Anakin Skywalker/Saesee Tiin/Clone Trooper - CW [A] - Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 1)

Through the creative vision of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Cartoon Network, the Clone Wars are brought to life in a series of animated chapters. In this time of galactic civil unrest, Anakin Skywalker sets off on a spiritual quest that foreshadows his dark destiny. Obi-Wan seeks to give strength and encouragement to his gifted student and through his guidance, Anakin is awarded the prestigious title of Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, Yoda, Mace Windu and the clone troopers battle a massive Separatist droid army that has suddenly attacked Coruscant. Led by the cunning warrior General Grievous, the Separatists succeed in kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. Now the stage is set for a reemergence of the Sith and the birth of a dark new Galactic Empire.

Sometimes it takes a release like the Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 1) to appreciate just what Hasbro does for us. Granted, the Clone Wars [Animated] action figure line is not for all. There are many collectors out there that just want to see realistically styled approaches to action figures. Yeah, we do too. But this novelty line literally captures the identical magic of Genndy Tartakovsky’s flawless vision for the Clone Wars micro-series. And now Hasbro has captures it equally as well in the toy line. But the magic of the Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 1) is not that you get all three figures for less than $10 when the basic figures were as high as $6.99 each. No, that is wonderful too. What's important here is that we get three “new” characters from the micro-series thanks to clever retooling and simple repainting. These minor enhancements make these three characters unique from any releases seen up to this point. As you can tell, we’re especially impressed with the Anakin Skywalker/Saesee Tiin/Clone Trooper three-pack which for the most part features versions of these characters from Volume 2 of the Clone Wars micro-series. In fact, this multipack was designed to commemorate the release of the Clone Wars Volume 2 DVD released December 2005.

Anakin Skywalker is clearly the star of the set. Based on his appearance when he went through his trials freeing the Nelvaan people, Anakin Skywalker comes with the marks of the bruise-leech crawlers as they made that beautiful blue geometric patterns on the right side of his body. The paint operations are astounding on this figure. We couldn’t be more impressed. Based on 2005’s CW [A] Anakin Skywalker [Yavin 4] figure, this time Anakin Skywalker comes with a new stunning head sculpt with perfectly recreated hair. His torso is also different to allow for his bare chest as well as the different style pants he’s wearing (at the waistline). The figure has the same posture as the original Anakin Skywalker [Yavin 4] figure, but this one just looks infinitely better. We’re THRILLED that Hasbro decided to attack this figure for release, even if it is an exclusive at the tail end of the Clone Wars [Animated] line. Similarly, Saesee Tiin is exciting to see made for this line too, but below the awesome head sculpt the figure disappoints a little. Except for the head sculpt, the figure is nearly identical to 2004’s CW [A] Obi-Wan Kenobi figure. Obviously the figure has been completed repainted too. He looks great holding a ligfhtsaber, but he didn’t really look this way in the Clone Wars micro-series. He was either piloting a starfighter, wearing a robe in a Jedi High Council chair, or wore completely different armor with a helmet as seen in Volume 2. This action figure just isn’t that accurate to the micro-series, especially since this set is meant to support Volume 2.

The last figure in this three-pack is a phase II Clone Trooper. Surprisingly, this is the first time that this figure was released in the Clone Wars [Animated] line. It’s identical to 2004’s CW [A] Clone Trooper figure with the exception of an all-new head sculpt. Sadly, the head sculpt is much too small. His pea-sized head looks completely out of place, but even worse is that the new head sculpt doesn’t completely cover the ball-socket stump and it looks really awkward. Had Hasbro made the head sculpt appropriately sized, we think the sculpt itself is pretty decent and would have looked much better were it larger obviously. These sculpts are very static and don’t offer that much articulation, so for a display piece it is great, but as an action figure it is a disappointment. The phase II Clone Trooper also comes with a DC-15 blaster rifle. The Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 1) is a fine release. Although imperfect, Hasbro really thought hard about how to approach it to make the set new instead of just giving us three repacks again. We hope they keep this momentum strong with future releases. Anakin Skywalker, Saesee Tiin and Clone Trooper will all work hard to round out your Clone Wars [Animated] collection with a focus on characters from Volume 2 of the micro-series. It’s a great way to say an unofficial goodbye to the animated line because Hasbro has hinted that future releases would all be based on realistic interpretations.