Holocron Heist - TCW [R] - Battle Packs

Cad Bane is hired to steal an important holocron from the Jedi Temple. Bane and his cohorts get past the security measures that protect the holocron storage vault. When Yoda senses the presence of the intruders, Anakin and Obi-Wan immediately begin searching the temple. In the vault room, Ahsoka is on guard duty when one of the thieves makes an appearance.

The purpose of The Clone Wars season 2 premiere episode was to give better development to one of the newest villains in the Star Wars universe, Cad Bane. The episode did just that, and it used a straightforward premise to develop this character. Cad Bane breaks into the Jedi Temple and steals a cherished artifact, one of the holocrons, and the chase is on to prevent him from leaving with it. The episode is full of deceit and miscommunication, and we even see our favorite Jedi librarian lightsaber battle with Ahsoka Tano. It’s interesting, to say the least. Hasbro saw this episode as a prime candidate to base a Battle Packs set off of it and while we believe it was a great choice, the approach of the set is seriously lacking. Just like the Jedi Showdown Battle Packs set, this set is just a “nice” repack of popular and core main characters needing another way to make it into the toy line as other options for parents to buy for their kids. From a collector’s perspective, Hasbro missed the boat. This was the ideal place to release an animated version of Jocasta Nu. But since Hasbro has flat out confirmed that she’s never coming in The Clone Wars line, hardcore fans will have to refocus and not develop feelings of resentment. Hasbro is starting to strike out with fans. The Clone Wars has been hailed as the most popular boys’ line, and we won’t refute that here, but Hasbro is starting to burn collectors by not even taking a chance on a few collector-focused action figures in the animated line.

Bottom line, the Holocron Heist Battle Packs set is extremely boring. There is absolutely nothing here for a collector of any kind, let alone a one-of-everything collector. The figures are exact repacks of their basic figure counterparts. Ahsoka Tano is a repack of 2008’s TCW [B] Ahsoka Tano (No. 9) figure, the second variation with more pronounced eyelashes. Cad Bane is a straight repack of 2009’s TCW [R] Cad Bane (CW22) figure. Yoda is a repack of 2009’s TCW [R] Yoda (CW14) figure. And lastly, Anakin Skywalker is a repack of 2009’s TCW [R] Anakin Skywalker (CW21) figure. All of the figures in this Battle Packs set, however, come with fewer accessories this time around. For example, Ahsoka comes without Rotta the Hutt (which makes sense of course) and Anakin Skywalker comes without his dome helmet and backpack. It would have been nice if Hasbro had included these accessories, especially since this pack is a little light as is. We can compliment the set in that the paint jobs are very well done. More often than not, figures in multipacks tend to have rougher paint jobs than their basic carded equals. But Hasbro has ensured that the artwork aspect of these figures was kept to high standards. But since the set doesn’t offer one thing new, we believe most of you will pass on this as it would be a complete waste of your money. In fact, we have extreme buyer’s remorse for even getting this set for this review. (What we do for our readers…)

So, have we whined enough about this set? Probably so, but Hasbro is going to have to do some soul searching or bite the bullet and go back to the original approach of the Battle Packs platform. These multipacks MUST contain revisited figures and at least one new figure. We are tired of hearing us say this over and over and we are sure Hasbro is tired of hearing it. But the time is now, and Hasbro has got to step up to the plate and get a little bit more creative when it comes to future Battle Packs. If you need a good gift for a niece or nephew who is into Star Wars and has nothing from The Clone Wars yet, then this is the set to get. Otherwise, we can honestly say that it is an easy pass. This is peg-warming fodder folks. There is no easier way to say it. And as strong supporters of nearly everything Hasbro has released, it is a bit difficult to be so adamant in our stance. But the straight repacks have got to stop. We could have looked the other way if there was at least one repainted clone trooper in here, or a new take on Cad Bane’s paint job for example. There is nothing worthwhile here if you have bought these figure previously. We are looking forward to future Battle Packs sets, but they have to start containing more value that intrigues collectors which translates as newness to collectors. Because, Hasbro, we are the ones supporting your bottom line and we honestly can’t be burned anymore, no matter how subtle that burning is.