Battle Of Hoth, The - TAC - Ultimate Battle Pack (Exclusive)

A chance discovery by a probe droid reveals the Rebel Alliance's main base on the planet Hoth. Darth Vader prepares for a surprise long-range attack, but his plans are ruined when Admiral Kendal Ozzel leaves hyperspace near the planet, setting off the Rebels' early-warning sensors. Vader then launches a ground attack with a powerful onslaught of snowtroopers and AT-ST walkers. The Rebels target their laser turrets at the invading Imperials, and Luke bravely leads his fellow Rebels into battle with the formidable walkers. But the Alliance is outnumbered and outgunned, and the order is given to retreat. The Rebels succeed in fleeing the panet, giving the Empire a cold and bittersweet victory.

There was a lot to be thankful for if you were a Star Wars collector in 2007 (celebrating 30 years of Star Wars). And two of the main things to be happy about as far as the Hasbro line was concerned were the TARGET exclusive Ultimate Battle Packs. This newly developed medium (Battle Packs to the “nth” degree) was a sure way to cram a lot of cool product into one box and make even the most discriminating collector happy. We think this is some of Hasbro’s most clever concepts of revitalizing older product and we couldn’t be happier with the final results. While Hasbro could have just given us 100% all recycled parts, they went above and beyond to create new stuff to make us even happier. For The Battle Of Hoth set Hasbro created an all-new Laser Turret which collectors have wanted for years. It’s a dual level “play-set” (God forbid we use that word around Hasbro!) that is huge when next to any 3.75” scale action figure and well done. It has an action feature which we understand must be included in toys sometimes, but it too has been done well and Hasbro has been respectful to collectors by not making it bulky and distorted-looking. The Laser Turret also has a door where you can store various Hoth Rebel Soldiers inside of it which of course adds an amazing amount of play value. Accompanying the Laser Turret is a newly painted version of the vehicle from 2002's POTJ Imperial AT-ST & Speeder Bike set. Just like The Battle Of Endor set, it has been painted specifically to fit it its surrounding, this time white to match the tundra of Hoth. The paint job on the AT-ST is spectacular and while we know that the vehicle isn’t totally in scale with the action figures, the paint job alone makes it reason enough to pick this set up. This Ultimate Battle Pack is so worth the $49.00 price tag. A mid-size vehicle, an all-new large accessory/play-set and eight figure more than covers this charge and it was a nice gesture on Hasbro’s part to create such a nice set for a fair price.

Like The Battle Of Endor set, The Battle Of Hoth isn’t perfect when it comes to all of the included action figures. There is a lot of good and a lot of “meh” here. But all of the figures look great together which is an amazing feat on Hasbro’s part. It’s when you start dissecting them individually do you start to realize that some things went awry. For example, Hasbro included three Snowtrooper action figures in this set. Two are repaints of the 2007 VTSC Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear). But they have yellow stains on their armor which looks like they have been pelted with frozen yellow snow (yes, we’re implying urine here). The Snowtroopers are completely unique from the original 2007 VTSC versions and even have been cast in different base plastic colors. (You’ll notice the outfits and especially the skin tones are in very light colors when compared to the original.) If you can overlook these small setbacks, the figures are still very good. The bigger problem is that Hasbro included a repaint of 2006’s TSC Snowtrooper (SAGA 011) figure which is now completely obsolete thanks to the VTSC figure! (Why couldn’t Hasbro include three of the VTSC figures here?) AT-ST Drivers were never seen in The Empire Strikes Back, so Hasbro is assuming that they were the same uniform in cold terrain. We tend to believe that it is more likely that an AT-AT Driver or Snowtrooper was piloting these vehicles, but that’s just our opinion. So the AT-ST Driver is technically the only figure from this set that is sourced from Return Of The Jedi. The AT-ST Driver is a kit-bashed figure of 2004’s SW [S - P3] Han Solo (Endor Strike) ('04 #19) and the head of Rebel Fleet Trooper [A] from 2007's TAC Capture Of Tantive IV Battle Packs set. And if you compare this AT-ST Driver to the one included in The Battle Of Endor, you’ll notice this version is gray while The Battle Of Endor version is more green. There is obviously a nice even balance of Rebels versus Imperials here and Hasbro really picked great choices of each to include in this set.

The rest of the action figures in this set range from good to bad to ugly. The Rebel Officer (now with a generic name) is a repaint of 2006’s TSC Major Bren Derlin (SAGA 008). It’s exactly the same except for the new paint job. With all of the head sculpts out there, it seems as if Hasbro should have given this figure a new head. This is clearly Derlin, so it’s a little bit frustrating. It was a perfect opportunity to make a truly generic army builder. The debacle of the set is the Rebel Trooper. A figure that we refer to as “Buzz Lightyear,” the Rebel Trooper, a repaint of 2004’s SW [S - P3] Hoth Trooper (Hoth Evacuation) ('04 #01), is a figure that should never be released again. We encourage any factory worker in China to drop the mold to this figure and render it unusable again. With a terrible cartoony look and extremely small stature (not to mention again the Toy Story likeness), Rebel Trooper just isn’t an acceptable option for collectors in this day and age. Just like The Battle Of Endor, colors that should be brown come off as very orange. Hasbro created a very “animated” version of Han by repainting 2007’s VTSC Han Solo (Hoth Outfit). The controversial blue coat is so exaggerated that it’s nearly insulting. And his hair is so many shades off to being an acceptable brown. We just do not know what happened here at all, but Han Solo is all wrong. Even his macrobinoculars are all white (including the strap).A figure that we like (but is still far from perfect) is Luke Skywalker (who sports his snowspeeder pilot uniform). Ingeniously, Hasbro created a very accurate uniform for him, complete with the differing shades of orange between the top and bottom portions. (Check out the still.) The action figure is a little bit more noticeable, but we see what Hasbro was trying to accomplish. It’s hard to call Luke Skywalker the star of the set, but he has a miraculous paint job despite his limited articulation which makes him look better than he is. (He has the body of Zev Senesca and the head of 2004's VOTC Luke Skywalker figure.) The Battle Of Hoth throws some very memorable scenes from The Empire Strikes Back into one box set and it has something in it that everyone will be able to enjoy.