Assault On Geonosis - TCW [SOTDS] - Battle Packs

The Jedi and clone troopers battle Geonosian warriors for control of the droid factories. Obi-Wan Kenobi wields his lightsaber and elite ARF troopers take aim with blaster rifles, as winged Geonosian warriors attack with sonic blasters!

The Landing At Point Rain episode in the third season of The Clone Wars television show is arguably one of the most exciting sequences Star Wars fans have ever seen. Filled with a whole new army of brightly colored clone troopers and the standard heroes and villains we’ve come to love over the last few short years, the episode brought a new level of suspense (that bordered on terror) to fans of the television series. Hasbro paid careful attention to the reactions of fans and today no less than a dozen characters have been realized into action figure form from this very episode. And it appears a lot more are on the way. After Hasbro reworked the Battle Packs format to include three figures and a much more condensed package, they released the Assault On Geonosis set in the first wave. This Battle Packs set is awesome and a lot of fun. And there are enough “new” things included here to satisfy most collectors. A newly repainted ARF Trooper, newly repainted Obi-Wan Kenobi and a “newish” Geonosian Warrior all complement the set beautifully. And save for Obi-Wan Kenobi, this would have been a great battle Packs set to army build (Remember the days of great army building from troop-centered Battle Packs sets?) Goodness, gracious how times have changed indeed.

The ARF Trooper has been seen in the lines multiple times so far in the Landing At Point Rain color flashes. The mauve colored armor with burgundy (or maroon) camouflage patterns looks distinctively unique and it has quickly become a favorite clone style for many a collector. This Battle Packs set gives us our third unique ARF Trooper in these colors, the first two being Waxer (from the 2011 TCW [SOTDS] ARF Trooper Waxer And Battle Droid TARGET exclusive) and Boil (from 2010’s TCW [SOTDS] AT-RT With ARF Trooper Boil Deluxe set). What distinguishes this “generic” ARF Trooper from Waxer and Boil is a bold yellow line on the character’s right breast (of which there were many of in this episode). You can never have too many ARF Trooper action figures, right? Obi-Wan Kenobi is another updated figure in this set. A significant repaint of the figure that originally came in 2010’s TCW [SOTDS] BARC Speeder Bike With Obi-Wan Kenobi Deluxe set. This time Obi-Wan has a remarkably dirty appearance, almost to the point where you want to laugh and offer him a tissue to wipe his face. But the figure looks fantastic and very faithful to his appearance in the episode on which this set is based. The dirty wash or final application that Hasbro included for Obi-Wan Kenobi is nothing short of amazing and it’s so nice to get a “new” version with a unique paint job instead of another supplicate figure.

Surprisingly, our most favorite figure in this set is the Geonosian Warrior. Different from both a Geonosian Drone and an Undead Geonosian, Hasbro gives us the version with the wings (the “worker bee” type) to help round out our collection as well as help get more humanoid bugs based on the Landing At Point Rain episode into action figure form. It borrows much of the technology from 2010’s TCW [SOTDS] Undead Geonosian (CW34) and the Geonosian in 2011's TCW [SOTDS] Special Ops Clone Trooper And Geonosian Drone TARGET exclusive set but is instead colored in a healthy looking green color. The five piece wing configuration (four separate wings and the back plate to attach them) all play a role to bring this character to life. The paint job is gorgeous and the figure has an impressive amount of articulation. Due to the inherent nature of the shape of the body, this is a figure for a collector who has more patience than not. (We unfortunately don’t and became increasingly frustrated trying to pose this figure without him falling over.) Still, one you maintain a pose, the figure can stand unassisted and looks brilliant. Coming with a sonic blaster, it completes the action figure beautifully and stands out as one of Hasbro’s finest moments in The Clone Wars line. The Assault On Geonosis Battle Packs set is another fine example of the cleverness Hasbro is instituting into this line. There may be something old and something new in these sets, but regardless gives the sets character. And we’ll take generic army builders any day.