Hasbro, exclusive for Wal-Mart
Released September, 2003
Reviewed by Adam Pawlus
Photography by Michael Sullenger
Reviewed on September 17, 2003
MORE IMAGES

A bonus for the ages if ever there was one. Clone Troopers are a treat for all, especially when they're part of a two-pack that costs $4.77. The blue Clone Trooper Lieutenant comes with Clone Wars Anakin Skywalker, the yellow Clone Trooper Commander comes with Yoda, and the basic Clone comes with the ARC Trooper. These seem like good selections overall, as one would probably want multiple ARC Troopers and multiple white Clones.

Right now, this is the only known batch of Bonus Clone Packs. It is not known if upcoming Clone Wars waves will be packaged like this or if a bonus green Clone Sergeant will eventually be produced.

Sculpt/Articulation/Gimmicks/Paint

These are probably Hasbro's best exclusive idea in terms of ideas, mainly because they come in at a price point so insanely low that even if you already purchased the Clone Wars Anakin, Yoda, and ARC Trooper, you don't feel like a sap for buying another set or three at $4.77 per two-pack. Assuming, of course, you can find them.

The mold is the same one used for the red Clone that's shipped in spurts since April 2002, right down to the oddly colored gun. The tripod cannon and the bizarre mound of dirt/stand from the red Clone Captain were not included.

The Clone Trooper Lieutenant has been done before, technically, as one of the many flavors of Clone Trooper three-packs available. While that one was pretty much a solid figure, this one is nicely jointed at the shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, hips, waist, and neck. For the time being, this is the finest Clone mold available and as such the best candidates for the repaint, which shows that, given the opportunity, Hasbro can really, really wow us.

The blue paint on the three-pack Clone has been, reportedly, hit and miss. Mine were fine, others weren't. In this case, it's all over the place. I've seen some that are perfect, some that are iffy with splotches getting loose here and there, and others that make it seem like it's very difficult for them to paint a straight line. No two look exactly alike, which in the end isn't a bad thing as what we really all want here is a lot of variety.

The blue Clone varies from figure to figure, so if you're lucky enough to see a lot to choose from, be sure to take a moment and buy the best.

While there was a yellow Clone pilot earlier, the Clone Trooper Captain is the first "regular" yellow Clone Trooper. At least one more is coming as part of the three-packs, and that version will hold binoculars. Another version was spotted on the Command Gunship box (and has also appeared in official photography and Hasbro's media event) but that version may or may not be released.

Again, this figure has the same sculpt as the red Clone right down to the 2001 (yes, 2001) copyright date. The very bright yellow paint job seems to be mostly clean, but some edges are a little washed out on some figures. Again, it varies by figure.

In the wrong light, the rank dots are almost invisible. Such is the problem with bright colors. All in all, again, it's a great bonus figure. It's just yellow where the original release was red.

The white Clone Trooper will probably be the favorite, and there's a neat story surrounding it as well.

At Celebration II, Andy at Hasbro (now Andy at Hasbro's MicroMachines) told me that the original plans called for having the red Clone Captain being all white, like this figure. For whatever reason, the higher-ups somewhere decided it'd be a good idea to release a different looking Clone to distinguish it from the previously available (and arguably inferior) white Clone Trooper that was available as an Episode II Sneak Preview toy. Hasbro planned to eventually release this figure in this deco, but not in the manner in which it got released.

As there is a total absence of colored stripes, rank dots, or any other markings, it's clean. There doesn't seem to be any bleeding or other problems, and as this figure was packaged with the ARC Trooper, it'll be the one you're most likely to get quantities of. It's good, no complaints.

Accessories

Each figure includes a rifle. This is the same rifle that the red Clone Trooper figure was packaged with down to the bizarre metal flaking pattern in the weapon. The Sneak Preview clone does not sport the metal flaking, and it also had a small post on which to connect a "blast effect" simulating a projectile.

As the blast effects seem to be-- thankfully-- a thing of the past, this was the best choice of weapon. Although it would have been neat to see the figure packaged with the smaller weapon. If Hasbro does do a follow-up wave of bonus packs with Durge and the like, here's hoping they mix up the weapons a bit.

