Clone Commander Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi/General Grievous - CW [A] - Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 2)

Through the creative vision of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Cartoon Network, the Clone Wars are brought to life in a series of animated chapters. In this time of galactic civil unrest, Anakin Skywalker sets off on a spiritual quest that foreshadows his dark destiny. Obi-Wan seeks to give strength and encouragement to his gifted student and through his guidance, Anakin is awarded the prestigious title of Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, Yoda, Mace Windu and the clone troopers battle a massive Separatist droid army that has suddenly attacked Coruscant. Led by the cunning warrior General Grievous, the Separatists succeed in kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. Now the stage is set for a reemergence of the Sith and the birth of a dark new Galactic Empire.

December 2005 was a month and year that was truly special for Star Wars collectors. If you were fully invested in collecting then you probably experienced a bit of sensory overload yourself. The Revenge Of The Sith line wrapped up with two final repack and repaint waves released in October and November respectively (after a fantastic year packed with one new toy product after another no less), the gearing up of the end of the year release of the brand new The Saga Collection basic figure line, a line which hearkened back to the vintage Kenner era with its modern yet old-fashioned styled packaging, and then Volume 2 of the Clone Wars on DVD and its companion products were being released the same month! The Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 1 and Animated Pack 2) gave collectors exactly what they were looking for: Volume 2 interpretations of the characters from the awesome micro-series. However, the Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 2) probably was a little bit more special for collectors because it provided an animated take on a gathering of characters that interacted with each other during the Battle of Utapau in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

Clone Commander Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous were all part of the distinct lineup of the Animated Pack 2 multipack. All based on previously released sculpts, Hasbro made them feel “all-new” thanks to added parts, excellent paint operations or a combination of the two. Interestingly, the Clone Wars Commemorative DVD Collection (Animated Pack 2) gives collectors their very first action figure interpretation of Clone Commander Cody. (Editor's Note: This character makes its first realistic appearance in the fourth wave of The Saga Collection (released April 2006) as Clone Commander Cody (SAGA 024).) The animated version looks pretty impressive and Hasbro based him off of the standard 2004 CW [A] Clone Trooper sculpt but this time the figure comes with an all-new head sculpt and torso. Some features of the onscreen character have been ignored, but for the most part collectors should be pretty happy with him. He also comes with a DC-15 blaster rifle. Obi-Wan Kenobi also comes with a new head sculpt sporting a shorter haircut. Although Obi-Wan Kenobi’s hairstyle does change from Volume 1 to Volume 2, we don’t think the shortness of his style is as drastic as the action figure implies it is. He has also received a dramatically new paint job. As you know, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Clone Commander Cody worked together in Episode III.

Perhaps our favorite figure in this set is the revised General Grievous. If you recall, General Grievous started off as mostly light blue in Volume 1 and part of Volume 2 of the Clone Wars micro-series. But once we got closer to the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, Genndy Tartakovsky realized he needed to revise General Grievous’ color scheme to be more faithful to his appearance in the film. So, Hasbro followed suit and repainted their own “blue” 2005 CW [A] General Grievous figure and mimicked the coloring of how he appeared in the last few chapters of the micro-series. The new version is a pure pleasure! Now we truly have an animated take on the character from the film. The action figure doesn’t have that much articulation and essentially has the same pose as the “blue” version, but we love it nonetheless. Even better than getting a corrected General Grievous however for us is how Hasbro put together this lineup of updated figures. As you know, they all interact with each other directly or indirectly during their time on Utapau. It’s pretty cool to see them all together in an exclusive boxed set like this. And as you know, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Genneral Grievous battle until Grievous' timely death. Walmart has been the retailer of choice to bring collectors commemorative sets like this. We hope they’ll continue to do so because this set is plain amazing. This is why we collect, for great sets like this!