Resurgence Of The Jedi - LC - Battle Packs

"For a thousand years, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, before the dark times, before the Empire..." The resurgence of the Jedi Order begins on the remote desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan Kenobi gives Luke Skywalker a lightsaber that belonged to Luke's father, and when Luke activates the weapon, it marks the beginning of a new generation of Jedi... and a new hope for the galaxy.

Resurgence Of The Jedi. It sounds like a great title for a new Star Wars movie, doesn't it? Instead, however, it is an even better name for an awesome and very special Battle Packs set. Any toy set that includes Luke Skywalker is destined to be a sure-fire hit. And anything themed from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is almost always a collector favorite and rarely does it ever disappoint. A multipack with not one but four main characters (and prevalent ones may we remind you) are nearly a guaranteed sell, especially if the versions of the action figures are of high quality or caliber. Maybe the kids don't care, but the collectors do, and it makes all the difference in the world. Resurgence Of The Jedi captures all of this and more and will likely charm all (or most) of you that add it to your collections. It is a great set without novelty so the excitement that it brings shouldn't wear off too easily! In early 2009, we received a definitive version of Obi-Wan Kenobi. We all knew it would be inevitable that Hasbro would capitalize on this great sculpt and they quickly did with the release of this set. But we'll get to the specifics of these figures in a moment. The Resurgence Of The Jedi multipack is better than you might initially think. All the figures are new in one fashion or another (and improved) and make it one of the most worthwhile Battle Packs we have seen in 2009 (but not the best – we are waiting for Hasbro to top 2009's TLC Scramble On Yavin set). Still in all, the Resurgence Of The Jedi Battle Packs set provides so many new takes on characters that we have received many times over (albeit different sculpts) each while yet still providing collectors with significant updates to recreate a crucial scene in Episode IV. You will hear us reiterate time and again hear in these reviews that if Hasbro changes figures even in the slightest that it will make a reissue a worthwhile purchase. We realize that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but there is no denying that [any] change on a figure constitutes some level of differentiation. But in this set, the changes and improvements are very noteworthy. And we are going to tell you about them all! So what makes this set so special? You might be thinking "Hey, didn't I just get these four figures in the TLC Training On The Falcon Battle Packs set?" But you would be completely wrong. Yes, they are the same four characters, but upgraded with super-articulation and better sculpts with beautiful paint jobs.

And for the figures that already had super-articulation or perfect likenesses have been painted to look better than ever. For example, Hasbro reintroduces us to the definitive Obi-Wan Kenobi sculpt (at the moment – first received as a basic figure in wave 5 in the blue phase of The Legacy Collection). But this time he has repainted him in a new scheme. The lighter colored soft-goods robes are even lighter with this release while his sculpted white robes are darker (it's almost diametrically opposite to how the first figure was made - but not drastic). Maybe it isn't the most authentic arrangement we have seen, but it looks pretty darn good. His boots have also been painted in a lighter color while his pants are now darker. If you have a 12" version of this character, you know that this is a very accurate representation of his costume. Although his skin now looks a little pale in comparison to the 2009 TLC figure, he just looks better overall. Hasbro did well. C-3PO is also cast in a lighter gold color than we are used to but has been given a wonderful deco that shows what the harsh elements of the Tatooine desert can do to a protocol droid wandering aimlessly in it. His photoreceptors are painted very evenly and the portions of his frame that aren’t vac-metalized match quite well with the rest of his body. Since he utilizes the 2006 TSC C-3PO (With Ewok Throne) (SAGA 042) figure and you know it's an awesome mold! Luke Skywalker is a kit-bashed figure that is a mixture 2007's TAC Luke Skywalker (30 18) (arms), 2004's VOTC Luke Skywalker (legs), a new chest, skirt and a nicely sculpted brand new head. (We love it, but we know there will be some harder critiques of this sculpt out there.) It is easily the best "new" Luke Skywalker figure from Episode IV, and we think that using the word "kit-bashed" doesn't do him any justice. It should be a basic carded figure. The ball-jointed hips work well despite the hard plastic molded skirt and can be posed in a variety of ways. The new head sculpt is fantastic, but it is painted in a flesh color, and this is a feature that we personally never like on our figures. Painted portraits are in danger of adversely affecting the quality of the likeness. (We prefer flesh tone that is molded in that color, not painted on the figure.) No need to worry at all here because we believe you will be impressed with the final production piece of Luke. His portrait looks awesome, and Hasbro has ensured that his coloring is beautiful.

R2-D2 is probably the second star of the set. Hasbro decided to utilize the 2005 ROTS R4-G9 (Sneak Preview) (4 of 4) sculpt and you all know what a great figure this is. We did get a very battle-damaged version of R2-D2 using this mold (from the 2008 TAC Luke Skywalker/R2-D2 Droid Factory (6 of 6) Walmart exclusive set), but we now have R2 "whole" and he looks absolutely wonderful. Sharp-eyed collectors will be thrilled to know that Hasbro has assembled the third leg correctly. So when you display R2-D2 with his third leg down it looks the way it was intended - and that is perfectly splendid. R2 also has a beautiful weathered look which completes him very nicely. Another star in this set is the revisited Princess Leia hologram (mini figure). It has now been cast in a pose that is very fondly remembered by fans. She is hunched over in a position when she hid the Death Star plans in R2-D2 (or when she was adjusting R2 during her plea for help). Cast in a darker blue than the accessory we received with the 2009 TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 34) figure, it looks better in this pose and we are extremely thankful that Hasbro gave us both poses now! Hasbro is definitely finding new ways to revitalize the Battle Packs sub-line. With the quick death of other mediums, it seems as if they are concerned about finding ways of introducing new figure ideas and packaged concepts into the line. We think they don't need to look beyond what is already working. Resurgence of The Jedi is definitely an example of one of the very successful ways to do this. Perhaps they don't need to worry about so many different product types (brands?) and should keep the Star Wars line simpler. Battle Packs are a proven success and Hasbro has been aggressive and passive with the concept choices they are executing (and it is our opinion that both passive and aggressive works equally well, it just depends on the pack). The Resurgence Of The Jedi Battle Packs set is a literal "screen scene" that should have seen fruition a long time ago. We are actually surprised that it hasn't come out until now. But it is worth the wait however because all of the action figures included are the cream of the crop as far as sculpts are concerned and the paint jobs are quite exquisite. We would also have to comment that this is a collector-focused set more than a kid-focused set too (despite Hasbro saying they want to focus on the younger audience when it comes to Battle Packs). As long as they stay as far away as they can from straight reissues and continue with what they are releasing to us, we think that this sub-line will maintain its support or perhaps regain more momentum.