Super Battle Droid - TCW [SOTDS] - Basic (CW16)

A super battle droid is harder to destroy than its more vulnerable predecessor. This powerful droid has a protective body case and built-in double-laser blaster. Once it is unleashed on a target, a super battle droid does not cease advancing and firing its weapons until the object of its attack has been eliminated.

After the first wave of The Clone Wars figures were released on July 26, 2008, collectors had to wait almost two full grueling months for the next wave to hit retail. The second wave of figures didn't provide us with the most clever and new designs of characters, but we did get the hugely popular Ahsoka Tano and an all-new sculpt of the common Super Battle Droid. (The other two figures in the wave were essentially clone trooper retools.) The Super Battle Droid was an interesting figure. It was like no other Super Battle Droid action figure released to date. It wasn't loaded with articulation, but it did have an amazing sculpt and very realistic paint job that seems to be abandoned with some of the newest The Clone Wars figures released. They weren’t all bad of course, but some stood out significantly over others. On top of a beautiful paint job, the figure includes two arm cannons that were designed with the kids in mind. But the nice thing is that the cannons are removable and collectors could display the Super Battle Droid without any awkward action features. It is a great display figure and looks fantastic in a battle diorama fighting against a Clone Trooper or one of the many Jedi already in or soon to be coming into the line.

As a core army-builder figure, Hasbro decided to make the Super Battle Droid a candidate for The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] lineup. While probably boring for those that have already purchased one, new fans of The Clone Wars television show or army-builders should have the opportunity to grab this figure multiple times. Here’s the second chance those people need. You may think that none of the other characters from the The Clone Wars television series look like their realistic style counterparts, but we would disagree. Yes, the designs are unique, but the Super Battle Droid is almost an exaggerated caricature of the droid seen in Episodes II and Episode III. As a result, the Super Battle Droid is screen accurate, but visually perplexing. Stylistically, the Super Battle Droid has a much too large body section atop very skinny legs. Its "gourd on stilts" shape is one that would never pass for a realistic-styled figure obviously, but there is something charming about it. Still, it makes us question whether this droid would be an imposing force against the Galactic Republic. Its rotund shape doesn't make it too convincing or believable that this droid could effectively chase after enemies or possess enough agility to win battles. But it does as evidenced by The Clone Wars film. Besides, its size alone makes it an imposing foe.

The action figure itself is a decent one. Although not loaded with articulation as mentioned earlier, the figure does have good arm articulation. Hasbro decided to expend tooling costs on the inclusion of an action figure. Two removable cannons can be attached to the bottom of its arms and both can fire a long projectile. We would have preferred this extra sculpting be applied in knee joints instead. Articulation always ranks as the most important thing to any Star Wars collector. The inclusion of better lower body articulation would have been a benefit to the Super Battle Droid too. The figure is obviously top heavy and since his legs can only be posed at the hips, not much else can be done to ensure it stands up without falling over. We spent quite a bit of time trying to make our sample stand upright and we failed many times. It is a shame when an action figure cannot stand up on its own. And it is especially frustrating when there is no assistance via extra joints to help make the balancing easier. But even if the Super Battle Droid action figure has this issue, the figure scores high marks for its paint job and impressive sculpt. Super Battle Droid is a solid figure that it a worthwhile addition for your collection. We will just have to see if Hasbro will upgrade it sometime in the future.