Jedi Vs. Sith - ROTS - Battle Packs

The Star Wars battle rages on! The Jedi and light side of the Force clash against the Sith and the dark side of the Force in this awesome battlepack. Who will win? The fate of the galaxy is in your hands!

One thing that both collectors and Hasbro shared together was our passion for Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series. Collectors for the most part felt that Hasbro couldn’t bang out enough action figures based on the characters from the multimedia event, and we’re pretty much convinced that Hasbro isn’t satisfied with the number of products they’ve released either and are always looking to do more (and better) products. One collection of figures that blew everyone away was the Jedi Vs. Sith Battle Packs set from the Revenge Of The Sith line. After a successful Clone Wars sub-line during 2003’s Star Wars “Saga” line, the announcement of the unaltered Original Trilogy on DVD was the latest and greatest breaking news and forced multiple licensees to shift around their priorities quite a bit. As a result, the Clone Wars line went on an official hiatus and everything “OT” was front and center for the duration of 2004. But Hasbro was able to get the focus back on the Clone Wars line again in early 2005. And it was really going to happen no matter what since Volume 2 would lead fans right up to the opening crawl of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. So to get things down to business, Hasbro released the Jedi Vs. Sith Battle Packs set as one of the their first Battle Packs sets ever and we feel they have gone above and beyond (and we’re saying that totally accepting that the figures in the set are not perfect.) There is certainly room for improvement here. We’re not trying to claim this is how it should be done articulation-wise, but the concept of this Battle Packs set it brilliant.

There are two real stars in this set. We feel that Hasbro has done right by collectors making Asajj Ventress and Anakin Skywalker. Their appearances in the Battle Packs sets are ripped right from Volume 1: Chapter 19. The lightsaber duel between the on Yavin IV was one of the most pivotal scenes in the entire micro-series. The scenery, the imagery, the animation and the incredible action made for some of the best moments in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars. Granted, these two figures aren’t perfect, but aesthetically their appearances are brilliant. Asajj could have definitely stood to have swivel wrists, but she does come with ball-jointed shoulders which really help to get her lightsabers in a favorable pose. Her head sculpt in particular is unmistakably Tartakovsky and the details worked into her dress and belt should make you gasp in wonderment. Anakin Skywalker is definitely in an action stance, but it’s more reserved and hardly blatant. He’s a nice mixture of ball-jointed and swivel articulation, but you can achieve great things with him. Whether it was dumb luck that a figure of this caliber turned out so well or just clever engineering, Anakin Skywalker is a figure you won’t want to have missing from your collection. Sadly he comes with an action feature, but somehow it’s not as bad as you think. It stays hidden as long as your not looking for it, if that makes any sense. We particularly like the cybernetic hand hasbro designed for him. It holds his lightsaber well and it really glistens in the light. Anakin is probably the best figure in this set.

General Grievous and Yoda are two figures we’ve already seen in the basic figure line. Grievous is a repaint of 2005’s ROTS General Grievous (Sneak Preview) (1 of 4) figure and Yoda is a repaint of the Yoda figure from 2003’s SW Yoda & Chian (‘03 #15) figure two-pack. We can’t say we’re excited to see them again, but they help to round out the three all-new figures in this awesome Battle Packs set. If you have them from previous release, you know what to expect here. At least they’re repainted now. The last all-new figure is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Whether or not this particular version of Obi-Wan Kenobi finds favor with collectors or kids, we have to admit that Hasbro has really put some thought into how to address its interchangeability. Quite frankly, Obi-Wan Kenobi is nearly laughable, but we think that it is the campiness of this figure that makes it relatively harmless. We think Obi-Wan Kenobi looks best outside of his snap on “Stormtrooper” armor (hey, that’s what Hasbro calls it on the packaging), but then again, this just isn’t the best facial or body sculpt we have seen of the venerable Jedi. The armor snaps into place via holes drilled into Obi-Wan Kenobi’s body. This makes him appear “holey” in multiple places, but it is what it is. He has fairly decent articulation, and Hasbro even bothered to give him ball-jointed ankles. (We think that was a bit of a waste for this figure.) Even despite this Battle Packs’ negatives, we still couldn’t be happier to own it. And for Tartakovsky fans, this one’s for you.