Holocron Heist - TCW [SOTDS] - Battle Packs

Cad Bane is hired to steal an important holocron from the Jedi Temple. Bane and his cohorts get past the security measures that protect the holocron storage vault. When Yoda senses the presence of the intruders, Anakin and Obi-Wan immediately begin searching the temple. In the vault room, Ahsoka is on guard duty when one of the thieves makes an appearance.

We got a small taste at the end of season 1, but all of us knew that The Clone Wars season 2 was going to give better development to one of the newest villains in the Star Wars universe, Cad Bane. The episode did just that and it used a very simple premise to develop this character. Cad Bane breaks into the Jedi Temple and steals a cherished artifact, one of the holocrons, and the chase is on to prevent him from leaving with it. The episode is full of deceit and miscommunication and we even see our favorite Jedi librarian lightsaber battle with Ahsoka Tano (thanks to a shapeshifter). It was an interesting plot to say the least. Hasbro saw this episode as a prime candidate to base a Battle Packs set off of it and while we believe it was a great choice, the approach of the set is seriously lacking. This set is just a “nice” repack of popular and core main characters that needed another way to make it into the toy line. After all, parents and kids need more options to grab their favorite characters. From a collector’s perspective, Hasbro clearly missed the boat. This was the ideal place to release an animated version of Jocasta Nu (fat chance of that ever happening). But since Hasbro has flat out confirmed that she’s never coming in The Clone Wars line, hardcore fans will have settle for what Hasbro has include here instead. In our opinion, Hasbro is really starting to strike out with fans. The Clone Wars has been hailed as the most popular boys’ line and we won’t refute that here, but why aren’t we getting new characters with the Battle Packs format. They’re either mostly new or mostly repacked any more.

Bottom line, the Holocron Heist Battle Packs set is extremely boring, especially if you have collected The Clone Wars figures for any reasonable amount of time. There is absolutely nothing here for a collector, let alone a one-of-everything collector. Well, maybe that’s not so true. Because the Holocron heist Battle Packs set was re-released in The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] line, you now get special Game Cards and other pack-in premiums like a Battle Mat. Oh and osme of the character's bios have been revised. This may sway the hardcore Star Wars collectors. However, the figures are exact repacks of their basic figure counterparts and are all straight repacks from the Holocron Heist set in The Clone Wars [Season 2] red packaged lineup. But even then, these figures have previous histories as well. Ahsoka is a repack of 2008’s TCW [F/S1] Ahsoka Tano (No. 9) figure, the second variation with more pronounced eyelashes. Cad Bane is a straight repack of 2009’s TCW [S2] Cad Bane (CW22) figure. Yoda is a repack of 2009’s TCW [S2] Yoda (CW14) figure. And lastly, Anakin Skywalker is a repack of 2009’s TCW [S2] Anakin Skywalker (CW21) figure. All of the figures in this Battle Packs set however now come with less accessories. For example, Ahsoka comes without Rotta the Hutt (which makes sense of course) and Anakin Skywalker comes without his dome helmet and backpack. More often than not, figures in multipacks tend to have rougher paint jobs than their basic carded equals. But Hasbro has ensured that the artwork aspect of these figures was kept at high standards. But is that enough? In fact, we have buyer’s remorse for even getting this set for this review. (What we do for our readers…)

So, have we whined enough about this set? Probably so, but Hasbro is really going to have to do some soul searching or bite the bullet and go back to the original approach of the Battle Packs platform. These multipacks MUST contain revisited figures and/or at least one new figure. We are tired of hearing us say this over and over and we are sure Hasbro is tired of hearing it. But the time is now and Hasbro has got to step up to the plate and get a little bit more creative when it comes to future Battle Packs. If you need a good gift for a niece or nephew who is into Star Wars and has nothing from The Clone Wars yet, then this is the set to get. Otherwise we can honestly say that it is an easy pass. This is peg-warming fodder folks. There is no easier way to say it. And as strong supporters of nearly everything Hasbro has released, it is a bit difficult to be so adamant in our stance. But the straight repacks have absolutely got to stop. We could have looked the other way if there was at least one repainted clone trooper in here, or a new take on Cad Bane’s paint job for example. There is absolutely nothing worthwhile here if you have bought these figure previously. We are looking forward to future Battle Packs sets, but they have to start containing more value that intrigues collectors which really translates as newness to collectors. Because, Hasbro, we are the ones supporting your bottom line and we honestly can’t be burned any more, no matter how subtle that burning is. What’s more, did this set really need a second reissuing in The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] line just for pack-ins? Probably not.