Storm Commando/General Weir - LC - Comic Packs (Exclusive)

General Weir launches a counter-rebellion after the Battle of Endor to undermine the Rebel Alliance. The Imperial general discovers that Luke Skywalker is in the city of Coronet and, with his stormtroopers and storm commandos, goes after the Rebel hero.

Sigh. The retail level Comic Packs line is officially dead and the poor distribution of the Legacy Collection seems to have killed it. But there will be a good half dozen or more that we will see released throughout 2010 that have been delayed for multiple reasons. Walmart decided to join the exclusive program again to get three more Comic Packs sets in their stores again, but one was canned due to some objectionable material found in the set. (But don't worry - it's coming to fans via inflated prices at Entertainment Earth. Hey, at least we're getting it.) After we purchased the latest exclusives from Walmart, we started immediately having buyer's remorse as the sets just don't deliver the excitement of some of the earlier Comic Packs sets as yesteryears. To be honest, we understand why the Comic Packs line has slowly been dying. Hasbro is trying to contain costs in the wrong ways and it has been making the recent releases quite boring for example. We just got a Storm Commando in one of the Walmart exclusive LC Clone Commandos Evolutions set and now we are getting another in the Comic Packs. And while they are different from each other (they have different heads, lower legs, feet and paint jobs from each other), it just doesn't come across as new enough for the casual fan or collector.

Yes, black biker scouts are undoubtedly cool, but we've gotten them too many times at this point. Hasbro seems desperate to change it up a bit, too, because they have even modeled one of them after General Weir who really is a character that even fans of the Expanded Universe have come to despise. The jerk beat up Ten Numb for goodness sake. Anyway, we don't believe that we needed another Comic Packs set with more black biker scouts. Despite this, if you're looking to army build, then this is the set for you. The figures are extremely shiny and actually look great with this glistening coat. They are great complements of each other and we have to say that the red bandolier and red visor of Weir's armor really looks sharp against his black uniform back drop. Likewise, the Storm Commando has a metallic dark silver color used to decorate his visor and it looks especially sharp. Both figures are super-articulated and will be able to conform to any reasonable contortion you wish to pose them. We also tried posing them with our 2007 TAC Luke Skywalker (30 12) figure (in a style very similar to what we saw in the comic book) and we have to admit that the interaction of the three looks very cool displayed together.

It is quite perplexing how Hasbro got so far behind with the Comic Packs sets. For example, if you look at the advertisements in the last few reprinted comic books, you will find ads for the 30 (77-07) line and the blue phase of The Legacy Collection. And Hasbro is advertising products that have been out of circulation for quite some time. In this case, the Storm Commando/General Weir set that was released in March 2010 is advertising the fourth wave of The Legacy Collection Build A Droid series with MB-RA-7 that was released in December 2008. There is obviously something going awry somewhere. Actually, this is just our speculation and we don't want to sound indignant, we know what part of the problem is. When the red phase of the Legacy Collection started up, the five of the eight sets released were repacks (and some of the repacks were poor sellers the first time). These clogged pegs for months and slaughtered the opportunity for brand new sets to come out. Hasbro has to start realizing that once a product has had its fair chance at retail, that is it. It's done. Only fan demand should warrant whether a set should be carried forward and re-released. But we doubt Hasbro will ever hear our voices on this. And now since Comic Packs are going into retirement, we may never know the real reason. But at least we have a few more coming our way before it's all said and done. This set is not the most exciting, but it's new and it's a great army-building set. You'll have to see if these will be for you or not yourself.