A Clone Trooper weapons pack or something similar would help add a ton of variety to a battleground of these figures. As it stands now, it's fine, but if there are more of these to come I'd like to see different weaponry or, maybe, variant arms.

Packaging

Hasbro has been experimenting yet again. If you've ever got two peanuts or crackers stuck together, that's exactly what this is like.

This is, without a doubt, the oddest packaging I've ever seen for a two-pack. In the past, Hasbro has typically either made the bubble wider to accomodate the bonus Pit Droid or Battle Droid (Asia/Europe), or clamshelled them together in a bigger plastic bubble (K-Mart), or stuck 2-3 figures in a big cardboard envelope (Sam's Club, CostCo.) This is a first.

The figures ship already in store displays that go on the sides of endcaps, where they usually have a small rack with Hot Wheels cars, Nak Naks, or other similarly cheap and dull toys. The cases include boxes with peg hooks, and the figures are already hanging on them nicely. It's about as idiot-proof as you can make shipping a toy these days.

These sets all share a single generic cardback which advertises all of the $19.99 and up vehicles, the first two waves of figures, two lightsabers, and three of the deluxe figure sets. Obviously, these are a promotional tool but, sadly, are not promoting classic product-- just the movie-style Clone Wars stuff.

The cardboard insert in the front of the individual, non-bonus figure is virtually identical to that of the individually carded figures, except for the assortment and part numbers. The information is the same. The bonus figure insert has no information of merit other than a part number and the assortment number.

And for those keeping track, each two-pack has one set of 10 Jedi Master Points each.

Availability

The weekend I found these, I hit nine Wal-Marts over 150 miles. Two stores had just gotten them in as I got there, one had two cases and the next had the remainders of one case-- the empty carton and two two-packs. Another store in an iffy area of town had an entire case that made it to the floor and seems to have been sitting there a little while.

Early sightings seem to indicate that Yoda and the Clone Captain are the most popular, but this is being based on a mere three sightings.

International distribution at this time is unknown.

An interesting aside: Hasbro is packaging its $10 TransFormer Armada toys (some of them anyway) with a bonus Minicon figure packaged in the bubble. Hasbro's also doing lots of "clamshell exclusives" for K-Mart in which a couple of toys (this year, TransFormers and GI Joe) are packaged together in one big honking plastic envelope of source. Could more such things be on the way? We can but hope! Hasbro's been lax about doing really awesome bonus packaging in the United States for quite some time, so this is one of the rare, really neat occasions when they make something so neat it almost feels a sin to crack it open.

Almost.

Fin

The library droids and Lama Su sets at five bucks seemed like a great deal, but these are significantly better. The packaging, the decision to pack a useful, desirable bonus with brand new figures, everything worked here. Especially the price.

As far as promotional bonuses go, this is Hasbro's finest hour on the new line. They have yet to do better and, short of packaging a bonus Stormtrooper with everybody, I'm hard pressed to come up with a potentially better promotion. For just pennies above $15, you can come home with six brand new figures. Assuming, of course, you find these.

Given the price, quality, and overall "zing" of these sets, it seems Hasbro was foolish in making them exclusives. Once again Wal-Mart crushes the competition with a spectacular deal you simply cannot get anywhere else, which is a little unfortunate given there probably isn't a collector alive that wouldn't prefer these over individual figures.

If you're looking to build a Clone army, this is for you. Given that it's probably worth having extra ARC Troopers for army purposes, extra Yodas to customize into some sort of sombrero-wearing stereotype, and extra Anakins to cut up to make sure he can fit in his upcoming Jedi starfighter, these are all good choices of figures of which to get extras.

Hasbro, if you're reading, we'd love to see more of these. Even at ten bucks a hit, these things are, well, a hit. I'd love to see a bonus-style green Clone, or a bonus Clone with removable helmet, or even a bonus dirty Clone down the road. Or, better still, bonus Scout Troopers and Stormtroopers. Or maybe those Pit Droids... I think a lot of us would dig those. Old molds are fine. Just crank 'em out.

This is the deal of the year. Period.

Our samples were obtained from an anonymous source in August 2003 and my review samples were found at a Scottsdale, Arizona Wal-Mart late at night on September 12, 2003.