'Star Wars' Collectibles & Toys Review: Hasbro 'Star Wars: The Legacy Collection Battle Packs: Clone Attack on Coruscant'

Photo Credit: Gofigureactionfigures.com. (C) 2008 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 

In 2008, three years after the premiere of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Hasbro released a series of multi-figure sets called Battle Packs. Similar in concept to the Cinema Scenes from Kenner/Hasbro’s The Power of the Force 2 and Star Wars: Episode I lines and the later Star Wars Saga collection’s Screen Scenes, the Battle Packs in the Star Wars Legacy line blended multiple figures and a photorealistic backdrop to recreate scenes from the Star Wars movie series,

The  major difference between the Star Wars Legacy sets and their precursors from older product lines is that they featured more than three action figures per set.  The average number of figures per set was four, although some, including Clone Attack on Coruscant, came with five action figures and their accessories.

Hasbro produced 16 “wide release” Battle Packs and two “exclusive” sets between 2008 and 2009.  The 16 non-exclusive sets are:

• Battle for Endor
• Birth of Darth Vader
• Clone Attack on Coruscant
• Duel on Mustafar
• Gelagrub Patrol
• Geonosis Assault
• Hoth Recon Patrol
• Hoth Speeder Bike Patrol
• Jedi Training on Dagobah
• Jedi Vs. Darth Sidious
• Kamino Conflict
• Resurgence of the Jedi
• Scramble on Yavin
• Shield Generator Assault
• Tatooine Desert Ambush
• Training on the Falcon

The two exclusive Battle Packs are:

• Disturbance at Lars Homestead (Toys ‘R’ Us)
• Ultimate Battle Pack: Battle at the Sarlacc Pit (Target)

Of the 18 Hasbro Star Wars Legacy Battle Packs, I only own one: Clone Attack on Coruscant.

Clone troopers spring into battle as a droid army swarms upon Coruscant. Members of the Republic's mighty army, the clone troopers exit their gunships and engage the enemy in close-quarter combat, showing no inclinations of fear, hesitation or remorse. Using their blaster rifles and pistols, the troopers take down droid after droid., following their commander's orders to protect their designated areas at all cost. – Product description blurb, Star Wars Legacy Battle Packs: Clone Attack on Coruscant

Clone Attack on Coruscant is a five-figure set comprised of a quarter of Grand Army of the Republic clone troopers and a Clone Commander, with a section of a Republic Attack Gunship incorporated into the diorama-like backdrop. Equipped with Phase II clone trooper armor and a mix of DC-15 rifles (long-barreled) and DC-15 blasters (short-barreled), this small unit is shown in flight over the city-planet of Coruscant, which is presently under attack by the droid armies of Separatist leader Count Dooku and his droid army commander, Gen. Grievous.

Clone Attack on Coruscant is set shortly before the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, so it fits more into the Star Wars“Legends” storyline than it does into the movies’ canon. Based on what we know of the backstory for Revenge of the Sith, the five clones in this set are responding to a sudden large-scale raid by Gen. Grievous’ army of battle droids on the Galactic Republic’s capital, Coruscant. Designed to look like an all-out invasion to end the Clone War, Grievous’ true intent is a snatch-and-grab mission to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and force the Senate to accept the secession of Dooku’s Confederacy of Independent Systems as a fait accompli.

My Take

Clone Attack on Coruscant was one of the last additions to my Star Wars collection before the release of the Sequel Trilogy. I received it as a birthday gift in 2008, when the Battle Packs were available at their retail price in brick-and-mortar stores such as the now-vanished Toys ‘R’ Us and KB Toys. It is – as one might imagine – somewhat larger than Hasbro’s earlier Cinema Scenes and Screen Scenes, so finding a proper display area for it in my old Miami house was problematic, to say the least.  

I didn’t buy any carded Clone Trooper action figures when I was in my “shopping for Star Wars figures” phase; money was tight – as it still is – and I didn’t have a lot of storage space in my Miami townhouse, so Clone Attack on Coruscant represents most of my Clone Trooper roster. (I have a Commander Cody figure in a plastic baggie in a packing box somewhere in this house, but that’s about it for Clone Troopers in my Star Wars collection.)

The five figures include one Clone Commander with distinctive blue-and-white Phase II armor, a DC-15 Republic-issue rifle, a shoulder harness, and a Grand Army of the Republic kama, a flexible leather armor accoutrement worn from the belt that looks like a kilt (but without a Scottish tartan).  The helmet, which has the same blue-white color scheme as the body armor, bears red markings on the right upper quadrant and resembles a cross between the classic stormtrooper helmet from the original Star Wars trilogy and a Japanese samurai’s headgear.

The four Clone Troopers have grey-on-white Phase II armor and carry either DC-15 rifles or the shorter DC-15 blasters. In Clone Attack on Coruscant, one trooper “sits” in the cockpit area of the Republic Assault Gunship section that forms part of the Battle Pack; the other Clone Troopers either kneel or stand around the Clone Commander, weapons at the ready.

I’ve never opened any of my Cinema Scenes/Screen Scenes, or this Battle Pack. I have no idea, then, if the Republic Assault Gunship section is made of plastic, pressed paperboard (as in the Sandcrawler and AT-AT backdrops that came with some of the Kenner Star Wars Action Playsets in the 1970s and ‘80s), or a combination of the two.

All of the figures in Clone Attack on Coruscant are repackaged or refurbished versions of earlier Hasbro releases. The Clone Troopers are Deluxe Clone Troopers, repainted and re-equipped with DC-15 rifles and blasters, while the Clone Commander is an adaptation of the Revenge of the Sith Collection’s Commander Bacara figure, which originally sported a red-and-white paint scheme. For this set, the Clone Commander was reworked so that he looks more like an Advanced Reconnaissance Commando (ARC) trooper.

As is the case with all clones wearing the Phase II armor, you can see that there was a progression from the original clone trooper armor in Attack of the Clones that bore a close resemblance to Mandalorian shock trooper armor to the starker, more utilitarian look of the Imperial stormtroopers. Phase II helmets blend the T-visor borrowed from Jango Fett’s Mandalorian helmet and the bottom faceplate/breath filter area of the stormtroopers’ headgear.   

 All in all, Clone Attack on Coruscant is a cool little diorama set. It might not be canon, but it was nicely designed and rendered.