It's finally here. The first wave of the new 2012 Star Wars brand packaging is officially in stores now, and as you saw in this report...stores are gearing up for the big promotion of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D hitting theaters on February 10th.

Although the new line look features Darth Maul from the movie, Hasbro has carried over the design to the toy line based on The Clone Wars as well. The TCW basic figure line is planned to be very small this year, with only 19 figures planned for the year. So after having a number of pretty big product lines in recent years, the animated style figures are taking a bit of a backseat to all things Maul. (Unless you count the fact that Maul will be in the show!)

In fact, out of the 10 figures in the first wave, only 3 are new (in bold below).

CW01: Anakin Skywalker (Lightsaber Launcher)
CW02: Clone Trooper (Phase II Armor)
CW03: Savage Opress (Shirtless)
CW04: Cad Bane
CW05: Yoda
CW06: Plo Koon (Cold Weather Gear)
CW07: Clone Commander Cody (Jet Propulsion Pack)
CW08: Mace Windu
CW09: Chewbacca *
CW10: Aqua Droid


The Galactic Battle Game gets a bit of an update here, with new colors for the battle stands (the 4 different designs are still here) and the battle dice. The battle cards are different now, featuring a 2-sided card and the battle instructions are on a separate insert.

Since the majority of the figures in this wave are repacks, I'm only going to focus on the new figures in this report.

CW01: Anakin Skywalker (Lightsaber Launcher)
This one was kind of a surprise, since initially it looked like this was going to be a repack of 2011's figure. But as it turns out, this is an all-new figure! The inclusion of the "lightsaber launcher" is something solely for the kids, and is typical of the type of feature that's been made for superhero lines like Batman, Green Lantern, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc. Fun for kids to shoot the disc and knock down Battle Droids for sure. Collectors can just set it aside.



CW02: Clone Trooper (Phase II Armor)
This all-new Clone Trooper isn't the first time we've gotten the Episode III armor, but it's a nice addition to the line. It's also the first time that Hasbro has referred to the armor as "Phase II Armor". Expect this buck to eventually be used and reused in all the colors of the rainbow over time. The added rocket-firing backpack is actually pretty fun, but it's removable if you want to keep your clone army pure.



CW07: Clone Commander Cody (Jet Propulsion Pack)
Another upgrade to one of the most recognizable clones of all time, this new Cody figure comes with the Phase II Armor (new helmet, mostly) that was seen in Episode III. The oversized Jet Propulsion Pack is a repaint of the accessory that 2011's Captain Rex came with, although there is an empty holster in front with no blaster to keep there. Cody comes with a new DC-15 Blaster Rifle as well, which is a nice surprise.



* CW09: Chewbacca
This figure is the same exact sculpt as the 2011 release. However, the deco is considerably different this time around. So I think it's definitely worth getting.



Stay tuned for each figure to be added to the Photo Archive, with all-new details, comparisons, & more!