Rewatching the Clone Wars

[Inconspicuous]

Excellent work on all of these, def! I've been reading them the whole time, and only now have I bothered to drop a line. These are a really great resource, and hopefully someday we'll all look back on this blog and smile at how many of your wanted ships/characters have been made.

And thank you for the honor of including one of my review pictures in the blog.

[Commander_Rob]

Great finish to the reviewing of this season, def and the poll is a neat idea.

My choices (Naboo Scout Carrier and Cad Bane) are (so far) unique. I however think the Scout Carrier would make a nice set and Cad Bane just is that cool.

Concerning the episodes:

Tambor has been captured before once already, so either he has a lot of bad luck or is indeed not very competent.

Cham Syndulla is also very interesting, I especially like the online comic that goes with that episode, named "The Ballad of Cham Syndulla" and written in appropriate style.

Fun Fact: A piece of that treasure being loaded into the ships is a (slightly redecorated) Ark Of The Covenant from Indiana Jones.

The IG-86 droids are said to be more intelligent than standard battle droids, wether they have personalities is unsure but I guess like most other droids in SW they develop personalities when their memory isn`t wiped for a long time.

The "Luxury Droids" are basically mechanical housekeepers, chauffeurs and capable of a variety of other jobs, according to Wookieepedia, one of their most important selling points is in fact the looks.

Hoping the next season arrives soon. I am looking forward to your reviews of it as much as to the episodes themselves.

Edited October 6, 2009 by Commander_Rob

[Penitent Tangent]

I really enjoyed the introduction of Cad Bane, and it was great to see him reappear in season 2. It would have been so easy for them to just create a Boba Fett clone, but instead they made a very unique new villian. I especially like that he's actually intelligent, rather than just being tough or having lots of fancy gadgets.. he plans his attacks very carefully and is even smart enough to know he isn't going to be able to beat a Jedi head on, so seeing how he gets around those problems is really interesting.

Season 2 as a whole seemed to be quite a big improvement. The story felt more thought out, the animation was leagues above what we've seen so far and the writters really seem to know what they've messed up with on season 1. A lot of people disliked Ahsoka because of her attitude, she's the "cool, smart kid" that always seems to be right, when the "grown ups" are wrong. So it was nice to see her really messing up and actually get punished for what she did.

Back on the topic of Lego, I'd love to see a set with Bane, Aura Sing and Bossk.. But more imporantly we need an Aayla Secura!

And the Munificent-class Star Frigate has probably been my favourite ship so far. I'd also quite like to see the Aclamator as well, although it's quite similar to the Venator, a bigger, flatter version of it would be very cool.

[def]

I actually haven't voted yet. I have a hard time deciding, and I'm surprised at what people are leaning toward.

The Munificent-class Star Frigate would be a great set for sure. but I think the trident is absolutely beautiful, as is the crab droid and Nubian Yacht. It is difficult to choose just one.

As for characters, Aayla Secura was not one I wanted, except for the Twi'lek head. I'd quite like Nahdor Vebb or Aurra Sing, and am surprised Cad Bane isn't more popular. But, I'm sure all would be more popular if there were three choices allowed.

Here is a repost of the candidates, in case you don't want to reload all those images in the last page.

Vehicles:

Republic Frigate

Munificent-class Star Frigate

Pod Hunter

Rail Jet

Skytop Station

H-Type Nubian Yacht

Crab Droid

[

Delta 7B

Pirate Swoops

XT Beetle Transport

The Trident

Naboo Scout Carrier

Proton Cannon

AT-RT

Characters/ Species/ Droids:

Medic Droid

Kaminoan

Commando Droids

Gha Nachkt

R3-S6

Luminara Uaduli

Nahdor Vebb

EV-A4-D

Senator Kharrus

Aayla Secura

Commander Bly

Lurmen

Tactical Droid

Rocket Droid

Luk Durd

Pantoran

Dr. Nuvo Vindi

Peppi Bow

Bomb Squad Trooper

Quarren

Mar Tuuk

Wat Tambor

ARF Trooper

Cad Bane

Aurra Sing

Luxury Droid

[Nightshroud99]

Thanks for the great blog! I agreed with most of your ratings and I hope you'll continue to do this for season 2.

