I’ll Never Be Anybody’s Blogger Now
Top 10 Battle Packs
(That I’d like to buy…)
#1. — #2. Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band — Break up Max Rebo and his crew into two large Battle Packs with a kitbashed Ak-Rev (Weequay Drummer) to finish off this amazing band. We’d ultimately like a few hovering microphone drones, Max Rebo‘s big tuba-like speaker piece, and 
the big drum for Ak-Rev and Umpass Stay to beat. Jabba’s Dancers could be retrofitted with knees and divvied up, too. These would work perfectly with the concave boxes that are being developed for the Galactic Heroes Cinema Scenes. (Hint!)
#3. Naboo Invasion! — This would be the perfect venue for that unreleased Trophy Asst. Obi-Wan Kenobi (see right) figure. Toss in Qui-Gon Jinn, Jar Jar Binks (Naboo Swamp), a STAP vehicle with an updated Battle Droid, and a few critters from the 1999 Battle Bags. Backdrop it in front of the snub nose of an oncoming (cardboard) Trade Federation MTT. Voila! A Battle Pack worthy of the Hasbro name.
#4. Victory On Endor! — A flurry of furry with Ewoks absolutely beating the snot out of the Empire. You’ve got your pick of half-a-dozen Ewok bods to refresh (now realize we’d expect a few more than the usual Battle Pack). Chuck in a couple-few Imperials (Stormtroopers, Biker Scouts, Death Star Troopers…)
#5. Arena Showdown — This would be a great set that could get the unreleased Sonic Cannon out of the mothballs. It could also resurrect the fantastically sculpted Droideka (at left) from the unreleased Jar Jar vs. Droideka 2-Pack. Hasbro could easily have its pick of core characters or Jedi to flesh out the set, and there are accessories galore from the Attack of the Clones era to pack in, too. C’mon guys!
#6. Destruction of Alderaan — Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Grand Moff Tarkin… and a lenticular screen featuring the destruction of Alderaan. (Bonus points if Grand Moff Tarkin is in his bedroom slippers.)
#7. A New Hope — While not a "battle" pack, per se, a scene featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala Skywalker (before her demise) receiving her newborn twins from the medic droids would foreshadow the fall of the Empire. Isn’t the birth of a child (or twins in this case) a battle for life? Yes, let’s just go with that.
#8. Join Us… — Did anyone think I would let a chance slip by to lobby for the unproduced CD-ROM Darth Vader? Let’s face it, we’ve seen some lame figures in Battle Packs, and this Vader (see left) is no worse than some of the others that have been used. Princess Leia from the Princess Leia Collection with a light upgrade, a Bespin Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Boba Fett, and we’re in business, folks. Speak up, people! It’s Vader totally, uh, shockblocking Han Solo‘s beloved blaster (and we all know what that’s a metaphor for).
#9. Execute Order 66 — Surely everyone would like to see a Battle Pack with Commander Cody (fix his helmet!) and some accurately colored Utapau Clone Troopers receiving the word, and attempting to blast 
Obi-Wan Kenobi to bits, right? Chuck in that lizardy Boga thing if you must for play value.
#10. Liberation of Naboo — This is my big chance to push for the unreleased and corrected OOM-9 Battle Droid Commander from the nixed Trophy Asst. circa 1999 (see right). Toss in Queen Amidala (Ascension Gun), a couple of her retinue, that unreleased Droideka x2 (see above) and a throne with hidden guns. (Make Nute Gunray a cardboard piece, or there will be pegs a warmin’ all over the land.)
We collecting types know that Hasbro isn’t going to sculpt new material from the ground up for Battle Packs. They’re bargain gift-giving sets with some "wow" punch to them. We’re just hoping to get something new-ish with them, and it’s not like Hasbro is using these molds/sculpts anyway, so it’s not the worst idea to make a little dosh out of them.
Thanks to my friend Bill Cox from Yakface.com for images of the unreleased OOM-9 and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They rock, and he’s very fortunate to own them.
August 16th, 2006 at 9:30 am
So what would you readers like to see in a Battle Pack?
August 16th, 2006 at 9:52 am
Well, the Order 66 would be a good idea if instead of the all Utapau Club, it was all the Clone Commanders (Cody, Gree & a Kashyyyk Trooper, Neyo and the Pilot Commander) with little Emporer hologram`s telling them to kill the Jedi. Make Gree & Kashyyyk Trooper with removable heads for their fateful moment with Yoda and I think we have a big winner. Other than that……shockblocker??!!…..Adam, you shouldn`t have!
