Training On The Falcon - TLC - Battle Packs

The Millennium Falcon escapes from Tatooine and the Imperial stormtroopers who are searching for R2-D2 and C-3PO. On board the ship, a new Jedi receives his first lessons in the power of the Force. Luke Skywalker practices his lightsaber skills against a training remote, under the guidance of the wise Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Far away, Darth Vader feels a change in the Force as young Skywalker’s powerful Jedi abilities are awakened.

When Hasbro released the big Millennium Falcon in July of 2008, they really needed to get a crew besides the pilots to help fill it. After all, it had so many more play spaces and spots where kids and collectors could create multiple micro dioramas at once. So after Hasbro released Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca in the super deluxe Millennium Falcon, the rest of the crew on the way to Alderaan came in the form of a Battle Packs set that came out just in time right before Christmas 2008. This set wasn’t meant to thrill collectors. It was an army-builder of sorts that allowed kids and/or collectors to help fill the massive square-footage of the newly revised Millennium Falcon. Hasbro did a pretty good job of picking good versions of these core characters, but don’t expect to be wowed by them. What is probably more exciting than the figures themselves is all the accessories included with them. Not only do you get the accessories with Luke including his lightsaber and blast-shield helmet, you also get things like a tourniquet, gas masks, storage containers which all add great play value to the figures they come with in this set. So judging this set just by the figures alone wouldn’t be the right thing to do here. This Battle Packs set is clearly intended to be diorama fodder and an easy quick way to pad your Falcon. (Editor's Note: The aftermarket eBay prices on this Battle Packs set are astronomical. It's unbelievable how four old figures can fetch such a premium.)

Luke Skywalker is a repaint of 2006’s TSC Luke Skywalker (SAGA 036) figure. This time around, he doesn’t come with his floppy hat or poncho and his lipstick has been removed in favor of a more natural look (thank goodness) and all of the other things that made the original purchase of him totally worthwhile. Because the origin of this figure borrows many parts from 1999's POTF2 [FB/CT] Luke Skywalker (With T-16 Skyhopper Model) CommTech figure, it doesn’t meet the stringent standards of today’s figures obviously. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a repack of 2004’s VOTC Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi figure. While at the time is was a thrilling figure to own, it has aged without grace and looks dated now. His head, which looks like it has been stuck in a vice for much too long, is just not the greatest likeness and the limited articulation makes it hard to believe he was ever a candidate for the modern vintage line. C-3PO is a “repack” of the 2006 TSC C-3PO (With Ewok Throne) (SAGA 042) figure. We loosely say repack at this point because the color of the gold varies from one figure to the next and well as the color of the knee joints among other things. But at least you know the base figure. R2-D2 is a slight repaint of 2006’s TSC R2-D2 (SAGA 010) figure. The dirt pattern on his body is a little different between the two figures. You will also be interested in knowing that he doesn’t come with all of the accessories that the 2006 figure did (even though one of the original accessories gets packed twice in the set). (The Saga Collection really raised the bar for figure/accessory ratios, didn't it?

So, we actually like this set as a whole. Kids absolutely adored this Battle Packs set and it went right into the body of their Millennium Falcon vehicles. This shipped independently as the sole new Battle Packs set in the third wave released during Fall 2008. It didn’t last long on shelves and this proves that this was meant to support the big, new and revised Millennium Falcon. If you’re a hardcore collector looking for the best versions of your favorite Star Wars characters, this really isn’t the set to find them. But if you are a one-of-everything collector, you’re going to have to pick this one up too because there are tweaked (unique) versions of previously released action figures inside. We have always stated that Hasbro needs to continue releasing Battle Packs sets like this in order to contain tooling costs and this set was “right on time”! We really got a good balance of Battle Packs in The Legacy Collection and The Clone Wars assortment. Have we gotten Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2 and C-3PO a hundred times before this? Yes we have. Have they been compiled into a set to enhance one of the best large-sized vehicles ever made in the history of the Star Wars toy line until now? Maybe, but this set was ideal for what it was and Hasbro did a fine job on still giving us a collection of decent action figures while making the whole package intriguing. This may likely be a set on which you will pass and that is fine. But it is still an awesome group of action figures to an awesome sub-line of figures that are called Battle Packs. And it's a poignant release to accompany such as the newly released massive Millennium Falcon.