Battle Droids [AOTC] - TLC - Saga Legends (SL 20)

The Separatists utilize battle droids as their primary infantry forces. When assaulting strategically important worlds, these droid forces can be painted with special markings to help them blend into their environment. Though not individually a threat, these droids can become a formidable fighting force when attacking en masse.

No doubt of any kind exists when it comes to affirming the fact that 2007 was the year for collectors. Hasbro showed this dedication in a multitude of ways. Perhaps the most collector-invested part of it was the Saga Legends line. Now, this line was anything but geared toward collectors. But Hasbro got collectors involved by casting their choices for action figures they’d like to see get re-released again. The Saga Legends line was also full of surprises. Quite a few “First time offered” action figures were interwoven with some standards within the case assortments, and then some of their greatest hits also saw the light of day again. Hasbro added four unique versions of the B1 Battle Droids into the 2007 30 (77-07) Saga Legends line. And in an effort to follow suit, two of them were carried forward into The Legacy Collection Saga Legends line. These certainly weren’t the greatest action figures had produced, but they help round out a great line of heroes and villains and give new collectors a chance to buy some core characters. The two different Battle Droids sets in The Legacy Collection Saga Legends line are based on the ones seen in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Each bring their own unique brand of relevance to the line and for what they are, Hasbro gave them wonderful and accurate paint jobs. Keeping in mind that these aren’t perfect figures by any stretch of the imagination, collectors must accept that they do serve a purpose: to keep the most popular action figures on the pegs.

Although there was no Fans’ Choice poll for The Legacy Collection, Hasbro took cues from 2007 and brought many of the best sellers into The Legacy Collection facet of the line. Still only a couple years out from the final Prequel Trilogy film Revenge Of The Sith, there was still a great need to keep many of the Prequel Trilogy characters in the basic figure mix consistently. As a result, Hasbro took 2007’s TAC Battle Droids [TPM - Clean/Dirty] and 2007’s TAC Battle Droids [AOTC] and brought them forth into the 2008 line. Both sets of figures have received minor paint job updates, but we believe for all intents and purposes Hasbro wanted to consider them straight repacks. The differences are noticeable, so just keep that in mind. As you know, these sculpts originate in The Saga Collection. Hasbro took 2007’s TSC Battle Droids (SAGA 062) figures and repainted them to be screen accurate Battle Droids from Episode I and Episode II. But this sculpt even dates back further in case you didn’t know. The Saga Collection’s Battle Droid (SAGA 062) figures are actually retools of the Battle Droid figure from 2002’s SW [S - P1] C-3PO Deluxe figure set. The magnet was removed for better aesthetics. And it is this exact iteration that has be utilized for all of the Battle Droids two-packs in the Saga Legends lineup thus far. You may be interested to know that the packaging for both The Legacy Collection sets show a generic infantry B1 Battle Droid and OOM-9, a Battle Droid Commander. But the OOM-9 character never made it into The Legacy Collection lineup.

So for The Legacy Collection we get a pair of Battle Droids based on the Battle of Naboo (clean and dirty) and then a second set based on the Battle of Geonosis (shot and sliced). Still, at this point in the game we need all-new sculpts because these are now tired as far as we’re concerned. Generally speaking, the paint operations were tremendous. All of the Battle Droids have exquisite battle-damage and beautiful paint operations which really bring them to life. As far as accessories are concerned, all of the Battle Droids come with a removable backpack in addition to a droid blaster. The droid blaster can be affixed to the backpack which in our opinion looks pretty darn cool. For The Legacy Collection, Hasbro has included a locker of six additional weapons, ne of which is a droid blaster. This is a great back-up option should you lose one of the blasters that came with the Battle Droids. These figures went over very well with collectors in the 30 (77-07) line and most felt that they were admirable, albeit not perfect, updates to the original Battle Droids from the Episode I line. That being said, there are better sculpts of the B1 Battle Droids released in both the Star Wars “Saga” and Revenge Of The Sith lines for example. Collectors have been perplexed to why Hasbro didn’t use those sculpts instead. Popular in 2007, we wonder how well these figures will fair in 2008. Collectors went crazy with the Saga Legends line in 2007, but that’s because they were part of the process. It was a very fun time to collect, and many of us repurchased figures that we probably didn’t need to buy a second time. Who know if that trend will change for The Legacy Collection.