Rise Of Boba Fett, The - TCW [SOTDS] - Ultimate Battle Packs (Exclusive)

Ever since the Battle of Geonosis, young Boba Fett has made it his mission to confront the Jedi who defeated his father. Jango's son doesn't care that the duel between his father and Mace Windu was a fair battle between skilled warriors; Boba wants his chance to fight the Jedi. Eventually, his hunt is successful. He and Bossk fly Slave I to a planet where Mace and Anakin Skywalker are on a mission. The moment has come, and Boba is determined to make Windu pay for his actions on Geonosis, and to take his place as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.

Where do we begin explaining what is contained in the exciting The Rise Of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Packs set? It's been a little while since we have received these massive boxed sets, but Hasbro comes through big in 2010 with kids in mind first (and collectors second) to create one impressive set of a lot of "new" and just a little "old" stuff to satiate even the most ravenous collector appetite. First and foremost, collectors will be thrilled over the newly scaled Slave I vehicle. Measuring over 18 inches long, this is the Slave I we have wanted for years. While purists may not be too keen on a Jango flavored version of this cool vehicle, we ask you to be patient because it is only logical that Hasbro is already thinking of a way to get the Slave I from The Empire Strikes Back into homes sooner than later. Beautifully painted, Hasbro's brilliant toy makers have found a way to include rooms and compartments in addition to the standard cockpit and have managed to fit it all in great proportion in this upscale vehicle. The whole front of the cockpit lifts up and can hold multiple figures. It's quite impressive. The left outer wall of the Slave I lifts up entirely to reveal an amazingly sculpted interior with lots of room to also display multiple figures at the same time. And because it is such a wide open space, you can place figures in there without them looking cramped or silly. The back ramp also pulls out (just like the smaller scaled vehicle) and there is additional storage space for accessories (or prisoners we assume). In the upper level (where the 360 degree cannons are) is a detention cell which is big enough to hold a figure and ultimately a frozen Han Solo in carbonite block when it is time for that. (And it also seems that there is another spot to house a frozen Han Solo underneath the front canopy which is just plain awesome.) The paint scheme of the vehicle closely mimics the style we saw in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones and it looks just fantastic in this The Clone Wars influenced Ultimate Battle Packs set. There are some other details like bomb-dropping action features and what-have-you. But the bottom line is you'll have to experience this vehicle firsthand to take everything in the way that is needed to appreciate it. The Slave I is just huge and it is a completely awesome vehicle to own in your collection. And we absolutely cannot wait until we get the Episode V version. (What a shame it didn't come out in the 30th anniversary year of that film.)

As if the Slave I wasn't enough, Hasbro has also included a newly repainted Jedi starfighter; Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter to be exact. It’s mostly white (or cream colored) with some gray and burgundy details throughout it. More of an obligatory vehicle of this set, it's a nice piece to have but it is terribly overshadowed by the Slave I's inclusion. When you open the box all you really care about is the Slave I and maybe some of the new figures. And you immediately toss the starfighter to the side. Well, at least we did. R8-B7 does fit into the droid cockpit alright, but you'll need to futz around with it to get it to look natural. And our experience didn't allow us to close the cockpit entirely which is a little bit disappointing. The problem is that the details on the edges of the legs stick out too far at the top and prevent the droid from fitting in the area as ideally as is needed for the best fit. And speaking of the included astromech, R8-B7 (which is a rework of 2008's R2-D2 (No. 8)) is one awesomely decorated droid. Looking like an inverse of R2-B1 from Episode I, R8-B7 makes sense for this set, but we are surprised that it got a slot for release since it is pulverized in a few short seconds in the Episode in which it appears. As the third astromech in the entire The Clone Wars line (right after R2-D2 and Goldie), we are just a little surprised that other droids haven't been made first. Moving along, the other two new figures included are Boba Fett himself and an awesomely cool animated version of Bossk. Boba Fett is surprisingly super-articulated. Since he is a young boy, he is short and Hasbro has really given him a fair amount of movement. He doesn't come with any accessories, but who cares?! He pilots the huge ship that is packaged with him. Bossk is so good he flusters us. The 2007 VTSC Bossk (Bounty Hunter) figure is awesome, but this one is awesome at a whole new level. He is tall and lean and he has a grimace on his mug that shows about half of his teeth. His eyes look a little different than what most of us are used to seeing on the character from Episode V, but it fits the animated version of him perfectly. The rest of him is pretty much identical to the realistic version up to an including his signature rifle and we are so thrilled that Filoni and company kept him faithful to his Episode V appearance. Mace Windu, a repack (and perhaps a stretch, but a slight repaint) of 2009's Mace Windu (CW06) and Anakin Skywalker, a repack of 2009's Anakin Skywalker (CW21) without the extra accessories except his lightsaber, are figures we have seen before and it makes sense that Hasbro would include some repacks here. But they match their Season 2 appearance nicely and fit well in the set. There also may be slight paint differences too.

The box advertises Boba Fett, Bossk and R8-B7 as exclusive figures. The word "exclusive" tends to get very overused and abused so we imagine that it will be only a matter of time that we will see all three added to the basic figure line at some point. But in all honesty, it would be nice if Hasbro did indeed keep them exclusive to this set. It would do a world of good to ensure sell through of this Toys R Us exclusive as well as make it worthwhile to collectors who really only focus on figures to also buy this and sell of the other contents if they were so inclined. Another cool feature of the box art is at the bottom of the box Hasbro has emblazoned a "life size" photo of the Slave I to give the consumer an idea just how large this beast is. We were impressed by this call out. It once again reminds us how large the new and improved Slave I is. We aren't impressed that much with The Clone Wars line look, but we have to admit that this little detail certainly makes a statement, especially for a vehicle of this size. We attempted to do that math on this set and we think that this set isn't a deal but not really overpriced either. But to shell out $109.99 is a lot of change at once. Rating everything at Toys R Us everyday prices, five figures cost $37.45. A mid-size vehicle runs about $24.99. That leaves a balance of $47.55 for the cost of the Slave I. With 2009's TCW Y-wing Bomber and the ARC-170 Fighter vehicles retailing for upwards of $79.99, the Slave I is a steal in this light. So depending upon your point of view, this set is at worst a slight bargain. But Toys R Us runs chronic deals and if you're a Toys R Us Rewards member, you are always getting discount coupons (sometimes 20% off) are some other way to save on their products. So options exist to get some money knocked off to help your pocketbook out. We don't mean to sound ludicrous, but besides the Slave I, Bossk was the reason we also grabbed this set. He is totally awesome in animated form and we really can't wait for more and more familiar bounty hunters to be introduced in The Clone Wars television series and ultimately made in the action figure line. The Rise Of Boba Fett is giving way to many more exciting possibilities in the Star Wars toy line. It's nice to get the Ultimate Battle Packs line back at retail and while the price has hiked up quite a bit since the 2007 $49.99 sets, we are certainly getting more aggressive sets that include much large vehicles and many all-new sculpts. If The Rise Of Boba Fett is a sign of things to come, we expect Star Wars collectors will be left chuffed. It is an extraordinarily exhilarating time to be a Star Wars collector, isn't it?