[blksuperman2]

Awesome review. There really are a lot of sets & minifigs that are still yet to be released. I'm really looking forward to Aayla & a medic droid being released.

[CommanderFox]

Great Review-Blog def well done!

The poll is soooo HARD! I can't choose, there is like 10 choices and I want to vote for them all

Great job!

CommanderFox

[Smidy101]

Great pictures, now if only I could have multiple votes. The ARF Trooper on a AT-RT would look really good and cold be made into a cheapish army building set. I wonder how many new characters will be in season 2?

Edited October 7, 2009 by Smidy101

[KimT]

We already have an AT-RT

[Forresto]

We already have an AT-RT

I think Def means a new AT-RT that's actually scale to a minifigure, which the first one definently was'nt

[KimT]

Not that many sets are scaled with the minifigs.

Most are just the regular system scale.

Imagine how large the AT-At should've been if minifig scaled.

Or the regular AT-ST...

[pedro]

Great coverage of the Clone Wars series, vehicles and characters def, thanks for putting so much time and effort into it. I still haven't seen episodes 21 and 22 (doh!) so am glad to be able to read your synopsis of it. Hopefully you'll keep up the good work for season 2!

Now I feel like a clone myself after - like many others - voting for the Munificent frigate and Aayla Secura in your poll! Are you listening LEGO?

[def]

We already have an AT-RT

Well, I've seen this set, but didn't know it was supposed to be an AT-RT. I thought it was just a different size variation. You are correct that the scales are usually off, but usually ships are too small, not too big like this is.

Would you like me to erase it from the poll? Let's just pretend it's an AT-RT with a ARF trooper.

Thanks to all who've voted The feedback on the thread while making it wasn't overwhelming, but seeing a few dozen votes come in in one day makes it feel worthwhile. Now all I need to do is retake hi-def screen grabs for the first dozen episodes

[KimT]

Would you like me to erase it from the poll? Let's just pretend it's an AT-RT with a ARF trooper.

No, please don't.

I voted for a new AT-RT myself

Great work on this topic and the poll.

[Star_Wars_Rules]

The only gripe I had with this series was it was released in the incorrect order. We take the clone wars movie for instance. It introduces Ahsoka which is all good and fine. However there are episodes with her in them from almost the start. Its not until the episode: "the hidden enemy" (which is on the 3rd dvd last episode) which takes place on the planet christophosis or however its spelt. The clone wars movie continues after the traitor is captured and it all falls into place. They should have had that as the first episode to bridge the gap into the movie as in the episode I think there is mention of the republic getting Jabba to sign a treaty for the trade routes and then of course his son is captured sparking the story for the movie. Also the trident is sitting there and Ventress is given a mission from count Dooku to capture Jabba's son. The malevolence series should have been put in place a bit later. Perhaps after the Ryloth series of episodes. This way it would have given the presence of the ship a bit more volume and life as we would all be lead to believe that the ship had been active for some time.

My personal favourite was the last episode of the series with that new merc Cad Bane, he looked so much like lonestar it wasn't funny. He also spoke in a similar way to a cult anti hero, Dirty Harry.

Edited October 11, 2009 by Star_Wars_Rules

[Mission Commander]

This series had it's ups and downs, I really liked all of the space battles IMO. Greart reviews.

[def]

Welcome back, Clonies!

In advance of reviewing season 2 of the Clone Wars, I want to take the results of last years poll, and see how they turned out in terms of this years sets (as of summer 2010). Characters/vehicles made into Lego are in bold. (Thanks to Oky-Wan Kenobi for helping compile the list of releases)

What's your most wanted LEGO vehicle?

