Birth Of Darth Vader - LC - Battle Packs

Anakin completes his conversion to Darth Vader after his lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. Palpatine brings the gravely wounded Vader to a rehabilitation center, where a 2-1B surgical droid and a Galactic Chopper rebuild him with cyborg implants and enhancements to keep him alive. He rises to his feet, encased in the black armor that the galaxy will soon come to recognize – and fear.

We have to admit to you that the Birth Of Darth Vader Battle Packs set was one that made us very eager to the point we could barely wait any longer to get it. Thank goodness the wait is over, and it is here in our collections. And it's not like we are getting a whole new product here because we have seen all of the pieces of it released separately over the years. But the sum of all the parts is nothing short of stunning. Perhaps it's the way they are arranged in the package, but this "screen specific" Battle Packs set is just too cool. This set is more effective as a boxed set (where you don't remove the figures) because the display of the action figures is perfectly placed, and the scenery and backdrop behind them are also quite beautiful. The set scores high marks for the packaging alone. We do however have to criticize Hasbro a little bit for ignoring 2008's TLC FX-6 (BD 28) figure in this set, but we think for the first time that this wasn't a costing issue, but rather an assembling issue. Can you see them assemble umpteen FX-6 action figures with all those arms for all of these sets? We didn't think so. But there is no denying that it would have been the icing on the cake here. But even without FX-6, there are enough medical droid nightmares in this set to strike fear even in the slightly queasiest Star Wars fan. Hasbro gave us enough "other" value, and we have to say that is may be hard to rival just how awesome this set is. It is our opinion that the Battle Packs line should be focusing on collectors being able to quickly army build a batch of figures at once. They can't lose focus on this concept. Star Wars collectors are action figure based, so all sub-lines should be pinpointed on additional 3.75" figures.

2-1B is a straight repack of 2008's TAC 2-1B (Surgical Droid) (08 06) figure right down to the exact shade of metallic blue-gray paint. There are no differences whatsoever, and this is a great thing because the figure was perfect the first time. Galactic Chopper is a repaint of 2005's ROTS Vader's Medical Droid (Chopper Droid) (III 37) figure. The enhancements are not that obvious but are indeed there. We feel that it is a shame that Hasbro didn't use this opportunity for re-release to make the droid out of a sturdier plastic. It still has the flimsy legs that will bow terribly over time. But because it isn't the most important figure of this set, you can easily look the other way on this. The back of the packaging shows the Galactic Chopper in a gorgeous paint job, but unfortunately, it didn't transfer over the same way onto the figure. But of course, it could be a lighting trick done during the photo shoot. You would think that most if not all of the revitalization would be applied to the Darth Vader figure, but this is not the case. Essentially a repack of the second version (the shiny, not dull version) of the 2005 ROTS Darth Vader Deluxe figure, Vader does have slight paint variations so he will fall under the category "slight repaint" for us. When all the parts are assembled, it is quite a feast for your eyes. It took us over three years to get all of the medical droids and characters that complete this pivotal scene in the Star Wars saga into our collections. And we must admit that Hasbro gave us a nice reminder by creating a Battle Packs set like this. Yes, you'll have to pull out your FX-6 figure out from storage and add it to this scene, but trust us when we say that it will be well worth it. Together they provide a dynamite display of a fan-favorite scene from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

Remembering that the basis of this Battle Packs set (the Vader and medical table) were created in the 2005 ROTS Deluxe line, they are a bit outdated but came out better than expected in the 2010 Legacy Collection line. It shows how far ahead of the game Hasbro was in 2005 since this set does meet modern standards of what we accept as good enough toys. Darth Vader is not the greatest articulated action figure we have ever received, and Hasbro could have kit-bashed a better Darth Vader figure for this set, but it still works like it. And we still don't think this cheapens the value of the set. What are our complaints? Well, nothing that Hasbro can immediately remedy. Since the various figures and accessories have been designed at different points in time, they are now quite a bit out of scale to each other. For example, the table is way too high for both droids. You will need to find a platform for them to stand on so that they can even reach their patient. This is a little bit unfortunate, but it's not like we could expect Hasbro to redesign the table on a smaller scale. In fact, we are not even sure how well that would work because then how could it fit Darth Vader? One potential fix creates a new issue. A whole set would need to be designed from the ground up to maximize perfect scaling. Until that happens, the Birth Of Darth Vader Battle Packs set will definitely make you a happy camper. If you can deal with the older figures in the set, then you will be thrilled to add this to your collections. But if you're looking for the latest versions of your favorite Star Wars characters, this set will only satisfy you partially.