Destroy Malevolence (Obi-Wan Kenobi/General Grievous) - TCW [SOTDS] - The Clone Wars DVD Set (3 of 3)

Obi-Wan Kenobi duels General Grievous aboard the cyborg's deadly battleship. The Jedi infiltrates Grievous' ship to rescue Padmé Amidala, who has been captured by the Separatist general. Republic forces are preparing their final assault on the damaged vessel as Obi-Wan and Grievous ignite their lightsabers in "Destroy Malevolence."

Most will probably be able to agree that the Malevolence story arc was one of the most exciting story arcs in The Clone Wars television show. Sadly, Hasbro’s three Walmart exclusive two-packs based on these three episodes just don’t deliver enough goods to collectors. Sure there is more ample opportunity to grab figures you might have missed in 2008 and 2009 (if that’s possible) and now kids and collectors can collect Galactic Battle Game cards to go along with the older figures that originally came without them. And lastly, let’s not forget that you also get a DVD with ONE episode that is featured on the outside of the package. W have said it before and we’ll say it again. Matching up episodes of The Clone Wars on DVD with action figures from that episode is a really incredible idea. But unless Hasbro can make them more appealing, it’s sadly a line that will die away. No new figures are to be found in these very expensive sets. We find this egregious and very annoying. Exclusives need to come with more than just action figure rehashes. It’s beginning to become a problem with Hasbro’s Star Wars/The Clone Wars lines anymore and it’s getting old.

The Destroy Malevolence The Clone Wars DVD Set comes with Obi-Wan Kenobi (No. 2) and General Grievous (No. 6) (both from 2008’s The Clone Wars line). Firstly, The Clone Wars line has transitioned very aggressively from action figure statues to true action figures. No longer stuck with eight or ten points of articulation, character from The Clone Wars line are now rivaling realistic lines like The Vintage Collection and providing collectors with action figures that sport 14 points of articulation. So it’s a little bit disconcerting in 2010 that Hasbro has decided to repackage two figures from the introductory phase of the line where they’re competing against figures that are super-articulated. Not only are these old figures, but Hasbro didn’t even scratch the surface of possibilities they had to make a rather engaging two-pack. So many different clones, different types of Separatist droids and Jedi that have yet to be made all could have been included here to create a knock-it-out-of-the-park exclusive for Walmart. Heck, we’ll even take one all-new figure and one rehash if that’s what’s needed to stay within tooling budgets. But this incessant repacking has to absolutely stop.

You may (or may not) be interested to know that Obi-Wan Kenobi is actually a slight repaint of the 2008 figure. His hair color is different and some of the details on his outfit are different as well. You might be surprised when you see the figures side by side. Both Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous come with the same exact accessories that they did in 2008. So even there with the accessories, Hasbro had an opportunity to make it unique and special but they decided against it, or just didn’t even make it a consideration. Still, what collector wouldn’t rather have an all-new figure? Hasbro knows this yet they really don’t think outside of the box much anymore. We don’t know what’s going on, but we do know that something has got to give. The Destroy Malevolence The Clone Wars DVD Set (3 of 3) may just be the weakest of the bunch. Not too many people are fond of these versions of Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous. And what a shame because we really do appreciate the concept of this exclusive and we think it would have been a tremendous success otherwise. Hasbro, please start giving us all-new exclusive action figures. It’s the only hope for the line’s success.