Commander Bacara - TSC - The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection (4 of 12)

Commander Bacara is a clone commander who works alongside General Ki-Adi-Mundi against the Separatist droid armies on the planet Mygeeto. Though he fights beside the Jedi, his ultimate loyalty is to the Republic and its Supreme Chancellor.

One of the first goals Star Wars collectors wanted to see Hasbro fulfill was the release of all the clone commanders from Revenge Of The Sith. They were good about getting one Clone Commander (III 33) figure out early in the line, but unfortunately that one was an early concept for Commander Bly and ultimately was never seen in the film. But towards the end of the year plenty of clone commanders from Revenge Of The Sith made their way one by one onto store pegs. Commander Bly, Commander Gree and Commander Bacara were all welcomed with open arms for the most part. While most were excited to see the release of Commander Bacara, the excitement slowly transitioned to disappointment once collectors saw how Hasbro approached it. Instead of proceeding with what worked so well: super-articulated sculpts and authenticity, Hasbro decided instead to add an action feature which has really affected the level you are going to appreciate this figure. Commander Bacara may initially be a figure you’ll want, but his novelty wears off quickly and you’re going to want another update very soon.

Commander Bacara comes with 15 points of articulation across 11 areas on the figure. Why Hasbro wasted the tooling budget on ball-jointed ankles is beyond our comprehension, but thankfully it isn’t totally wasted here. Bacara doesn’t have a good center of gravity so the ball-jointed ankles play a very important part in keeping him upright. The heavy kama and upper body weight want to push him backwards but a new angle of the ankles will prevent this from happening. So it "sort of" works out. Aside from the very awkward left arm (which contains the horrid action feature), Commander Bacara could certainly be worse. He lacks other points of articulation that could have aided in the figure being better than it came out, like knees joints for example, but this figure obviously is only intended to be a placeholder in the line. And logic dictates that Hasbro will update this figure soon in the line. Hasbro thought he was good enough to bring forth in one of their greatest hits line entitled The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection. This sub-line of The Saga Collection was intended to give everyone a second stab at the Revenge Of The Sith line's best figures.

The head sculpt of Commander Bacara is very simple. Something seems ever so off about it, but it still looks very good despite this. As a Collection 1 figure in the Revenge Of The Sith line he now comes with a pack-in miniature hologram as well as his standard interchangeable weapons. What collectors need now are Galactic Marines to accompany him so the Order 66 sequence on Mygeeto can be recreated. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro released this clone as 2007’s TAC Galactic Marine (30 02) figure.) The Revenge Of The Sith line did a great job at giving collectors a wonderful variety of characters from Episode III, and now many are getting a second stab for those that are new to collecting or are interested in army building. Some of the most important characters came towards the end of the line, but it goes without saying many more will be coming as the line look changes each year. And the best news is that Hasbro moves away from action features during non-movie years, so we should rest easy knowing that we’ll be getting some stellar action figures in the future. Commander Bacara certainly serves a purpose now, but we bet you’ll see he loses some of his luster over time.