August 16th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I think the key to a successful battlepack is a new, desireable figure (or at least a repainted clone we want and don’t have). I think the rumored Ilum battlepack with snowbunny padme is the direction hasbro is going. And thats whats best for the bottom line. I hate to say it, but I wouldnt buy anything on that list. I will, however, purchase the windu battle pack so that I can have the precious airborne clone a few months early and turn the rest of the troopers into custom fodder. As such, I dont know if we have to limit ourselves so stuff they made 8 years ago and never released. I think they realize that a battlepack based around, say, a new jedi luke would sell a heck of a lot better than a bunch of rehashed jabba thugs. And that way, they could sell us the Luke and make us buy 12 bucks worth of old junk that we dont really need along with him. Brilliant!
August 16th, 2006 at 10:31 am
eg. throw a great new figure into the battlepack that we just have to buy, and we’ll be forced to buy the whole battlepack.
August 16th, 2006 at 10:36 am
If Hasbro wants me to buy one, there must be something I don’t already have. I’m an opener so I don’t care how pretty the pictures are. Give me an interesting repaint or accessory I don’t already have and I buy if for full price. I paid full price for battle packs with Obi-Wan in fake clone armor, an orange R2, a Senate pod car, and repainted clone troppers. The rest, I skipped.
Darth Ray
August 16th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Hey Adam, you read my mind (or my blog posting from a few blogs back)! I think we really need an Ewok Battle Pack. An it is a must that we get at least one beaten and battered scout or stormtrooper with it. What fun would the pack be if you couldn’t create a good @$$ whooping scene. I suppose you could use any other scout or stormtrooper from your collection (assuming we all have one or the other), but it just wouldn’t be the same. Please Hasbro, PLEASE! Send us a nice Ewok butt kicking Battle Pack!
August 16th, 2006 at 10:48 am
I would totally buy a "Destruction of Alderaan" set. I don’t need another Vader, nor do I need another Leia, but for a couple more Stormtroopers and a new-ish Tarkin, I’d gladly part with $20. Ditto a "Victory on Endor" set. Give me three Ewoks (I don’t care if they are repaints) and a couple of Scout Troopers and I am all over it. Might even buy two sets. For my money, you can’t have too many troop builders.
I have no use for "prequel" sets but I’d buy a new and improved "Purchase of the Droids" set (Luke, Owen, a couple of jawas, a couple of droids), a "Death Star Briefing" set (lots of pilots!), maybe a couple of Hoth sets (one with rebels, one with Imperials), a Dagobah set (Luke, Yoda, ghost Obi-Wan, dirty R2), some sort of Cloud City set (gotta get Lando and Lobot back on the market) . . .
It’d be nice if the backdrops in the boxes were usable as cut-outs (a la the old Cinema Scenes) so you could arrange the battle pack figures in front of a cool "environment." (yes, I am an opener).
August 16th, 2006 at 11:18 am
I think the battle packs listed are great. A great way to get hard to find figs or unreleased, but beutifully sculpted figs. I would have to add jar jar from that battle droid two pack. He looked cool. Also the band one is great, but add a new sculpt to sny snootles. That version is posed in a sucky stance. New paint for droopy and max too.
One big thing is decent ideas for repaints. The nikto jedi was a great repaint. They have a lot of heads to work with to make new figs.
The hammerhead can be made into the podrace viewer, guy from the sports bar in episode 2 and the jedi from the clone wars. Kit bash these guys.
Ask Aak could make a great mowhanic (SP?) and a new ree yees if that worked.
Bib could be made to the episode 1 version. Do a mouth closed pose and rerelease that on the new ep 6 bib, and you could have an alternate head on on the bib body. Note, ep 1 bib, would need a new outfit, but can parts be kitbashed.
Point being, heads are hard to do right and hasbro is doing a brilliant job. Use those new heads when they work for other characters. Body parts may also be recycled.
At least one new fig, and one good kitbash should be in each pack.
