Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith - TAC - Commemorative Tin Collection (Exclusive)

Ugh. Hasbro had seemingly lost creativity for the Commemorative Tin Collection sets once they went into exclusive format. Some had groups of action figures that made sense, while others made you scratch your head. Kmart was the retailer that picked up three exclusive Commemorative Tin Collection sets in the 30 (77-07) line. Because the general release sets were successful, Hasbro thought continuing the trend in an exclusive would be equally successful. But they weren’t. Due to the fact that nothing new was included for the exclusive round, and the exorbitant price increase, the Kmart exclusive sets ended up rotting on shelves until the prices were reduced to pennies on the dollar. Why Hasbro cut back on the amount of newness contained with them to zero is beyond our comprehension. That’s what guaranteed the sell. Sure, maybe the repackaged figures could indeed stand another chance at retail, but because most of the straight repacks were figures from The Saga Collection and/or the 30 (77-07) lines, their recent availability didn’t need a reissue so soon. It would have been best if Hasbro added a little bit of retooling and/or kit-bashing to make these sets a little bit more interesting.

The Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (Exclusive) set is quite boring sadly. What makes it worse is that Hasbro didn’t even choose the best sculpts of the characters they included here. What’s more, they added a figure that wasn’t even seen in Episode III (the all black Clone Pilot) into the mix. And what is unfathomable to us on why Hasbro would do this, three of the figures are straight repacks of the figures contained in wave 4 of The Saga Collection. As you can see, this exclusive is a bit all over the place. Commander Cody is pretty much a straight repack of 2006’s TSC Clone Commander Cody (SAGA 024) figure. This may be the nicest figure in the set too. That doesn’t say much because collectors wanted an update to this figure the moment it was released due to its articulation. Anakin Skywalker is a straight repack of 2006’s TSC Anakin Skywalker (SAGA 025) figure and that figure became a peg-warmer shortly after its release. It definitely didn’t need a re-release this soon. And the last rehash from The Saga Collection is General Grievous. He is a straight repack of 2006’s TSC General Grievous (SAGA 030) figure. We’re sorry, but three-eighths of an old collection’s wave included in an exclusive is just lazy…. and wrong.

The last figure, the Clone Pilot (or [Shadow] Clone Pilot to be more precise), may be the most annoying figure in this set. He wasn’t in the film and for us he doesn’t commemorate Episode III. What about Obi-Wan Kenobi? What about a 501st Legion Trooper? What about a Separatist? As you can see, the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (Exclusive) Commemorative Tin Collection was a rushed job and not much thought went into it in our opinion. Anyway, collectors didn’t need to see the Clone Pilot issued again. First released as a running change in the Revenge Of The Sith line (released as 2005’s ROTS Clone Pilot [Shadow] (III 34) figure), then again in The Saga Collection Heroes & Villains assortment, a never before released new paint scheme of any other screen accurate Clone Pilot would have been more than welcomed. But if the weak character selection and nonsensical go to action figure choices didn’t sit well with you, then the MSRP will set you through the roof. Jacked up more than 40% of what the original Commemorative Tin Collection sets retailed for (along with the new tooling and paint operations they came with), the price just isn’t worth the aggravation. You don’t even get a new tin. Even that has been repeated.