Unleashed Battle Packs

[DoctorPadawan]

I must warn you, Brian, that these are extremely addictive (or at least I've found them to be so), and even if you tell yourself you'll just get the OT sets or only get the main characters, you'll quickly find yourself saying that 10 bucks isn't so bad for four little figures, and then BAM!: your entire apartment is overrun with the little bastards.   The Hoth sets were what got me started, and now I've gotten every set that has been released, many of them in multiples.  I have enough Utapau Clones, Snowtroopers, and Hoth Rebels that I could probably take over a small country.  Watch out Guam!

Since I love this line so much, yesterday was major thrill day for me.  I went out of town on a movie road trip and found the new ANH sets at a Wal-Mart and a TRU along the way.  Picked up one each of the Droids/Jawa/Luke/Ben and Commanders sets, 2 sets of RFTs (which don't suck in this incarnation), and 3 sets of Stormtroopers.  I think it goes without saying that those will be the first of many Stormie and RFT sets I'll be picking up over the next few months.

Quick notes on the sets:

-The figures all seem slightly larger than the 2006 figures, both in height and bulk.  This isn't a bad thing, mind you, but it's just very visible when, say, a Stormtrooper is standing next to one of the 501st Clones from the Order 66 wave.  Vader and Leia seem to be comparable in size to their Hoth counterparts.  It just seems to be a PT-OT difference in the way that the Hoth stuff was slightly larger than the Utapau and Kashyyyk stuff (Wookiees excluded).

-Vader and Captain Antilles DO in fact interact with one another.  While the bases don't interlock, they are sculpted in such a way that they can be lined up almost perfectly.  Vader's arm can be lifted into place around Antilles' neck, and Antilles arms can be positioned to where the non-pistol hand is holding onto Vader's wrist.  Just an interesting little tidbit I'd been hoping for that Hasbro really came through with.

-The two sets I got at TRU (1 RFT, 1 ST) each came with a mini-30th Anniversary Collection catalog if you're into that sort of thing.  Kind of like the TSC catalogs that came in the basic action figure line last year.  The sets I got at WM, however, came with the old big TSC 2006 catalog.  Weird.

[JediMAC]

Found Wave 2 today at Target.  Of course it hits just a few days after their dollar off BP sale last week, but I guess that's what price rain checks are for, eh? 

Sloppy paint job on the Sandtroopers faces (again), and I really wish they'd thrown a white-pauldroned trooper into the mix, instead of 3 blacks (and 1 orange).  Also, the Tusken's "horns" barely protrude from their noggins, and a couple of their faces are seriously mispainted, but otherwise not too bad...

[DoctorPadawan]

Found these on Tuesday at the local Target and just had the chance/impetus to open them up last night.  Overall, they're pretty nice, although my Chewbacca looks seriously deranged due to the poor painting of the eyes.

I did, however, notice yet another "interaction" feature on two of the figures, akin to the Vader/Antilles interaction in the Tantive IV sets.  The Tusken figure that is raising his gaffi stick above his head with both hands is obviously strangely posed with one foot essentially floating in the air.  The reason it's like that is for him to stand on Threepio (from the Streets of Mos Eisley set) and it works PERFECTLY.  Luke can stand in front of him like he's trying to shoot, while the Tusken climbs over Threepio to attack.

[ruiner]

You should probably post a picture...

[DoctorPadawan]

You should probably post a picture...

No camera, or I would. 

[Brian]

Jedi Insider has some pics up of the upcoming Battle Packs (consisting of Death Star themed figures).  I still haven't bought any of these, but I've been closer a couple of times with the Tatooine packs.  I thought I'd get the one with Han and Chewie, just to have them, but sometimes that leads to others and I really don't need another line .

[Nathan]

It still bugs me that the new ones are like twice the size of the original wave figures. I guess it's just as well that I'm no longer collecting these, because they would just look absurd if all displayed together.

[JediMAC]

Jedi Insider has some pics up of the upcoming Battle Packs (consisting of Death Star themed figures).

Anyone recall if there's just the three sets in this next wave, or are there any more that aren't pictured?  I'm brainfarting as to what all is next on tap...

And yes, the size difference between the older and newer Unleashed figures was indeed a stupid move on Hasbro's part.  Seems they just can't figure out what the hell to do with this line, and in what scale it should be.