Republic Frigate [ 7 ] [9.86%]

Munificent-class Star Frigate [ 20 ] [28.17%]

Pod Hunter [ 3 ] [4.23%]

Rail Jet [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Skytop Station [ 3 ] [4.23%]

H-Type Nubian Yacht [ 6 ] [8.45%]

Crab Droid [ 4 ] [5.63%]

Delta 7-B [ 2 ] [2.82%]

Pirate Swoops [ 2 ] [2.82%]

XT Beetle Transport [ 1 ] [1.41%]

The Trident [ 2 ] [2.82%]

Naboo Scout Carrier [ 2 ] [2.82%]

Proton Cannon [ 6 ] [8.45%]

AT-RT [ 13 ] [18.31%]

Not on that list were Plo Koon's starfighter, which I didn't add for whatever reason, though I added Kit Fisto's. Sloppy of me As for Cad Bane's speeder, it didn't seem to be a character-specific vehicle, and I didn't think to add it. The other Clone Wars sets this year feature vehicles that will be turning up in season 2 (like the Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker).

What's your most wanted LEGO character/species/droid?

Medic Droid [ 2 ] [2.82%]

Kaminoan [ 4 ] [5.63%]

Commando Droid [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Gha Nachkt [ 0 ] [0.00%]

R3-S6 [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Luminara Uaduli [ 2 ] [2.82%]

Nahdor Vebb [ 1 ] [1.41%]

EV-A4-D [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Senator Kharrus [ 1 ] [1.41%]

Aayla Secura [ 18 ] [25.35%]

Commander Bly [ 6 ] [8.45%]

Lurmen [ 1 ] [1.41%]

Tactial Droid [ 5 ] [7.04%]

Rocket Droid [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Luk Durd [ 1 ] [1.41%]

Pantoran [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Dr. Nuvo Vindi [ 2 ] [2.82%]

Peppi Bow [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Bomb Squad Trooper [ 4 ] [5.63%]

Quarren [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Mar Tuuk [ 1 ] [1.41%]

Wat Tambor [ 6 ] [8.45%]

ARF Trooper [ 3 ] [4.23%]

Cad Bane [ 8 ] [11.27%]

Aurra Sing [ 5 ] [7.04%]

Luxury Droid [ 1 ] [1.41%]

Here is Plo Koon's speeder in action. In episode three is also had a hyper-drive ring a la Obi-Wan's.

The ship has very un-LEGO like radiating stripes, and so the LEGO version needs to use stickers. That said, the coloring and interpretation is lovely

Cad Bane's Speeder is barely featured in its episode, 22, and is the exact same as a speeder driving next to it, so it's not really Cad Bane's, is it?

That said, I don't know how well it's even been captured since the whole shape of it is not very well featured on the box. I like the minifigs here though.

Lastly, an AT-RT has been thrown into the Clone Turbo Tank set. A lovely little addition to an always welcome vehicle.

From Jansued's review:

Before this blog was finished, the Freeco had been announced, and was a series favorite for most who saw it, I think.

The ship is really a challenge to LEGO-fy, since it is so slender, but they did a nice job. From Kim T's review:

We fared much better with minifigs.

A long time missing character is the Medic Droid, that first appeared in Empire, but has also appeared a few times in Clone Wars, and has now turned up in this year's Palpatine's shuttle.

From OneSnowTrooper's review:

I'm thrilled with their decision to create some of the characters from one of my favorite episodes, Lair of Grievous. That single episode featured a swiftly dispatched Jedi, Nahdor Webb, and Grievous' personal assistant, EV-A4-D.

From Mordatre's review

Definitely the most wanted, though not on my favorite list, was the French accented, ab-flashing Jedi, Aayla Secura.

The second most wanted, Cad Bane also has turned up, and they turn up together in the Clone Turbo Tank set. That alone makes that set worth picking up, in my book.

Again, from Jansued's review:

Other than that, we have the figures not voted on, in the already announced Freeco set. Namely, a parka wearing Annakin.

From Kim T's review:

And Thi-Sen, a member of the Talz.

Again, from Kim T's review:

There are a few other characters that I didn't mention; R7-F5, Shahan Alama, Helios-3D, and Captain Jayfon. Besides being very minor characters, they are all very similar to minifigs that have already been released, but feel free to make an argument as to why they're important!

