Shadow Of Malevolence (Anakin Skywalker/Matchstick) - TCW [SOTDS] - The Clone Wars DVD Set (2 of 3)

Anakin Skywalker and Matchstick battle General Grievous. The Jedi and clone trooper are part of a squadron that is sent to destroy the cyborg's ion cannon. Anakin leads them through the Kaliida Nebula to save time. As they pass through this tricky shortcut, Matchstick's Y-wing is damaged by a neebray manta in the "Shadow of Malevolence."

The Clone Wars DVD Set collection line is doomed for failure. Hasbro, instead of taking this opportunity to introduce simple repaints to make an exclusive feel like it has more exclusivity than it does, is just bringing us the same old stuff hoping that the packaging fools our eyes into thinking it’s more than meets the eye. It’s not and we certainly won’t be fooled by what they’re pitching to us. Hasbro has culled together a three set collection of figure two-packs, exclusive to Walmart. The concept, packaging and even some of the contents inside are nice, but what Walmart probably doesn’t realize however is that these figures were available previously in very high number, negating the need for these to ever be reissued again. Sadly, we’ve been handed a raw deal and once again sigh in disbelief over what Hasbro is doing to the exclusive program. These aren’t the exclusives you’re looking for…. Move along. Move along.

What is extra frustrating about The Clone Wars DVD Set line is that the concept borders on brilliancy. Yes it’s ironically a simple concept to use such a lofty term, but had Hasbro included a bit of newness in these sets, perhaps the interest would have piqued inside of collectors to support this line better than they did. The Shadow Of Malevolence set offers collectors another chance at 2008’s TCW Anakin Skywalker (No. 1) and 2009’s TCW Matchstick (CW34) figures. Anakin Skywalker is actually a repaint of the original 2008 figure, but Matchstick is a straight repack of the 2009 basic figure. Actually, the paint job is a little bit cleaner on this version of Anakin Skywalker when compared to the 2008 basic. Also, the same accessories for both figures have been carried forward here as well. Anakin Skywalker can probably be classified as “new enough” quite honestly. The paint job differences are noticeable enough in fact that it even surprised us a bit.

Also included in the set is a DVD and Galactic Battle Game cards. Because both original releases of these figures haven’t been carried forward in the “Shadow Of The Dark Side” line look, these game cards are technically exclusive to this set. If you’re into this game and want all of the game cards, you’ll need to buy this set as well. With The Clone Wars figures getting better and better and with so many other characters needing a place in the basic figure line, it’s very disappointing to see straight/slightly repainted repacks of figures in exclusives like this. There are simple solutions to make an exclusive all that it can be and Hasbro just isn’t doing the right thing by releasing them in this fashion. Even if they could only provide one “new” figure then that would be enough. But what other reason would most collectors have to pick up the Shadow Of Malevolence two-pack from The Clone Wars DVD Set collection? At 15.97 each, we’re hard pressed to find a good answer to this question.