Savage Opress - SW [TPM 3D] - The Clone Wars (CW3)

Savage Opress is magically strengthened by the witches of Dathomir. Following Dooku's commands, Opress attacks a temple and kidnaps a king. Trained by Count Dooku, Opress wields a variety of weapons with deadly skill, including his Dathomirian vibro-ax and his double-bladed Sith lightsaber.

In 2011, the “armored” version of Savage Opress (CW59) figure was one of the most sought after action figures of the year. The other Savage Opress (CW55), the one without the shirt, was pretty popular too, but that one was available in two different case assortments, so collectors were more easily able to obtain that version. The former one was not easy to find by any stretch of the imagination. So collectors immediately began petitioning for Hasbro to re-release the armored version as soon as possible. They listened, but only from a certain point of view. In the opening wave of the Star Wars [The Phantom Menace] The Clone Wars sub-line, wave 25 overall, they gave us Savage Opress again, but it was the one without the shirt. Sigh. (Later on they would release 2011’s TCW [SOTDS] Savage Opress (CW59) in the TARGET exclusive 2012 SW [TPM 3D] Darth Maul Returns Battle Packs set thankfully.) What’s interesting however is that it appears that Hasbro did make an effort to at least try. If you look at the packaging on 2012’s SW [TPM 3D] Savage Opress (CW3) figure, you’ll find that it shares the bio and images of 2011’s TCW [SOTDS] Savage Opress (CW55) – the shirtless one. So maybe things got messed up at the last moment. Who really knows? At least both versions made an appearance at some point during the year.

You’ll probably notice right away that Savage Opress comes with 18 points of articulation. This is certainly a decent amount of articulation, but he would have benefited by coming with articulated ankles. He’s a very large and slightly top-heavy action figure that requires good balance to prevent himself from falling over. Movement in the ankles would have been ideal here. Thankfully his boots cover a generous surface area when you stand him up and helps with his wonky balancing issue. (You'll need to be patient to get him to stand up confidently without falling down. It’s possible, but sometimes exhausting depending on how you pose his knees.) With a ball-socket head and ball-jointed shoulders and elbows, Savage Opress is a dream come true in the upper body area. He can hold both battle axes (the standard one as well as the action feature version) and you can pose him in multiple action stances wielding his large weapons as well. The details included on his weapons are quite incredible. Small details like control panels or grips have their own unique color and have been painted cleanly and do not bleed. You’ll have to see it for yourself to appreciate what we’re commenting on because this is something collectors really aren’t that used to in the realistically styled line, although we have seen signs of major improvements in The Vintage Collection.

Now that he has been re-released, we believe that this second chance version of Savage Opress will finally meet collector demand. We still truly feel that 2011’s TCW [SOTDS] Savage Opress (CW59) is the superior figure. Yet, this one isn’t so shabby either. The head is sculpted in yellow plastic and the tattoos and other details are painted over it, whereas the Savage Opress (CW59) figure is the other way around. Still, while both look really good, something looks a tad off with this figure. The expression on his face looks to be full of anger and Hasbro has sculpted a very believable snarl on his mouth. His horns have been sculpted very sharply and we actually felt a little pain when pushing the head back on to the neck post. The black tattoos have been painted in a flat black on his chest and back (as well as his arms) and we’re quite stunned by how excellent it looks. All of the lines are even and the left and right sides of the markings are exact mirror images of each other. Hasbro has decided to carry-forward the Galactic Battle Game into the 2012 product year. But they’ve updated the graphics on the card and changed the colors to the display stand and die to change things up a bit. In the long run, this may not be such a great idea if collectors, young and old, are looking for a more cohesive collection of game pieces. Either way, this is a great character. Hopefully his popularity warrants his re-release.