Yoda & Coruscant Guard - TCW [B] - Battle Packs (Exclusive)

Yoda is assigned a squad of Coruscant Guard troopers who act as protective escorts when the Jedi Master is on official business for the Republic. The troopers also enforce the law on Coruscant and play an increasingly powerful role when Palpatine declares martial law and further increases his control of the Republic. As Yoda tracks down Separatist collaborators within the capital city, these elite troopers provide him with additional support when scouring the dark underbelly of Coruscant.

One of the benefits of exclusive Star Wars products is that they are usually planned in advance and adopt older formats. When Hasbro was already cutting Battle Packs down to four figures, the two TARGET exclusive sets in the fall of 2008 maintained keeping five. This makes things both good and bad for the consumer. We're happy to get five figures for the same price, but it also makes us mad that we likely won't see this many figures ever again for this price. But as is evident with the Yoda & Coruscant Guard Battle Packs set, we should focus on being thankful to be treated to five figures, four of which are army builders. Miraculous? No! Lucky? Yes! The TARGET exclusive Battle Packs releases of 2008 really made Hasbro look bad. These are two examples of what we’ve been clamoring for years to get and it finally happens! Better late than never of course, but this should have been the rule instead of the exception. The Yoda & Coruscant Guard should have been a mass release product and as a result didn’t garner the full attention of collectors as it should have. And it’s a shame because this is a great set. And general market sales would have proven what a need it is to have sets like this at retail!

Exclusive to this Battle Packs set, the only way you can get the Coruscant Guard right now is via this TARGET exclusive. A simple rework of the 2008 TCW Clone Trooper (No. 5) basic figure, Hasbro was generous and cranked out four of them plus Yoda for a little over twenty dollars. This unique brand of clone trooper is very awesome. Color flashed with red details including a few geometric shapes, the Coruscant Guard will nicely complement some of the other figures already established for the line. And it's great to get awesome figures when something as devastating as the Battle Packs format was changing for the worse. So it was certainly more than a pleasant surprise to get these awesomely decorated clones and for less than $6 each. Who care if we got another “garbage” Yoda figure? This set was all about the included Coruscant Guard and we got a nice and healthy battalion at once. The Coruscant Guard clone troopers are very clean (which makes a lot of sense) and their ornate insignia on their chest is simply but expertly applied. They also have other markings on their armor and all of the deco is neat and cleanly applied. And thankfully they haven’t been destroyed from the packaging. Hasbro decided to keep their poses rather simple and prevent them from getting misshapen.

TARGET was granted all of the Coruscant Guard exclusives. They also were home to the very cool Commander Fox basic figure exclusive which came and went quicker than anything we’ve seen in many years. And Walmart became home to the 501st Legion. It was clever marketing for Hasbro to set each of the major retail outlets with a specific battalion of clones. But it unfortunately didn’t last beyond the first year of The Clone Wars television show. If repetition is something you don’t prefer for your action figures, this Battle Packs set may be a little boring for you. After all, you are getting four of the same figure here. But since they’re clones, you likely won’t care and pick it up for an instant army. It would be nice if future Battle Packs sets followed suit but they won't. This is one act of cheapness that maddens us. Hasbro needs to find other ways of containing costs. The Yoda & Coruscant Guard TARGET exclusive Battle Packs set is absolutely worth your hard earned dollars and we don’t expect to see the clones in this set be released as basic figures. Hasbro must feel that they have given everyone ample opportunity to get all you need in this exclusive set. Track it down. We bet you’ll love it.