Joclad Danva/Battle Droid - LC - Geonosis Arena Showdown (4 of 6)

The Jedi Knights rush to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé from execution. The Jedi brandish their lightsabers against the Geonosian warriors and the massive army of battle droids, super battle droids and droidekas. All hope seems lost that any Jedi will survive this battle, then Yoda arrives with an army of clone troopers. Although many Jedi are lost that day, others survive this climactic battle that ushers in the Clone Wars.

You probably can tell by now that we are huge fans of the Geonosis Arena Showdown TARGET exclusives. Not only do the Geonosis Arena Showdown sets give us new and never before available Jedi and newly molded Separatist Droid action figures, these sets also provide upgrades to previously released action figures like Mace Windu and Jango Fett for example. So many of the figures have new paint jobs that we feel are updated and more accurate than ever before. A total value, these sets are destined to be embraced by fans and collectors alike and no doubt will be a successful catalyst to ensure the development of a second series. These sets also do a marvelous job of bringing a few background Jedi Knights to the forefront of collecting. Take the Joclad Danva/Battle Droid set for example. You likely have never heard of or saw him before this release, but we can say that he looks a great deal like his onscreen character and is himself a very neat Jedi Knight. A little short in stature, this does not affect his level of desire to add him to your collections. Really no more or less popular than Sora Bulq or Tarados Gon (BD 47), Danva could have been easily released in an Evolutions set or as a basic figure and we would have been happy just the same. Joclad Danva is a significant rework of the The Jedi Legacy Evolutions Luke Skywalker (New Jedi Order) figure with a new head and is significantly repainted, almost to the point of being unrecognizable from its source. He also comes with a new lightsaber, although it could from another figure that we just cannot match up at the moment. His costume looks excellent decorated in the rich dark brown used and the contrast against the light gray pants is very striking. If we were to find fault anywhere on the figure, it would be his eyes, they seem as if they could have been painted better. But is still doesn’t discredit the sheer awesomeness of the set and it is one more check off of the old Geonosis Arena checklist (of which there are a total of 200 Jedi).

How many more do we have to go until completed? Well, we won’t count our chickens before they hatch, but we are progressing very nicely for sure and seem to get more than few new Jedi form this pivotal scene each year! Besides getting the excellent Joclad Danva, the real charmer in this set is the new Battle Droid. Cast in the reddish maroon that is faithful to the appearance in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, the Battle Droid uses the same mold (save for a few changes) of the Battle Droid Commander (in the Mace Windu/Battle Droid Commander set) so you can bet that it is the best Battle Droid sculpt we have received to date. There is one glaring error on the figure. The Battle Droid is missing the black photoreceptors on his head. While the Battle Droid Commander has them painted on much too big, this droid is at the opposite end of the spectrum – that is none at all! We don’t know if Hasbro will address this issue with a running change or correction, but we do know that if you can overlook this, you will without a doubt own and incredible Battle Droid action figure. Capable of folding up in the same manner as we saw in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the flexibility and articulated on this figure should leave you breathless. We haven’t felt this much excitement for an action figure of this impressiveness in a very long time. So we thoroughly congratulate Hasbro on creating the quintessential battle droid mold. It certainly is a figure that possesses a “wow” factor that far exceeds our own expectations. We are sincere when we say that Hasbro has outdone some of their other previous efforts and made a truly special product here. It may seem like an easy action figure to design, but it has so many fine details and thin parts, we are absolutely floored how well this has been interpreted into a toy.

While we understand that not all collectors will want Jedi that are barely seen in the films, but we think the Geonosis Arena Showdown sets are introducing us to a new subset of characters that we wouldn't get to know in any other way. It has been Hasbro's [Kenner's] unofficial philosophy to release some of the most obscure characters from the film in the basic figure line. Fast forward more than 30 years later, and it still remains unchanged. We tend to think that these obscure characters are without a doubt a piece of the total pie that makes Star Wars collecting so special and priceless. But without getting too philosophical, it is nice to get incredible variety and less common characters mixed in with some of our favorite ones. Otherwise, it truly wouldn't be Star Wars, would it? If anything, these sets have introduced the new and improved Battle Droid. And we can wholeheartedly express that this is enough of a reason. Rarely is an action figure ever worth $12.99, but this battle droid is new and new figures have a luster that needs time to wear off but we feel that time will be unlikely to diminish this figure's staying power. While we hope that the Battle Droids get their eyes fixed for the next release when they come out again, the Geonosis Arena Showdown sets really have a lot to offer collectors despite some flaws. These should get you excited rather quickly. We especially cannot wait for the Episode I flavors to be released in this same mold as well. In the meantime, be sure to check out all these TARGET exclusive sets. They offer a lot more to your collection that what you may think.