Sith Lord Attack - TSC - Battle Packs

Never in its long history have such powers clashed within the walls of the ancient Theed Royal Palace. Three warriors, each a master of lightsaber combat, contest for victory at the heart of the palace, their battle raging along the treacherous edge of a melting pit hundreds of meters deep. For the first time in a thousand years, the light and dark sides of the Force have joined in conflict.

After an admirable first year run during the Revenge Of The Sith line, the Battle Packs sub-line eventually picked up enough momentum to be continued into The Saga Collection. Keeping up with these impressive five figure mini collections, Hasbro tried their best to focus on some key battles and skirmished from across the Star Wars saga, including the Expanded Universe, and produced a nice selection for the 2006 product year. We suppose not all of the Battle Packs can be perfect, and that’s about where our sentiments lie when it comes to looking at the Sith Lord Attack Battle Packs set, a set that makes looks visually stunning in the packaging, but falls short once you realize what figures have been included inside. With the overall lack of characters based on The Phantom Menace in The Saga Collection basic figure line (no more than eight figures were included in the line and only half of them were all new sculpts), maybe Hasbro felt that they need to show Episode I more love and give us key characters based on a scene that may have been the most interesting in the film. Still, it’s hard not to wince at Sith Lord Attack because it really is the one eyesore of the Battle Packs sub-line. The others were done so well and it’s disappointing to see this misstep.

There is no new tooling at all in the Sith Lord Attack Battle Packs set, although there is a minor retool and inevitable repaints. Nothing in this set is post year 2000, so you can imagine how six years has aged these sculpts. It does appear that Hasbro attempted to utilize their best sculpts under their belts, but the multipack still falls short by a lot and it may be best to advise you to stay clear of this release, unless you’re a one-of-everything collector that just needs to have it all. The Battle Droid is a slight retool and repaint of 2000’s POTJ Battle Droid (Boomer Damage) figure. The figure is much cleaner and lighter this time around and from what we can gauge it seems as if parts of it have been repositioned. Sadly, it’s hard to confirm this because between the pitifully soft plastic used and the damage caused by the fastening bands, the action figure is permanently “damaged” without a quick boil to return its parts to their original state. This Battle Droid comes with a removable backpack, droid blaster and blast effect. The other Battle Droid is really a Security Battle Droid (not notated that way on the box) and is based on 2000’s POTJ Battle Droid (Security) figure. It’s help up pretty well over the years, but it too have been affected by the clear plastic ties. (Man, those things just ruin action figures!)

The last three figures may make you nauseous because of how many times they have been reissued, but Qui-Gon Jinn is based on 2000’S EI Qui-Gon Jinn (Jedi Master) figure. He still looks decent for his age, but at this point you’re probably tired of him. He comes with a lightsaber and commlink. He also appears to be slightly repainted. We don’t think it’s intentional, but just a fact from producing the same action figures six years apart from each other. Obi-Wan Kenobi may be the “newest” of all the figures in this Battle Packs set. He is a retool of 2000’s POTJ Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi) figure with a retooled belt that is reminiscent of the one from 2000’s EI Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi Knight) figure. He comes with a lightsaber and a new soft-goods cloak. Lastly, Darth Maul is a slight (and messier) repaint of the figure originally from 2000’s POTJ Masters Of The Dark Side multipack. This figure has been reused so many times in between that we’re not quite sure if Hasbro used the paint operations on the basic figure released of him (which also appeared sloppier) or not. He comes with a double-bladed lightsaber and one of the blades is removable. Sadly, Sith Lord Attack is an easy pass. It’s forgettable and better versions of all of these figures are close by that these will be obsolete before we all know it. Oh, and this set was originally entitled Battle Of Theed in case you're curious.