Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - SW [SOTDS] - Blu-ray Release Commemorative Figure & Mini-Poster Collection

Imperial forces attack the Alliance base on Hoth, forcing the Rebels to flee the planet. As Luke Skywalker continues his Jedi training on Dagobah, Darth Vader enlists the help of bounty hunters to track down the new Jedi. When Vader and Luke finally meet, the Sith Lord reveals a startling secret that changes everything for young Skywalker.

Did you ever notice an interesting phenomenon that pretty much without fail any Hasbro multipack based on the fan-favorite The Empire Strikes Back film always looks good despite whatever its contents are, good or bad? As a film that didn’t rely on a hive of scum and villainy to bring diversity (like how the cool creatures and various other denizens padded the films in its Original Trilogy bookending counterparts), it still remains a cherished film for many fans and collectors. (Flawless directing and equally good screenwriting can never really go wrong, right?) Collectors are fixated with getting the best possible action figures for all of their collecting needs of course, but they (we?) seem they’re more concerned with those that appear in Episode V a little bit more. Thankfully, Hasbro has shown the film great respect (there’s always room for improvement of course - we're not talking about the problems here) and they’re making unprecedented strides under their licensing agreement. This means that when new product finally arrives for us to purchase, it should seem more consistent. (Even the most vocal critics have to admit action figures never looked better.) Yes, there are some setbacks in the Hasbro Star Wars license and there will always be copious amounts of redundancy. But for the most part we have a lot to like and we want the future to be even brighter. (That’s of course only if Hasbro can pull the reigns back and get the Star Wars basic figure branding back in tow.)

Episode V gets the royal treatment from Hasbro in the Blu-ray Release Commemorative Figure & Mini-Poster Collection by giving us four excellent action figures (albeit all straight repacks). Something about the colors in the packaging make this set stand out from the rest and contains the perfect mixture of hero, villain and army builders. It’s all here for all collectors to enjoy! If you have the four action figures separately already, which we’d bet you already own, there is really no other reason to get this unless you’re wanting the Mini-Poster or to set these up on a bookshelf with spines pointing outward (to form the cool mural). The Snowtrooper is a straight repack of the 2010 SW [SOTDS] Snowtrooper (SL23) Saga Legends figure. There have been so many versions of the Snowtrooper utilizing this sculpt and to be honest we’ve lost count. But the Snowtrooper in the Blu-ray Release Commemorative Figure & Mini-Poster set is most like that 2010 Saga Legends figure. Princess Leia is a straight repack of 2010’s TVC Leia (Hoth Outfit) (VC02) figure. Her outfit is very dirty and we suspect that there are an infinite amount of variations in how this wash was applied, but we can’t find any distinguishing differences to tell her apart from her original release.

The incredibly awesome Luke Skywalker is a straight repack of 2009’s LC Luke Skywalker (BD51) figure. Despite still having an inordinately clean and bright orange outfit, this is one of the finest figures Hasbro has ever produced. To be honest, it would have been wonderful is Hasbro could have toned down the outfit to make it look more like 2011’s TVC Luke Skywalker (Dagobah Landing) (VC44) figure, but it seems that Hasbro has been very conservative with containing any extra costs with these sets. (But keep in mind you’re still getting great figures in them so don’t freak out.) And Boba Fett is a straight repack of the running change/revised 2010 TVC Boba Fett (VC09) figure. This means that Boba Fett comes with a blaster without any silver tip, has the black alternating pattern on his shoes and his uniform contains some upgraded paint operation that make it look just perfect. We still want to see this sculpt retooled with a non-removable helmet, but we won’t hold our breath. So, you’re likely to fall in love with this multipack. We think for the most part they are the nicest commemorative sets Hasbro has made. As nice as it is, we think they could do something to the figures to make them unique to these sets.