Battle Above The Sarlacc - TSC - Battle Packs

Luke Skywalker has escaped his scheduled execution in the Great Pit of Carkoon, home of the terrifying Sarlacc. Boba Fett temporarily captures Skywalker using his rope-firing wrist gauntlet. The Jedi and his friends, however, have luck on their side, especially when Han Solo accidentally activates Fett’s backpack and sends him tumbling into the Sarlacc’s digestive system!

We oft wonder. How does Hasbro come up with ideas for the Battle Packs sets? Do they really look for the most aggressive and action-packed sequences in the Star Wars films. Or do they look for scenes that have the highest concentration of main characters that would guarantee sell through at retail by kids and collectors? It may be a combination of both, but one thing is for sure and that is the Battle Packs line cleverly plays with collectors’ hearts by a clever mixture of a great hybrid (usually) of action figures, some new tooling to make previously released figures new again, and great packaging which ties everything up together with a refreshing new appearance. This recipe is a guaranteed success and it seems to be working very well. The Battle Above The Sarlacc set definitely does not have all of these traits and it is mediocre at best. But for those who don’t have any of these characters previously released at basic figures yet, this is a wonderful purchase to get them all for $5 each, although you won’t get all of the original accessories in this format. And the packaging is stunning. But some may find the benefit of the “per cost” of each figure of this Battle Packs set to be a much more important deal.

There are some things that are new here as well. All of the figures, save for Boba Fett, to some extent or another have all-new paint jobs. Even the dirt pattern on Han Solo’s shirt is different. Whether this was intentional, or just the machine in the factory behaving differently, we think it’s enough to consider this figure “newish” at best. The figure with the most aggressive paint job differences is the Weequay Skiff Guard. The figure has never looked more natural than now and looks significantly better than it’s POTF2 counterpart. Unfortunately, Weequay Skiff Guard comes with a pathetically flimsy force pike. Why Hasbro insists on packing figures with these misshapen weapons is beyond us and we wish they would retire them. Lando Calrissian also comes with one of these said weapons too. Speaking of Lando Calrissian, we think he has been improved with smoother colors that better match what was seen in Return Of The Jedi, but we hope to see an aggressive update to this figure with super-articulation as this is one figure that could be significantly updated as a result. This figure can only be reused for so long.

Luke Skywalker appears to be the only figure with slight retooling. His left leg is in a different position and gives him that “lunging” or “stepping forward” appearance. But this is still an “old’ figure now and is very limited in articulation and Hasbro can't seem to help his odd proportions. It’s amazing how some figures have the propensity to age after just a few years despite appearing state-of-the-art at the time of their original release. Luke Skywalker is a perfect example of this. Heck, even Han Solo and Boba Fett have aged and they have been released in the same product year as this Battle Packs set. (This of course doesn't make them "bad" action figures.) So, how should you view the final verdict of this Battle Packs set? It’s definitely more fun packaged than opened up. Apparently the packaging is where the Battle Packs line is scoring the highest marks by collectors. Unless a Battle Packs set has all-new product or never-before-released figures, it’s going to be hard-pressed to appease collectors. This is a cheap way to get five figures you may not have. And it’s the first time in almost a decade the Weequay Skiff Guard has been available for purchase (and it’s been updated – so that is always a great thing). Otherwise, you may be able to skip this set and sleep very well at night too. It's your call.