[DoctorPadawan]

Anyone recall if there's just the three sets in this next wave, or are there any more that aren't pictured?  I'm brainfarting as to what all is next on tap...

Outside of the "Force Unleashed" sets shown at Toy Fair, these were the last three original sets I recall seeing in the photos, and I've not heard of anything else after these three.  I'm hoping that the silence isn't an indication of the line not continuing, as I have really come to love them.

There's still a lot of fertile ground to be mined in the 2" Unleashed scale (Cloud City and Endor are high up on my personal want list), and the sets seem to be selling a little better than this time last year, but I guess the all-important question is whether or not Hasbro's making money on it.   

[Nathan]

I really wanted to get into these ($10 for three figures = more bang for the buck) but I just have too much inertia in the 3 3/4 line.

[JediMAC]

($10 for three figures = more bang for the buck)

Four figures, actually, and sometimes even five... 

I guess we'll find out this week what else is on tap for the line, if anything.  If they've got Force Unleashed figures lined up, I'd imagine they must've had some other stuff in mind to fill the interim (even before they FU got delayed).  Yeah, Endor and Bespin would be some obvious choices for their next waves.  I'm assuming it'll happen, as this line seems to be selling through pretty well (out here in SoCal, at least).

[Nathan]

Four figures, actually, and sometimes even five... 

Right on ... when posting drunk I guess the math skills go before the verbal skills.

[jestermon]

Are the Battle packs Trouble on Tatooine, the one with the Jawas new?  I had never seen them before but did not know if it was bad distribution or the fact that they are new, and they seem to be short packed, I saw a whole section at Target full of Sand people, and only one pack of Jawas.

I have been out of the Star Wars collecting for a while and wondered if any one had any info. I am definitely going to army build these guys.

Also, I saw a 2 pack of the 4 inch figures  at Wal-Mart that had 2 red speeders in the box and was also called a battle pack, can some on fill me in on all this thanks.

[DoctorPadawan]

Are the Battle packs Trouble on Tatooine, the one with the Jawas new?  I had never seen them before but did not know if it was bad distribution or the fact that they are new, and they seem to be short packed, I saw a whole section at Target full of Sand people, and only one pack of Jawas

They are relatively new, jestermon, having only been released in the last month or so.  They're packed in a case with the Tusken set, a Sandtrooper set, and a "mixed" set (that includes Han, Chewie, Greedo, and Garindan).  The Tuskens seem to be sitting the longest around me (and are usually the only sets left), with the "mixed" set being the quickest seller of the bunch.  In the initial cases I saw, the Tuskens and Sandies were packed at 2 per case, with the mixed and Jawa sets being one each.  There have apparently been some revision cases, though, and when they show up, it looks like the two initial shortpacks are showing up in greater numbers, so everything is evening out.

The Jawas are really nice, and my first thought when I saw the Jawa with R5-D4 was, "They should really do a 7" version of this one (if the 7" line continues beyond the ARC Gunner)."  There's also another unique Jawa in the Mos Eisley set from wave 1 (the one with Obi-Wan, Luke, R2, and Threepio).

Also, I saw a 2 pack of the 4 inch figures  at Wal-Mart that had 2 red speeders in the box and was also called a battle pack, can some on fill me in on all this thanks.

That would be the Wal-Mart exclusive "Treachery on Saleucami" Battle Pack with Clone Commander Neyo and a Saleucami Clone Trooper on BARC Speeder Bikes.  I believe there might still be a thread on the front page of the 30th Anniversary Collection section here about the set and the de rigeur distribution problems that came with it being a WM exclusive.

[JesseVader08]

For you Unleashed BP experts:

Are there 4 different 10-packs?  I only have 3 listed in my Checklist, but I'd swear there's a fourth one.

___ Battle of Geonosis - The Clone Wars
        - Mace Windu, Clone Commander, 3 Clone Troopers
        - 2 Battle Dr, 1 Super Battle Dr, 2 Destroyer Dr
___ Battle of Hoth - Imperial Invasion
        - Darth Vader, 4 Snowtroopers
        - 5 Hoth Rebel Soldiers
___ Battle of Kashyyyk - Droid Invasion
        - Yoda, 2 Wookiee Warriors, 3 Elite Troopers
        - 2 Battle Dr, 1 Super Battle Dr, 1 Destroyer Dr