From here, I'm going to start in on season two, again, keeping in mind the LEGO possibilities and reviewing when our favorite LEGO ships appear. This year, I'll be tag-teaming episodes with Oky Wan Kenobi, so, besides giving me some room to breath, we'll get another opinion going from someone deeply affectionate to both Star Wars and Lego! Expect us to start soon.

[The Legonater]

Interesting results. I'm really hoping we get a commando and tactical droid next wave- maybe in a big Ryloth set. Unfortuantly, I still haven't seen a lot of the clone wars season 2 .

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 'Cad Bane's' speeder is the same one that transports the groups in TPM.

[def]

Episode 1: Holocron Heist

Jedi trapped on Felucia! Clones are surrounded by droid forces. Their only hope is to escape on Republic gunships waiting to land on the embattled surface. Jedi cruisers have managed to blow a hole in the droid defenses, and have sent gunships to the rescue.

I think when they started season 2, they had a lot to prove. Though the first season was generally successful, there was some criticisms, about the animation and the characters, and I think they took these criticisms to heart, and the series improved overall in the second season. It managed a lot more consistency.

The first episode really has a Star Wars feel, though it's covers a lot of new ground. The story starts on Felucia, the day-glow plant planet, with a Clone War in progress, but quickly shifts to the Jedi Temple on Corusant, where Asoka is assigned guard duty. Bounty hunter Cad Bane schemes to break into the temple to steal a holicron crystal. Bane enlists a team to help him, a neurotic robot and a shape shifter. I won't tell how it plays out, but the story takes some twists and turns, and all are satisfying, and relatively unpredictable.

The animation is very smooth, the lighting is great, very noirish in places, there's a great use of shadows. The temple is not particularly busy, but there are Jedi in the background to make it seem more 'real'. It's great to see Kit Fisto and Luminara Unduli walking through the background. Also, the decision to follow Bane and the bad guys as much as the good guys makes it hard to choose who to root for, and adds a complexity to the story telling.

This was a really good episode and a great way to kick off the season. The episode was written by Paul Dini, who wrote one of the best episodes from season 1, Cloak of Darkness, and who famously defined the style of DC's animated properties, so you can see that the producers really wanted to blow us away. Great. Rating: 10/10 (There won't be many, if any other 10/10 ratings)

Piles of stuff appeared and premiered in this episode, one of the happy treats is the Turbo Tank. Season one mostly just featured AT-TEs, and it's great to see more of the variety of the fleet.

Turbo Tank

I think TLG did a really nice job putting this together. I wonder if the undercarriage is a little flimsy, but I'll have to wait until I get my own to make the call.

From Jansued's review

There were a lot of other ships too, notably Republic Gunships, V-19s, and Plo Koon in his fighter.

The new characters were quite welcome. The most impressive is the alien shape shifter, one of Zam Wessel's species, I assume. Smart and smooth, a slick creation.

Cato Parasitti

The odds and ends Jedi were a nice addition too. Logically, there are all levels of Jedi, even though we don't usually see them. One we only see as a corpse, Ord Enisence.

Ord Enisence

We also have an old lady Jedi. We're not sure of her skills, since 'she' fights only as a clawdite impersonator.

Jocasta Nu

The last character is Banes nebbish assistant. He was a funny, if minor, character.

Todo 360

Lego ships appearing: V-19, Republic Gunship, Turbo Tank, Plo Koon's Starfighter, AT-TE, Vulture Droid

Lego wishlist: Cato Parasitti, Ord Enisnece, Jocasta Nu, Todo 360

[Brickdoctor]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 'Cad Bane's' speeder is the same one that transports the groups in TPM.

It's the same basic design, but the TPM speeder is fatter and lime green, and the pilot sits in the middle seat of the front row.

[Forresto]

Nice review as usual. It's interesting you gave the first episode a 10/10 as it was a very good opening episode it kind've needs the next two episodes to complete it.

It's Zam Wessel BTW.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Forresto

[XimenaPaulina]

I've been waiting for this second season review for some quite time now, thanks def for doing this once again for all of us.

