Jedi Temple Assault - ROTS - Battle Packs (Exclusive)

The Star Wars battle rages on! The Jedi and light side of the Force face their darkest hour when the Sith invade the Jedi Temple in this awesome battlepack!

One of the biggest and perhaps most shocking announcements by Hasbro at 2005’s San Diego Comic Con was that Kmart would be getting the best exclusive Battle Packs set for the year. "Best" is relative of course, but it truly was the greatest Battle Packs set of 2005. Hasbro inadvertently tortured collectors for the entire spring and summer of 2005 by making us wait for an awesome 501st Legion Clone Trooper action figure. Thankfully they made it up to us big time because not only would three be coming in the Jedi Temple Assault Battle Packs set, but a basic carded figure would also be gracing toy shelves in the final basic figure waves for the Revenge Of The Sith line. There was certainly plenty of opportunity to army build this flavor of clone trooper, the Vader’s Fist of clones no less. By August, the Jedi Temple Assault and Imperial Throne Room Battle Packs sets started arriving to collectors’ local Kmart stores and they shipped in the same case assortment. As fate would have it, most collectors found nothing but the Imperial Throne Room set stockpiling in the aisle and burned rubber marks on Kmart’s linoleum floors as evidence that one collector has beaten them to the most coveted Battle Packs yet. The initial shipments disappeared in about one week, but Hasbro was good to us and got out plenty of subsequent shipments out to stores (which also sold through very briskly as well).

The Jedi Temple Assault set is a lot of fun, but it may not be everything all collectors are looking for exactly. By this we mean that Hasbro had decided to add some weird figures like the oddly fitting Clone Pilot into this set for reasons unknown. We all would have much more appreciated a fourth 501st Legion Clone Trooper instead. Also, the “Comm Tech Han Solo (Cantina) figure of 2005”, the Anakin Skywalker (III 2) figure – now called Darth Vader in this set, was shoved into the packaging as an obligatory addition (they have to have Anakin somewhere here, right?!) and not something we really wanted to see again. But the reason to gear up for this set was for the three newly decorated Clone Trooper figures inside based on the 501st Legion. Two come with a DC-15 blaster and the third comes with a DC-15 blaster rifle. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Hasbro decided multiple times in 2005 to avoid the fan favorite Clone Trooper (III 41) figure sculpt chronically and it is very perplexing to us. However, the second best sculpt, the 2005 ROTS Clone Trooper (III 6) figure was used instead. And quite honestly this will be the perfect “hold us over” figure until they can update this battalion in a truly super-articulated manner. (Editor’s Note: There have been multiple updates to the 501st Legion Trooper since the release of this Battle Packs set.) But with 13 points of articulation and a well-hidden action feature, you should be able to smile somewhat when you hold these figures in your hand.

The Clone Troopers maintain most poses you place them in and they look fantastic in various action poses. Oh, and they can hold their respective guns very believably. In short, these clones work hard for what they are. And the action features Hasbro tried to kill them with are so well hidden, you shouldn’t find them cumbersome at all. We’re first and foremost impressed that Hasbro included three of the Clone Troopers in this set. You may feel entitled to this amount (and to a certain degree we feel the same way), but this isn’t Hasbro’s style at all. So count yourselves lucky here. These figures had to have been mass-produced quickly so that enough stock would accommodate the necessary amount of Battle Packs sets for Kmart’s orders. Think of all the same tooling that needed to be utilized to efficiently produce this set. Well, we’re impressed by this. What is so impressive is that the Clone Trooper figures are very neatly painted. You’d expect there to be lots of bleeding and messy lines, but there are next to none. The only place where the paint might get the slightest bit sloppy is on the helmets, but overall we think that you’ll be quite impressed by the paint operations on these figures. The Jedi Temple Assault Battle Packs set is easily the best exclusive out of all the ones produced for the various retail chains. It won’t be an ageless set. Any clone not developed utilized the III 41 sculpt can’t hold a candle to anything made with that sculpt. So expect future revisions. Otherwise, enjoy this set for what it is!