Kamino Conflict - LC - Battle Packs

Obi-Wan Kenobi meets the bounty hunter Jango Fett on Kamino, an encounter that ends in a fierce battle. Fett is suspicious of the Jedi and tries to escape with his son Boba before he can be detained by Obi-Wan. The underlying tension in their first meeting turns into open conflict as the two skilled warriors engage each other in combat on a rain-drenched landing platform.

Hasbro decided to change the approach of their Battle Packs after the release of the 2009 TLC Scramble On Yavin set. But Hasbro gave us plenty of warning that Battle Packs we're going to return to a format of core characters with a less collector-focused appeal. They came through with their promise on the Kamino Conflict set. A very cool Battle Packs package, it is filled with lots of repetitious and old versions of action figures (obviously inferior sculpts) that should have been omitted in favor of newer and more updated versions. In all honesty, we understand the goal of the Battle Packs, and it appears that Hasbro has a mission intent on supplying the market with the most popular Star Wars heroes and villains while saving on their tooling costs. It's not like the action figures contained in the sets are simple repacks. No, Hasbro repainted most of them so for the hardcore collector, these figures are just "new enough" to warrant including in your collections. While the four characters in the Battle Packs set never appeared onscreen at the same time, the Battle Packs are a screenshot of a period in a specific Star Wars film. Also, for added play value, Hasbro included extra accessories and gear that technically were not seen in the films too. So while Kamino Conflict is not a screen scene, it is source specific to Attack Of The Clones, and all four characters did appear in the Kamino scene (in one fashion or another). We assume this may drive purists crazy, but we like this format. It is a neat approach to crank out a great set of figures at once, even if they didn't interact the same way the package is inferring. Otherwise, we could get some pretty boring sets of four figures in the Battle Packs lines.

To make a very varied and diverse set, Hasbro needs to look beyond the 16:9 aspect ratio of a scene to make an intriguing and very cool set (and we applaud them for taking this approach). We think Battle Packs do this task quite well! The Kamino Conflict set rereleases a figure that is long overdue in the basic figure line. Since Hasbro has made the mistake of relegating only the most popular characters to the Saga Legends line, many secondary (and very cool figures) get overlooked. In the case of Kamino Conflict however, R4-P17 gets "her" second chance in the line, but you may not be so happy to get her. This will depend on your point of view. While our first version of R4-P17 was technically based on her appearance in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, this time it is based on Episode II. A very clean astromech droid, R4-P17 is essentially just a very clean repaint of the 2005 ROTS R4-P17 (III 64) figure. This is a crying shame because the 2005 ROTS R4-P17 (III 64) is one of the best-painted astromechs we have ever received. Jango Fett and Boba Fett are repaints of Jango Fett (Kamino Escape) ('02 #13) (also released as '03 #30) and Boba Fett (Kamino Escape) ('02 #07) respectively from the older 2002/2003 Star Wars "Saga" action figures line. They have been repainted with significant changes and for the most part, have seen improvements from their original release. Obi-Wan Kenobi is also from the Star Wars "Saga" line, but the 2003 lineup to be exact. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a repaint of 2003's SW [S - P3] Obi-Wan Kenobi (Outlander Nightclub Encounter) ('03 #39) figure. Certainly not the best Obi-Wan Kenobi sculpt, we are a bit surprised by this choice. We were under the impression that Hasbro would only reissue older sculpt in rare situations. We hope that the Kamino Conflict Battle Packs set is one of these said rare exceptions. Yes, Jango and Boba are old sculpts too, but they seemed to have held up much better than Obi-Wan.

It is an interesting trend, and we have commented on this before, but Attack Of The Clones seems to be growing in popularity and fans and collectors alike are favoring characters from this pretty much-ignored chapter. It took some time, but it appears as if a whole new level of respect is being given to this often criticized film. In the 2008/2009 The Legacy Collection/Legacy Collection Star Wars toy line alone, countless basic figures and multi-figure sets have been based on this source. And the products have been appreciated by most. In fact, many characters from this film top the figure polls as well. It is a sign of the times. With so many figures under their belt, Hasbro needs to reach deeper into the Star Wars franchise, and that is exactly what they have been doing. We are getting Jedi that we never ever expected to see in the Geonosis Arena Showdown sets as well as fertile basic figures waves like wave 7 of The Legacy Collection which showcase the talent and devotion of Hasbro toymakers intent to make collectors happy. The Kamino Conflict Battle Packs set joins in this momentum and balances out the line in new and fresh ways. If you aren't excited about getting old figures again, well, this is not for you. But we have to say that although it is not the best Battle Packs set we have ever seen by any means, it does serve a purpose to many who may have missed these good figures years ago. R4-P17 is the reason to get this set. You can pretend she is all clean from the rain on Kamino or something. We honestly don't care, but there is no denying that this droid is a necessary "accessory" for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a great way to to get her and display her with your 2009 TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 44) figure. These recent Battle Packs are showing that Hasbro is losing some creative steam, but it's hard to discount that they are recreating important scenes from the Star Wars universe.