The 2013 collection of Clone Wars figures looks like a lot of repacks at quick glance, but after opening all the figures and comparing them, we can safely say only the Commander Cody, Darth Maul and Savage Opress figures are straight up repacks*. The rest of the assortment is unique from previous releases.
CAPTAIN REX
This time out, Hasbro did away with the weathering wash, so the good captain's armor is pretty clean. The went back to the drawing board with his deco as well, making it more screen accurate. The torso stripes are now jagged and the tallies are black instead of blue. The big selling point is the new bending knees. That's right, this new version has ball-hinged knees. What's more, his gatling gun has an articulated handle and barrel!
501st LEGION CLONE TROOPER
This figure features all the same points of articulation as the Clone Trooper released last year. This time out, it has a highly detailed blaster and a Jedi/Jango Fett style jetpack.
ANAKIN SKYWALKER
Beyond the new, more character accurate head sculpt, this version of the Jedi hero features a new paint job that is a better representation to the costume seen on the show. The black tabbards look much better than the grey tabbards from last year's release.
R2-D2
For the first time since 2008, the R2-D2 figure has been altered. This time out, Hasbro did away with the original body and used the build-a-droid style body we first saw with R7-D4 (CW64). To make this new version even better, they took down the dark blue tone of the diminutive hero's head for a more screen accurate silvery-blue.
OBI-WAN KENOBI
While based on last year's figure, this new Obi-Wan features new forearms with swivel wrists. In an effort to waste no time to have the figures shot, we didn't compare this figure to anything other than the 2012 figure, so the forearms may also be reused pieces, but we can't confirm that at this time. The figure is entirely repainted to be more screen accurate. The facial hair has a redder tone to it, and the commlink is a nice metallic blue.
BATTLE DROID
Even though the new deco is cleaner than most of the previously released Battle Droids, the sweetest thing about this figure is the added articulation where the elbow meets the forearm. This new swivel joint allows the Battle Droid to hold its gun with both hands!
POSSIBLE VARIATIONS!
Each figure has a pack in piece of paper with a game code. There are four fronts: Yoda, Darth Vader, Cad Bane and Han Solo. To date, every example we've had access to has been consistent, but as more hit shelves we may discover different character game codes sheets packed in. Thankfully, they are easy to spot directly behind the figure, so variations will not be hard to pick out if any exist.
In closing, for a final wave of figures, Hasbro did a great job with this assortment, and even though we don't think these figures are worth the $30 price tag they are currently averaging, they are indeed worth getting Here's hoping they see a much wider distribution in the coming months. Stay tuned for the Photo Archive entries. We'll have them published as soon as possible.
*While the three listed above are repacks with no artistic changes made, these versions all feature a production date stamp on their leg. This is the first time these three figures received such a stamp, but it certainly isn't the first time Hasbro has used a stamp like this.
Special thanks to Rebelscum reader Chris for giving us a heads up on the availability of these figures.