August 16th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Some of these sound really cool, others I could care less for. I dont think we need anymore Episode I material. It was the weakest film of the trilogy and I refuse to pay money for, or own a piece that depicts the visage of Jar Jar Binks. The arena battle would be cool. They should do that one and throw in Trebor Coleman. He was one of the most impossible figures to find out of that run. I payed $18 for that figure alone on the secondary market, and to think that Hasbro could have had that money if they had produced that figure in the right assortments. The best would be an Ewok battle pack. Repaint some old Ewoks to make them new ones and give them some captured imperial weapons and throw in a stormtrooper for them to whomp on and hell yeah, I would totally go for that. I would like to see a different version of Order 66. I would like to see them make a battlepack out of that with Lord Vader with his hood up for the march to the temple and some super articulated Clone Troopers painted up in the blue tac ops trooper fashion. As far as Utapua is concerned, I wish they would just release The Obi Wan and Boga set by itself again. That one sold out so quickly in my area, I never had a chance at it and I dont want to go to the secondary market for one yet. None of that other stuff really sounds good to me. I would like to see a Boarding Party on the Tantive IV battle pack. It would be cool and it would be simple enough to make. Just throw together some of those super articulated Rebel Fleet Troopers and some Saga Stormtroopers and viola, you’ve got your self a highly desirable battle pack. At least that would be my ideal dream battle pack, but then again, I can never get enough Stormtroopers.
August 16th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Yeah, a new Purchase of the Droids would be cool, especially if it finally gave us the remaining unproduced droids from the Sandcrawler and the sale (including a silver Death Star Droid and that protocal like thing with the pointy face). Death Star briefing, great idea, I simply don’t agree (and the facts won’t sway me so don’t even try to bring em out!) that Rebels don’t sell as well as Imperials. The Rebel Fleet Trooper sells well enough from what I see on ebay. I have pretty much no use for anything with Gungans in it so I’d skip all the Naboo stuff and I’m lukewarm on the Battle Droids (though I like Droidekas). I’d get a Geonsian Arena Confrontation if it had at least one or two new Jedi and maybe a reissue of Pablo Jill. My prequel wish list though would be an Utapaun or Mustafarian Separatist congregation with the unproduced Seps included along with the inevitable Poggle, Nute and the others from the Geonosian War room sets. These could easily be spread across two sets and could avoid another Grievous repack if it was set on Mustafar instead…though I guess we’d get an evil Anakin repack then…maybe with better eyes and hood??? My other prequel wish would be something a bit more obscure and perhaps unrealistic for the market, but I love the meeting between Kenobi and the Utapau congregation and it could include the other tall thin guys backing Tion Medon as well as a couple short slave-type Utapauns, and a good ol’ Kenobi. If they couldn’t do all that I’d mostly want it for the friends of Tion and they could skip a new Utapau slave mold and just give us some "observing Grievous body guards". How about it?
August 16th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
I think most of those sets would be fantastic. I’ve also considered Hasbro doing like an entire Wave of Battle Packs w/ the Order 66 theme. Consisting of Utapau: Kenobi, Cody w/ several Troopers; Jedi Temple#2: Vader w/ hood, Cin Drallig, w/ Troopers and/or Jedi Jedi Temple#3: Kenobi, Yoda and Troopers or Jedi Temple #4: Bail Organa, Zett, and Clones; Mygeeto: Ki-Adi Mundi, Baccara, and Marines; Felucia: Aayla Secura, Bly, and Star Corps and; Kashyyyk: Yoda, Gree, Trooper, Chewbacca, and Tarrful. There could also be re-issues of Plo Koon’s Starfighter w/ Plo Koon w/ a cloth robe. Maybe even a 3pack set including Stass Allie w/ corrected Speeder Bike and corrected troopers w/ BARCs. I’d also love to see a re-issue of the Jedi Counicl maybe as a whole but w/ slightly retooled figures and the corrected 12 seats w/ episode III characters including Anakin and several holographic figures. I do like wat Robert Yates says about a new Purchase of the Droids and a Death of the Separatists pack. A Tantive IV Attack would be sweet also w/ Vader, Stormtroopers, Rebel Troopers and maybe a Leia or Cpt. Antilies. A whole assortment of Arena battle packs would be cool also w/ like a Mace vs. Jango theme throw in some battle droids. Anakin and Padme vs. Geonosians and Battle Droids, maybe even a Secret Hangar w/ Dooku, a new Obi, Anakin, Yoda, and throw in Padme or some SA clones. I think any/all of these would be fantastic. They dont seem too much like peg warmers or i guess shelf warmers to be exact. Any chances…probally not huh? Oh well, I can dream.
