Pirate Speeder Bike With Cad Bane - TCW [SOTDS] - Deluxe

Cad Bane avoids his pursuers on a pirate's speeder bike. The bounty hunter forms a temporary alliance with a pirate gang to further his own selfish interests. When his business with the gang is finished, he takes his leave of the thugs – and also takes one of their speeder bikes as part of his payment.

Who’s the most notorious bounty hunter in The Clone Wars? If you guessed Bossk, we would have to side with you, but no, it’s Cad Bane per Dave Filoni. This delinquent Duros goal is to complete any mission with the right payout as we have already seen in The Clone Wars series. In 2009, Hasbro made the very first 2009 TCW [S2] Cad Bane (CW22) action figure. While the figure was awesome, it did have very limited articulation. Hasbro has finally made up for that with the release of the Pirate Speeder Bike With Cad Bane. Part of the “figure with vehicle” line that collectors dub as Deluxe, the overpriced set is actually a joy to own and it’s the best version of Cad Bane to date. If you look at this line as a distant predecessor to the vintage Mini Rig line, you do get a nice variety of one-manned vehicles to pad your collection and a great action figure to pilot it. In fact, it is in this sub-line where we have received multiple figures that are far superior to their carded counterparts. Because additional articulation is required to place the figures on the vehicles, Hasbro upgrades these figures to the way we wished we would have received them in the basic figure line. But hey, it’s better to eventually get these as opposed to never.

So what does this new Cad Bane figure bring to the table? Actually, you’ll be please to know quite a bit. The bonus is that this figure is an all-new sculpt. He comes without his trench coat and we actually get to see a better view of his upper body. Cad Bane has a very lean but muscular build that was easily overlooked on the first figure. Hasbro did a great job on maintaining the integrity of the original basic figure into this new figure to help with the overall continuity. We think it succeeds in every way. He still comes with a removable cowboy hat and we actually love this feature on him. He also comes with a removable satchel which is reminiscent of an old mailbag which further solidifies his unique “western” look. His functioning holster for his pistols hangs close to his body and maintains a nice drape when he is placed on the speeder bike. And while he doesn’t have ball-jointed ankles, Hasbro added them in his knees. With a wide (but not dramatic stance), Cad Bane can straddle his bike with out issue and sit on the bike to look more authentic than most other action figures do on their respective bikes. In particular, Cad Bane’s hands couldn’t have been sculpted better to hold onto the handlebars. This may seem insignificant, but it’s important to us and the overall aesthetics of this set.

Even off of the Pirate Speeder Bike, Cad Bane looks amazing. He looks as if at any moment he is ready for a draw and we think it’s a style that fits him best. Cad Bane is cocky and arrogant, but he is also very mysterious and all of these traits have been artfully incorporated into this face, his stature and the overall presentation of the figure/vehicle combination. Easily the best set in the first wave of Deluxe figures, we would confidently claim that this version of Cad Bane is superior in so many ways. We do miss the trench coat, but this is a figure that sorely needs as much articulation as possible. The Pirate Speeder Bike also looks fantastic. Loaded with multiple colors and textures, it certainly is one sweet ride for this rogue bounty hunter. On the back lower portions of the bike are two platforms. Each has an emoticon emblazoned on the inner part of the rectangle which humorously displays the hard to read personality of Cad Bane. This set is an absolute win and by the looks of it online is popular with everyone as well. With a great paint job and awesome new speeder bike and all the necessary accessories, Pirate Speeder Bike With Cad Bane is definitely a must-have in The Clone Wars line. We would love to see a finely tuned version of this figure also make it into the basic line one day as well. Don’t pass on this awesome release if you collect The Clone Wars brand, this one is just too good to miss.