Rising Malevolence (Plo Koon/Ahsoka) - TCW [SOTDS] - The Clone Wars DVD Set (1 of 3)

When Plo Koon's taskforce is attacked, Ahsoka urges a rescue mission. The Jedi Master experiences the devastating power of General Grievous' new weapon and barely escapes with his life. Ahsoka is frustrated when Republic forces delay a search for her friend, until Anakin reveals his creative way of following orders in "Rising Malevolence."

When it comes to companion products for The Clone Wars line, we have to admit that The Clone Wars DVD Sets are among the best thing Hasbro can release. But, in order for them to be the best that they can be, Hasbro needs to change the method of their approach. The Clone Wars after all is an animated television show, first and a toy collection, second. So the marriage of DVD with action figures is truly the penultimate collectible, or it should be at least. The Malevolence story arc in The Clone Wars television show included some of the most memorable scenes from Season 1. So it’s only fitting that Hasbro base the story arc into a Walmart exclusive three individual two-pack sets. You should know right off of the bat that these two-packs are just repacks of figures you already have previously, but Hasbro in typical fashion some of the figures have experienced some paint job enhancements which make them “unique” to these releases. We’ll go into detail so don’t fret yet. Even if there are subtle differences in the paint operations of these sets, Hasbro is still handling them the wrong way. An exclusive (like this) always needs an “exclusive” figure, or one that only originally available in it. Repacks are risky and the line won’t sustain itself unless Hasbro steps it up.

The Rising Malevolence set doesn’t really bring anything new to the table like we’ve mentioned earlier, but we did notice some surprising paint operation updates to both Plo Koon and Ahsoka. Plo Koon is indeed a slight repaint of 2008’s TCW Plo Koon (No. 14) figure. The only difference that we can see is that his rebreathing mask is now painted in a darker color. The original 2008 version of the figure has a lighter bronze color to it, but the figure in The Clone Wars DVD Set has its mask painted in a very dark (and slightly metallic) color instead. The rest of the figure is the same up to an including its accessories. Hasbro drops “Tano” from Ahsoka’s name and pretty much repacks 2008's TCW Ahsoka Tano (No. 9) for the two-pack also. But we noticed three things differently for this release. The dark blue “boomerang” shaped patterns on her head-tails are very clean and the lines are crisp. Also, the belt buckles on her boots are painted in a darker color as well. Finally, the Rotta the Huttlet accessory has an all-new paint job. Instead of green skin and green eyes, Rotta sports a brown skin color and yellow eyes. The update is frankly unexpected, but the little worm never looked better. It’s a shame this update doesn’t have more widespread availability. (Too bad he wasn’t in this episode!)

Another reason to consider this set is for the Galactic Battle Game cards. Because most of the figures were released in the blue 2008-2009 phase of The Clone Wars line, many don’t have corresponding playing cards since some weren’t released in the “Shadow Of The Dark Side” lineup of The Clone Wars basic figure line. If you’re into this sort of thing, then these collectible cards are a decent enhancement for figure you already have probably many times over. Lastly, Hasbro has added the Season 1 episode 2 Rising Malevolence onto a DVD and it’s housed in a slipcase that fits very nicely inside of the packaging. This may not be that beneficial to collectors that have purchased the complete seasons on Blu-ray of DVD already, but it’s still nice to get a complementary episode with your action figures to help tie the connection tighter. You may disagree. Another point of chagrin with these sets in the price. Walmart retailed them for $15.97 which isn’t a steal by any means. The added DVD episode and the Galactic Battle Game cards don’t help to make the cost of this item any easier to swallow. Hasbro needs to include at least one all-new figure in order for these sets to be a success. We do love the concept, but we don’t like the progression the line is taking.