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On the 8/21/20 edition of “Fan First Friday”, the Hasbro Brand Team announced the upcoming Tantive IV set, as well as the mainline carded Hondo and Vader figures.  Then they discussed an upcoming series of 5-packs called “Celebrate the Saga”, which would each contain five 5POA figures.  At the instant the accompanying images were shown, it was as if millions of butts suddenly farted out in terror and were suddenly silenced.  It is estimated that 16% of TVC fans died that day, another 12% experienced seizures that left them unable walk, and an additional 44% would suffer incurable night terrors.  Most of the remaining collectors became Jets fans. 

The sets were touted as a celebration of collecting by revisiting the 5POA format which started it all, especially in light of the conspicuous absence of a dedicated line (for The Rise of Skywalker) in 2019.  But lost in the soul-crushing reveal was the qualifier that these sets would be “available for a limited time and in limited quantities before they get placed in the vault.”  Sounds good to me!  Too bad most of the people physically and emotionally destroyed by the announcement were not able to process this information in real time.  Our hearts go out to all of them.  Except for the ones that became Jets fans.  Screw them.

I won’t spend too much time on the figures in these sets, but will make note of any interesting aspects that may make them worthy of finding their way into a TVC collection.

R7-A7

The star of the set, this is the first time that Ahsoka Tano’s astromech companion has been released with realistic styling.  It was previously made available as a cartoony cartoon figure in The Clone Wars line.  Ahsoka has steadily gained respect and popularity among adult fans, as her story arc throughout The Clone Wars and Rebels was among the most emotional and well done in the entire saga.  Sure, she started out as annoying teen.  But if you were lucky enough to stick with her, she likely became one of your favorite characters.  Ahsoka is strongly rumored to be making an appearance in The Mandalorian this season, so all the more reason to celebrate by picking up this figure.

R7-A7 was loyal to Ahsoka throughout The Clone Wars, and made an appearance in the final episode of the series, where he sacrificed himself to save Ahsoka and Rex from Jesse and the rest of the 501st that had been “Order 66ed.”  I read somewhere that the middle foot was colored like the other feet during the early part of the show, but was then repainted/replaced to be the color as depicted in this figure later on.  I guess it would have been neat if Hasbro included an alternately painted third leg, but it’s not very important.

R7-A7 uses the updated “hole-less” Build-a-Droid astromech mold which was first released as R2-D2 in the TLJ line.  That figure was a wonderful surprise, as it gave collectors the beloved BAD mold, minus the annoying holes on the lower part of the cylindrical body, meant for swapping BAD parts and making hideous Frankenstein droids straight out of your….shivers...imagination.

The character and the mold make this little astromech a pretty desirable figure for most collectors. 

Yoda

Yoda is a repack of the figure that was released in the TLJ basic line. This is a figure that vexes me, because it is one of the few that I actually like from the 5POA line.  It’s well sculpted, and in my opinion, is the best prequel-era Yoda when displayed for non-action standing poses.  It looks very nice, but I couldn’t bring myself to give it more than a 5/10 because of the lack of meaningful articulation.  Nevertheless, I would recommend it for displays in TVC, because in some instances, it works better than any currently existing SA Yoda. 

Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi

These three figures are straight repacks from the 2013 ROTS3D (Creepy Vader) line, which was right about the time when Hasbro seemed to be going all in on 5POA figures, after first experimenting with them in the 2011 TPM3D line, alongside TVC figures.  You should avoid at all costs letting any of your friends know that you have them.

Overall

While the 3 human Jedi can go immediately in the trash, R7-A7 and, to an extent, Yoda, are worth consideration.  Are they worth $30 for the set?  Probably not, unless you’re desperate for Ahsoka’s droid.  But you’re likely to pay more than that for a loose version of this figure, as well as for the carded Clone Wars release.