BB-8/Kylo Ren/Chewbacca/First Order Stormtrooper/Resistance Trooper - TFA - Exclusives (Forest)

Chewbacca: Faithful first mate and co-pilot Chewbacca has loyally stood by hic captain's side through the twisting fortunes of a galaxy in turmoil.

Kylo Ren: A dark warrior strong with the Force, Kylo Ren commands First Order missions with a temper as fiery as his unconventional lightsaber.

First Order Stormtrooper: Equipped with sleek armor and powerful weapons, the stormtroopers enforce the will of the First Order.

Resistance Trooper: Soldiers of the Resistance are well trained and well equipped, but must rely on hit-and-run tactics when faced with the overwhelming might of the First Order.

BB-8: BB-8 is the spherical, loyal astromech droid of the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron.

Adult collectors know they’ve reached the end of an era when (a) Kohl’s is getting major Hasbro Star Wars exclusives and (b) a major Hasbro Star Wars exclusive encompasses five repacked figures and the big selling point are newly colored Build A Weapon parts. That friends is what sums up another unnamed exclusive for The Force Awakens. We suppose you can call it the "Forest Mission" multipack for short, but the BB-8/Kylo Ren/Chewbacca/First Order Stormtrooper/Resistance Trooper five-pack is really just a bigger (and not better) extrapolated upon Two-Packs set that really brings hardly anything new to the table. Admittedly there is at least one surprise in here, but the rest of the contents are the same old fodder we’ve been offered to purchase in other ways and formats. Again, the unadvertised selling point here are all-new colored Build A Weapon parts for you to construct your own screen inaccurate Star Wars weapons. In all honesty, these have been looking a whole lot more like landscaping machinery or sports equipment, but this is the pack-in premium choice of this generation, and you’ll have to sink or swim with it. We just know they make no sense at all.

So, the surprise in this set is the BB-8. We were certain it would be a straight repack of the figure from 2015’s TFA BB-8/Unkar’s Thug/Jakku Scavenger (Desert) Two-Packs set, but that isn’t the case at all. Instead, Hasbro opted to use the “better” version that was a pack-in figure from 2015’s TFA Battle Action Millennium Falcon (Space) Class III vehicle. This figure is indeed better because its weightier, but sadly Hasbro went cheap on the paint operations and didn’t give BB-8 that wonderful dirty wash like the pack-in figure received. This is why we thought it was the same Two-Pack BB-8 figure, because that figure wasn’t given the final wash either. This heavier “golf ball” like figure (whereas the Two-Pack version is light like a “ping pong ball”) is absolutely the right choice for Hasbro to include here. But why did they go cheaply on its deco again? It is so frustrating. These are cheap, budget figures. Must we really go “cheaper” on them? Anyway, we’re just happy to get another chance at the better version. Chewbacca is a straight repack of 2015’s TFA Chewbacca (Forest) Armor Up figure. This time you don’t get his cosplay outfit. That in and of itself should make this set worthwhile, huh? We jest.

Kylo Ren, First Order Stormtrooper and the Resistance Trooper are all straight repacks of their original Build A Weapon versions as well. The packaging of the set is a little unorganized. If Hasbro has meant to pair certain Build A Weapon parts with certain figures, well, there is no way of knowing by how these figures are arranged. Ultimately, collectors and kids get the chance to assemble two Build A Weapon “weapons,” and if you follow the instructions, it’s quite easy to accomplish. The weapons are stupid looking and we don’t see how much extra play value they add. Then again, we’re not younger children anymore. What sticks in our craw the most however is that only five years ago two super-articulated figures would cost us $9.99 or $12.99. And Battle Packs with four or five super-articulated figures didn’t exceed $24.99. Now a multipack of five simply articulated action figures with a few crappy extra accessories will run your $50. Does anyone else find this egregious? Hasbro supposedly made these figures cheaper because they claimed they couldn’t contain costs any other way and everyone wanted cheaper action figures. But that was all wool over our eyes, wasn’t it? Now these budget action figures cost as much as premium collector grade figures and the inflated prices keep going up—especially with exclusives. Is this the end of the world as we know it?