August 16th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Great ideas, Adam! I, too, am an opener, so I would need something new (that I wanted) to make me buy any of these. The one that jumps out at me first is Victory On Endor! I’ve wanted more ewoks for so long, I don’t even know if I need Imperials in the set. Maybe just has an additional DS Imperial troops set with stormtroopers, ds troopers and ds gunners. Ok, just checked your list again and the real one that jumped out at me first was the first one.. Max Rebo Band . I don’t know if I need 2 sets, unless the repaints were awesome, but definitely the drums/gong, Ak-Rev and Umpass Stay. IF, Hasbro added knee articulation to the dancers, I’d buy 2 sets and they could repaint the other figs. I’d even settle for Hasbro re-releasing the original 2 microphones from the vintage Max Rebo Band set. I’d also love a Battle of Hoth set with at least 3 different head sulpts for the Snowspeeder pilots. I believe there is a rumor of VTSC Snowtroopers coming out in the next Vintage set released… doubt they’d include figures of the quality I’d expect for me to buy more Snowtroopers, but that’s what I’d want with them. I like the Jedi Council idea too, but they’d need to add articulated knees and softgoods for me to buy them again. The purchase of the droids pack would be awesome. There are several really small droids that don’t seem like they would be too much to develop, even as new figs. We’ve needed a new Owen forever, this would be the ideal venue, but there are enough droids needed from this set. I do agree at least one new figure (or if no totally new, then more new kitbashed figures) and an awesome accessory.
August 16th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
I really want a Star Wars Battlefront battlepack (the first game, not BF2) where you’d have:
- white clonetrooper with regular rifle
- jettrooper (sergeant) with jetpack and whatever that wierd gun was
- blue ArcTrooper (SA please, not that lousy Clone Wars one) with bazooka; Hasbro can do the same kitbash as with Fordo, BUT give him the rangefinder this time damnit
- red clonetrooper with sniper rifle, with removable helmet (they can use the Evo sculpt here)
- clone pilot with repair tools (don’t use the Evo one, use the #41 sculpt, doesn’t have to be removable helmet even)
An easy set of changes to existing figures for an awesome battlepack… and I’d buy 3 of them!
August 16th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Those are all great but what about the cantina. This would be a way that Hasbro could easily do what they said they wanted to; make everybody from the cantina. They could kitbash about three easily; Banis Keeg(the other Duros-Ellor’s head on a repainted Luke body), Lirin C’arn(Bith-repainted), "Cantina Dude"(Bossk body with gloves/boots and BoShek’s helmet). For new ones they can make one Saurin sculpt and repaint it to gives us both. How about Dice Ibegon(Lamprey). That can be made of the "bend-em" rubbery material. Great way to get to get the distillery portion of the bar.
August 16th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Top of my list of course would be Order 66 themed packs.I’d like to see some new or re-tooled figures in the mixes however.Examples would be: Kashyyk–a BARC Trooper,Mygeeto–the Sepratist Octodroid,Cato Neimodia–Commander Jag,Saleucami–Commander Neyo,etc.
I’d also like to see a couple Jedi Temple Assault sets–throw in a new Commander Appo,Cin Drallig,Jocasta Nu, and a corrected Hooded Anakin/Vader.
Some Clone Wars and Battle of Geonosis packs–re-release Pablo Jill,Coleman Trebor, repaints of the CW 3 pack Jedi,plus new figures like Bultar Swan or some of the other background Jedi.One I’d like to see would be the alien Jedi from the Clone Wars animated series(2nd season).
A Battle of Endor series of battlepacks with various Ewoks,Rebels, and Imperials.
A Mandalorian Warriors battlepack.Jodo Cast figure?
Battlefront….This would be a great idea to have to coincide with the release of the third installment of the game.Whenever that happens.Each would come with one Hero or Villain with two soldiers from each side.Re-release the Dark Trooper,repainted and/or re-tooled Jetpack Clone,etc.
How about LEGO Battlepacks?–I don’t collect the line but if they would release the figures separately I would start buying.Ever since I played LEGO SW I’ve had this bug to buy the figures but don’t care for the vehicles and overpriced sets.All I’d like is the figures.
These are just some things off the top of my head.Hasbro will do whatever they want with battlepacks.I’m going to buy what I want and pass on what I don’t want.I could care less if they put out straight repacks in a new package–I’m not buying unless I want to.My main gripe is just content and distribution.Hasbro needs to decide to release two battlepacks in a case and make sure they are equally good ones.A poor example of this was releasing the (hot) Jedi Temple Assault set with a stinker of a repack.No more exclusives for KMart please!!The TRU packs pretty much sucked till the Hunt for Grevious.Target hit gold with last year’s all Trooper pack and will do so again when the Mace Squad gets released.The Senate pack was alright for me.I had no problem buying the packs last year to get Asajj Ventress or Clone Armor Kenobi.If I get atleast one decent figure out of five for $20 I’m okay with that.Otherwise if its 5 repacks for $20 then the little kids and completists are buying and not me.