I actually liked this episode, one of the few I liked in this lackluster second season. I remember watyching this the first time and I'm like ''Whoa, the opening sequence is great and action-packed''.

Can't wait to see the rest of your review.

[BrickClick]

It's Zam Wessel BTW.

Didn't Zam Wessel die in Episode II?

And great review can't wait to see more!

Edited July 6, 2010 by BrickClick

[def]

Nice review as usual. It's interesting you gave the first episode a 10/10 as it was a very good opening episode it kind've needs the next two episodes to complete it.

It's Zam Wessel BTW.

Zam has been fixed

Though it's the first of three, I think it stands well on its own, and due to weird pacing in the second and a lackluster third part, its best to judge it on its own. In fact, as the theme of this thread is "rewatching", I'll say that this episode is better on second and third viewing. Bane isn't perfect, and he has to think on the fly, but he is very effective, and makes him a credible villain, the opposite of what happened with Grievous in season 1.

I recommend this episode for old school purists who don't like the Clone Wars.

Episode 2 is up soon, with Oky Wan Kenobi doing the honors. We'll be tag-teaming the season to keep me from burn-out

[Oky]

And here it is!

Episode 2: Cargo of Doom

Stolen secrets! Villainous mercenary Cad Bane was hired by Darth Sidious to steal a holocron from the vaults of the Jedi Temple. After fleeing the scene of the crime, Bane hunted down and captured Master Bolla Ropal, who has a crystal which holds the secrets of the Jedi Order. As a Separatist fleet arrives to help the bounty hunter, Anakin Skywalker races in to cut off their escape and stop Bane from delivering the stolen holocron.

This episode is the second in the three-part holocron story-arc, however, it doesn't connect directly to the previous episode. There is a whole chunk of the story missing in between where Cad Bane takes his separatist fleet to Devaron and kidnaps Master Bolla Ropal along with the memory crystal that holds the names and locations of all the force-sensitive children in the galaxy. That part of the story was told in the webcomic (quite well, if I may add), but to those who didn't read the comic, this jump in the story might have been confusing.

Anyhow, at the beginning of the episode, we find ourselves in the middle of a space battle between the Resolute and Cad Bane's Munificent-class star frigate. While trying to make Ropal open the holocron, Bane tortures the brave jedi master to death. Afterwards, he just walks off to think of a new plan. This shows once more how cold-blooded Bane is.

Meanwhile, Anakin comes up with the plan to use AT-TEs to board Bane's frigate. While AT-TEs in space isn't a new concept, it is still pretty neat seeing them being used as boarding vessels like that. Soon Anakin and Ahsoka confront Bane inside the frigate. Bane turns of the gravity generators, and a zero-grav battle ensues. This was also a pretty original and cool idea. Then, Bane lures Ahsoka into a trap, and Anakin has to go save her. Bane threatens to kill her unless Anakin opens the holocron for him, and since Anakin is too attached to Ahsoka to let anything happen to her, he does it. Bane gets away, and the jedi are forced to evacuate. They use a separatist shuttle to get off the frigate. Bane seems to be dead, but a sharp-minded viewer should be able to figure out what really happened to him.

Overall, this was a good episode. Lots of action, a good villain, and some fresh ideas. However, there weren't many new things in it, and the beginning was a bit confusing. 9/10

The only thing that was really new was Anakin and Ahsoka's spacesuits. Since TLG seems to be throwing these two in every second set or so, it would be nice to see them in new outfits like these, not to mention that a bubble helmet like this would be pretty useful.

As for new characters, there is only the doomed Jedi Master Bolla Ropal. He should be pretty easy to produce using the Onaconda Farr head, but since he dies a few minutes into the episode, it's unlikely we'll see him as a fig, but it would still be neat to get him.

Lego ships appearing: AT-TE, Twilight, RGS, V-19, Venator, Sep. Shuttle

Lego wishlist: Spacesuit Anakin & Ahsoka, Bolla Ropal

Edited July 6, 2010 by Oky Wan Kenobi