Geonosis Assault - LC - Battle Packs

Clone troopers arrive on Geonosis in Republic gunships. They swoop down to support the Jedi in the Geonosis arena who are under attack by Geonosian warriors and battle droids. Troopers in armored spheres operate the bubble-turret cannons that extend from the troop cabins, spraying the enemy with laser fire, in this opening salvo of the Clone Wars.

At the end of 2002, Hasbro treated us to our first Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones Clone Pilot action figure and he came with an insanely small turret. It wasn’t nearly to scale. After all, it was meant to be an accessory with the action figure, complete with its projectile. There was no way the action figure would ever fit inside of it, so we had to pretend for over half of a decade. Seven years later Hasbro reinvented both the turret AND the action figure(s) and put together a wonderful little package (albeit overpriced) and released it in The Legacy Collection. They also re-released it in the red Legacy Collection as well. Geonosis Assault is an excellent idea for the Battle Packs product program. Originally it was to include two Bubble-Turret Cannon Spheres, but with everything being victims of tooling costs, one was nixed, and airspace was put in its place. As a result, it aggravated many collectors, and they thought Hasbro was pinching a few too many pennies in the Star Wars toy line. It isn’t consistent either. For Battle Packs that include larger items like speeder bikes, for example, we always seemed to get two of them. And since a Speeder Bike utilizes quite a bit more plastic than this Bubble-Turret (maybe the same amount), we are not so sure why Hasbro couldn't have just bitten the bullet here and given us two in this set. After all, a Republic Gunship has two turrets, so should the Battle Packs set. It’s not hard to do the math, but this means you would have to spend upwards of $50 to complete your Republic Gunship. This is ridiculous when in 2005 during the Revenge Of The Sith line the Republic Gunship could be purchased for under $30. While the ultimate value for your dollar lacks here, the included Clone Pilot action figures, and Bubble-Turret are nonetheless nice additions to the toy line as well as being movie accurate. You can almost forgive the overcharge. (Not really.)

The Clone Pilot figures are retools of 2003's CW Clone Trooper ('03 #50) figure. The best thing that makes these clone trooper pilots unique is the removable helmets. Interestingly, these two pilots are unique to all other clone trooper pilots we have received thus far. The torso appears different, and the legs have been slightly repositioned. While not straight, the angle/stance that the legs are in works very well for them and we are impressed that is doesn't inhibit their balance at all. Another benefit to the revisit of the figures is that Hasbro has significantly tightened up their joints. If you own the 2008 TLC Saga Legends Clone Trooper Officers, you know just how annoying the loose joints are. We digress. The Clone Pilots are ready for action, and they have just the right attitude and easily convince you they are ready to fight in the most dreaded of battles, beginning with the Battle of Geonosis. The paint jobs on the action figures are once again pristinely too clean, but all is forgiven here. We would have preferred a figure smothered in brownish red Geonosian soil or strewn with carbon-scoring, but still, the figures look pretty good as is. Interestingly, the Clone Pilots are outfitted with gray DC-15 blaster pistols. It is a shade of color that we don't see too often, so these will likely be harder to replace if you, unfortunately, misplace or lose them. Your extra weapons from the Saga Legends figures won't interact seamlessly with these figures. If you recall, the packaging of this set in The Legacy Collection was mislabeled under The Clone Wars banner. But this time Hasbro got it right, and it has been branded under the Legacy Collection. Hasbro situated the figures differently in this “new” version, but all of the contents are the same. You still only get one Bubble-Turret Cannon Sphere here as well.

It’s a simple construct, but the Bubble-Turret Cannon Sphere is very impressive. The plastic is pretty much crystal clear (we hope that time doesn't cloud or yellow it) and once the Clone Pilot is placed inside, it looks a whole lot more awesome. Please allow yourself extra time to futz around with getting the figure in size because the canopy opening is slim and big fingers don’t interact well with it. But the figure does get housed nicely inside. The Bubble-Turret Cannon Sphere is large, and it looks fantastic on the Republic Gunship vehicle. We have heard whispers saying that it is too large, but we disagree (at least from a toy perspective). We give Hasbro credit for producing a well-designed set. You will thoroughly enjoy it too, and we are confident of that. This set is averaging between $23.99 and $24.99 at retail and this, of course, depends upon what store you purchase it. So if we do the math, two figures at $7.99 each are $16, leaving a balance of $9 for the cost of the Bubble-Turret Cannon Sphere. Certainly high for a mid-sized accessory, it isn't the worst overcharge we have seen (ahem, the Toys R Us exclusive Disturbance At Lars Homestead set). Of course, two of them for the $9 extra would have been so much better! The story about this set from Hasbro has changed daily, but we have been told that it will be released in short supply in the red phase of the Legacy Collection. Hasbro is returning to the streamlined packaging of the earliest Battle Packs, so these turrets will not fit inside the thinner boxes. The Geonosis Assault Battle Packs sets in the red phase of the Legacy Collection have shipped in significantly higher numbers than the blue packaged version in The Legacy Collection.) Like we stated earlier, we know you will be happy with this set. Clones are always cool, and clone accessories are even cooler. And this set completes your awesome and various Republic Gunship vehicles.