August 16th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Cinema scenes are one of main reasons I got into collecting Star Wars in the first place. I was sad to see them go. Battlepacks are great but I think it makes it even more impressive if you can incorporate them at least loosely into a cinematic scene. I’m glad to see that in recent battlepacks (as compared to the Endor Ambush, Naboo Final Conflict style packaging of the OTC) Hasbro has begun to move back in this direction. Here’s hoping they make some if not all of the battlepacks you suggested!
August 16th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
I just want to make a comment about last years battle packs, in particular the one I believe was called Jedi vs. Sith. It was the one with Obi Wan in clone armor. I saw that one at the store and I thought it sucked. It reminded me of when they made that Batman/Bruce Wayne figure that was Bruce Wayne and you put the Batman armor on over him. It looked bulky, gaudy, and down right stupid and that is how I felt about that Obi Wan figure. I would like to see them redo that figure correctly because that was one of the coolest things ever when Obi Wan suited up in clone armor, but they need to do it right. They could kit bash it with the body of a #41 trooper, Obi’s head (hopefully with a removable helmet), a soft goods cape to go over it, and a different right hand with a blue lightsaber to go in it and there you go. It would be an awsome figure to go nutty over. If that figure had been done right I would have bought one of those battlepacks last year, but like I said I didnt like the look of it. I’ve seen pictures of it people have posted from their personal collections and I know I was right on that one. Besides that the Asajj Ventress figure was the only other real goody in that pack and I was already happy with the Clone Wars version I got of her, so it was still easy to pass on. The rest of the battle packs I saw last year sucked as far as new, or unique figures were concerned. As far as I can tell they would only be a great value to kids, or new collectors who want to have a bunch of core characters all at once.
August 16th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Hmmm. It seems that a cantina pack or two would be easy enough. Do one totally new figure, one or two kit bashes, a couple of update repaints and a section of the bar (or a table or something) This would satisfy all those people who would only buy a set if it had at least one new figure in it and it seems to be in line with Hasbro’s plan of doing new cantina aliens anyway. A win – win situation for everyone. In addition to the kit-bash ideas already listed in an above comment, the two spacers sitting in the corner could use repainted Bo-Shek helmets and other kit bashed parts and the silver drink canister behind the bar can be a re-tooled IG-88 head considering the original bar prop for the film was re-used to make IG-88′s head for " The Empire Strikes Back" (see http://www.partsofsw.com). This would be a nice touch, I think, for the very detail oriented fans. I do like your Max Rebo band idea as well, by the way.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
I think if Hasbro pays attention to these kinds of chats, and they claim they do, I think it might be safe to sum it up for them:Regardless of the theme of a cinema scene or battlepack:1. The repacked figures need to be greatly or intelligently retouched/repaintedand2. Would really help if they were also great for army buildingand3. Would be much more tempting to buy if you give us at least one (two would be nicer!), completely new figures/sculpts or at least kitbashed so originally that we are almost fooled.And4. Doesn’t hurt if, like the Skirmish in the Senate battle pack, if all else fails, give us a nice original prop piece. Does that sound about right? Am I missing anything?
August 18th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Top of my list for a battlepack is the Animated Clone Wars S2 – Grievous vs Jedi on Hypori… just dont make it a Wally exclusive! I love to animared Mundi, Shaak-Ti, Ayala,
August 18th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Anything with troop builders is a good idea because it is a good way to get more of what you want. I would go nutty over a battle droid battle pack with ONLY battle droids in it. The same goes with the clone battle packs, although a little less so just because there are a lot of clones that are readily available. Maybe you could combine the two and build theme sets that have only clones vs. droids with the appropriate figures for each battle.
I guess I understand that Hasbro thinks it has to have core characters in a battle pack for it to sell…but I would buy multiples of the soldier based packs readily. The multipies of the core characters are what make me hesitate to buy them more than once, even if I want the soldiers inside. The ability to buy a bunch of soldiers at one time is a huge boon!
Examples: Geonosis battle pack: 2 red battle droids, 2 whithe clones, and a super battle droid or a clone of the different color variety.
Kashyyyk battle pack: 2 tan battle droids, 2 camo clones, maybe Gree or another new clone or droid.
Utapau: 2 battle droids, 2 Utapau clones, and maybe a droideka or that really cool airborne trooper.
Etc…..totally on board with the whole Clone Wars themed packs, that would be great.
August 18th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
Oh, and totally agree with the Ewok battlepacks, so right ! And for the love of God NO more frigging Mos Eisley cantina stuff, how many times can we go to that well? (Obviously not enough…) And totally agree with the idea of having a new figure in each one, or at least a really good and noticable improvement in the older figure.
Sorry to double post….