch trooper who is stationed aboard the command center of the first Death Star (see Death Star Space Station) in 0 BBY. As a watch trooper, he ias tasked to monitor external sensor data—the Empire’s first line of defense against Rebel assaults. Regarding the toy, the original name of this character’s action figure in 1978, “Death Squad Commander,” was controversial due to the title’s similarity to the reprehensible “death squads” utilized by the Nazis in WWII (the Einsatzgruppen)—so when the figure was re-released for ESB and onward, Kenner decided to forego this designation in favor of “Star Destroyer Commander.” With this new designation came a curious denotation. Consider the name of the Empire’s flagship vehicles, the “Star Destroyers.” Quite simply, the name suggests these spacecraft were so immensely powerful, that these colossial ships could figuratively destroy stars (!).
Death Squad Commander, with Imperial Blaster.
The Death Squad/Star Destroyer Commander toy marks one of the four “troop builder” action figure characters produced by Kenner for the company’s first assortment of Star Wars toys. Concocting this quartet of troop builders and injecting them into the first wave of the toy line allowed early fans of A New Hope to amass a horde of these troopers and boost Kenner’s retail sales as well. Whether Sand People, Jawas, Imperial Stormtroopers, or Death Squad/Star Destroyer Commanders, kids and collectors simply loved amassing lots of enemy troops. What kid didn’t wish to own more than one Jawa or Stormtrooper? MOC: SW 12B: $425-$450, 20/21B: $215-$235; ESB: $125-$150; ROTJ: $65-$70; MLC: $12-$15.
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