Cad Bane’s Escape - TCW [SOTDS] - Battle Packs

Anakin, Ahsoka and Cad Bane escape a Separatist frigate moments before it explodes. The Jedi boarded the ship to retrieve a Jedi holocron and memory crystal stolen by Bane, but their mission fails. As the ship crumbles, Bane hides his identity under a stolen clone trooper uniform so he can escape with the Jedi.

Collectors of The Clone Wars line will be thrilled to know that the temporarily canceled and long delayed Cad Bane In Clone Trooper Disguise figure is now available via the awesome Cad Bane’s Escape Battle Packs set. Many collectors started to panic when we noticed that Mr. Bane got booted out of the last wave of "season 2" line look of The Clone Wars collection. They certainly made us wait for a while before plans were solid that he would indeed be coming in a multipack. Collectors typically wipe their brows in relief when a thought-to-be canceled figure finally sees release. Because if those figures don't get released, we panic because we typically want things we don't have. But what may surprise you is that the Cad Bane figure sadly hasn’t aged all that well. It's definitely not a bad figure, but you may have hoped for a little bit more. Granted, the figure is basically a Duros head on a clone trooper sculpt, but Cad Bane has seen a significant upgrade (2011’s TCW [SOTDS] Cad Bane (CW42) figure) and as a result this figure already looks dated (in the head at least, they used the smaller head sculpt from the original figure). As a result, Cad Bane has a much too tiny head atop his shoulders. But the best part about Cad Bane is his all-new sculpted left forearm. While the wrist isn't articulated, you can use this hand to cradle the bottom of the barrel of the gun. It's the perfect design for this pose.

Despite the inordinately small head, Cad Bane (In Clone Trooper Disguise) is definitely nice to finally have released and purchased for our collections. He comes simply accessorized with a DC-15 blaster and a removable helmet with movable visor. And despite being cobbled together in a hodgepodge fashion from multiple clone trooper sculpts, he looks remarkably well proportioned and generally very good when posed next to other clone trooper action figures. One awesome piece of detail Hasbro gave this figure is the battle-damaged left forearm. We saw in The Clone Wars where he was injured and dripped his Duros blood. Hasbro noted this on the figure by including a removable armor piece on his left forearm where underneath you'll see his very, very skinny arm with his injury. So we think that works very well overall even though the arm looks laughably puny. But incorporating this into the figure is awesome attention to detail and it's something the kids are absolutely going to love too. Between the enhancements made to Ahsoka and Anakin Skywalker (more on them in a minute) and the first time availability of this version of Cad Bane, it will undoubtedly be a very popular Battle Packs set. In case you're not aware, this three pack is directly ripped from two episodes of The Clone Wars including Cargo Of Doom (Anakin and Ahsoka) and the Children Of The Force episode (a clever Hasbro-influenced version of Cad Bane). These were both incredibly exciting episodes.)

Cad Bane appears along with repainted versions of 2009’s TCW [S2] Ahoka Tano (CW23) (but called simply Ahsoka here) and 2009’s TCW [S2] Anakin Skywalker (CW21) figures. There are significant differences in their paint applications this time around, especially with Ahsoka. A lot of work went into updating these figures, despite their ultimately brief appearances in the space suits they don in the early episodes of season 2 of The Clone Wars. (We're talking only seconds of being in space while wearing helmets.) They've never looked better and it's the perfect way to get them out to retail again. It will satisfy those who missed them the first time and one-of-everything collectors will also likely want them with the new and improved paint jobs. And we have to be frank with you, these three particular figures look fantastic together. The Cad Bane's Escape Battle Packs set is a pleasant surprise and should carry some weight with collectors because of how long we "patiently" waited for the Cad Bane figure. We have to be honest too by saying how eager we are to see what Hasbro has in store for the Battle Packs line. They are totally handling this platform the right way now. After years of complaining, we think they finally get that "new' in the form of slight or major repaints, retooled or reworked figures are what are going to engage collectors and hold our interest. We couldn't be happier with the results so far. It can only get better, right?