Battle Packs seem poised to continue to offer something to both the casual fan and the hardcore collector. So what's on tap in 2010? Read on.

A number of things will be happening with Battle Packs over the course of 2011 in both the Legacy Collection and Clone Wars. But one of the central points that needs to be addressed is about the content of a Battle Pack. Some collectors have expressed frustration at the inclusion of (in some cases) a single new figure in a Battle Pack along with 3 or 4 reissue figures. Hasbro has answered on this point and will be offering Battle Packs along these lines: Either a Battle Pack will be ALL reissues, or ALL figures in a Battle Pack will be either new or retooled. Gone for now are the days of having to buy a Battle Pack just to get a single new figure.

As for the packaging, Battle Packs for both the Legacy Collection and Clone Wars will continue to ship in the red and white packaging until the line relaunch in August, 2010. At that time all of the Battle Pack packaging will shift to the black and blue SHADOW OF THE DARK SIDE look. And once the SOTDS line launches all Battle Packs will include the game elements for the Galactic Battle Card Game. You can read more about that in our Clone Wars Basic Figure article.

So what's on tap for Battle Packs? You can check out all of the images here. And here are the lineups:

CLONE WARS
WAVE 1 - Available March '10
JEDI SHOWDOWN - includes Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi
HOLOCRON HEIST - includes Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda & Cade Bane

WAVE 2 - Available August '10
DROIDS AND CLONES - includes 2 x 212th Clone Troopers, Super Battle Droid & Retail Droid
ANTI-HAILFIRE SQUAD - includes 4 Clone Troopers with heavy cannon


LEGACY COLLECTION
WAVE 1 - Available March '10
TATOOINE SHOWDOWN - includes Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul & Sith Speeder
BIRTH OF DARTH VADER - includes Darth Vader, 2-1B Medical Droid, Chopper Droid & operating table

WAVE 2 - Available August '10
HOTH PACK - includes Darth Vader, Snowtrooper with E-Web, Scout Trooper with speeder bike

Also mentioned but not on display, an exclusive Battle Pack which will include the long awaited running change of the TLC BLUE BD42 Hoth Rebel Trooper. JTA has been following this story for some time, and while Hasbro was not prepared to show the exclusive Battle Pack that is set to include this trooper at Toy Fair, it will be unveiled this coming August at Celebration 5 in Orlando, Florida.