Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid - TCW [R] - Basic (CW11)

These tireless, fearless droids are used in heavy infantry assaults, unleashing an unrelenting onslaught of firepower until the object of their attack is destroyed. They have integrated weapons, such as a built-in arm cannon, and are sometimes used as field officers in the droid army.

The Clone Wars is full a tweaked Star Wars characters. And by “tweaked” we mean characters that we recognize from all six films but with new or different enhancements and details that make them unique to The Clone Wars television series. Hasbro has to take advantage of every opportunity they get to retool and repaint figures in The Clone Wars line. So it works out for everyone when it’s time to place a retooled figure in the line. This is the only way that Hasbro can guarantee the continuation of all-new sculpts as well as a healthy longevity for the life of the line. While The Clone Wars has definitely become one of the biggest boy lines of all time, it is still unfamiliar territory for kids and collectors. Every figure has the risk of being a poor seller so Hasbro has to carefully balance the most popular Jedi heroes with characters who make their debut in the series. For the most part, outside of clone trooper repaints, Hasbro has to be cleverer than ever before so the line doesn’t “back-up” on store shelves and flop. They have proven success with the line however and it seems as if it will continue full steam ahead. When it comes to making new versions of battle droids, main characters, and other diverse creatures, Hasbro has to make the line exciting while using current tools as often as possible. Without fail, Hasbro does a really good job at making the reworked The Clone Wars figures “new enough” and it takes a way the pain of purchasing a revised character you may think that you already own. But in all honesty, we don’t mind this a bit. Aside from the necessary repacks to get popular characters back into the main line, Hasbro really tries to bring something new to the table every time an existing mold is tweaked.

Take for instance the Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid. We obviously have seen this character before in the basic figure assortment, but Hasbro repainted it and retooled parts of it to make it a brand new figure. And it works as a fine entry into the quickly developing line. Actually, we saw this “revised” version of the Super Battle Droid in the very first The Clone Wars episode entitled Ambush. So, this character is very screen accurate. While you may be quite familiar with the tooling on this massive droid from the 2008 TCW [B] Super Battle Droid (No. 12) figure, you may be surprised to see what enhancements Hasbro has done to make this particular droid more menacing. His left arm has been significantly retooled to be much more daunting and the insignia on his shoulder clearly shows where this droid’s loyalties lie. The paint application on this figure is excellent and a bit better than how the first version of the regular Super Battle Droid (No. 12) came out. The grays are lighter and the lines are crisper making this droid seem almost tidy in comparison. The finished product is excellent and he will add a unique flavor to your droid armies. Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid is a really impressive retool. Hasbro did very well for something that is so straightforward. While this doesn’t look like a new figure by any means, we think it has enough spark to make you happy as a collector. And you know you need to army build these so here is your chance. We think that while this droid is more specific than the first version, it came out a whole lot better. Oh, and it stands a lot better too.

Having appeared in a multitude of episodes already, the Super Battle Droids will undoubtedly make continual cameo and main appearances in The Clone Wars television series until the show ends. Does this mean that Hasbro has a few more retools or repaints coming our way? We hope so, because although the clones and droids are quite uniform in nature, the individual characters do have unique qualities and “personalities”. And these unique traits are best defined through the use of distinct markings, different colors, different weaponry and different insignias. It is very cool to have such a massive and chunky Separatist droid in your collection and we hope many more varieties are on the way, just like how we get them in the realistic line. We all have to admit that is it nice to look at a clone and know that he is Clone Commander Cody or Commander Gree instead of just a generic clone. And we hope this becomes a bit more of a reality for the droids. We are not looking for the droids to take over the series, but perhaps more back story and development could be written to give the droids a bit more staying power or prominence. After all, look how popular IG-88 became (and he has a back story thanks to a tale that he broke away from his creators). Oh, and the history of IG-88 certainly had some influence on the creation of 2008's TCW [B] IG-86 Assassin Droid (No. 18). It all comes full circle, doesn’t it? We hope this trend continues in the very exciting The Clone Wars. This is our opinion of course, but the series is getting bigger all the time and there will obviously be more and more new characters (and droids) coming out way.