MAKE THE MAINS:  Revenge Of The sith

Since it's been a while, I need to rehash the #MakeTheMains rules. The tiering has to do with market viability and not the worthiness of the characters. Next, while I want every single PT Jedi brought up to modern 2023 "Jedi Level Articulation" standards, many of them are not "main" characters. You will find Shaak Ti below. I know her death scene was cut form ROTS. I'm putting her here since she was an omission from the Attack of the Clones entry. I'm not going to list clones that are nothing more than repaints since I can't even fathom that we would need to ask for them. Now that Hasbro has invested in a new Phase II Clone buck, I'm sure they will come out over time. Only clones that require some tooling are listed below.

Lastly, I have a bad habit of not being clear when I make overly simplified statements. You may have heard me say recently that I'm "cloned out". What I meant by that is that I'm tired of gratuitous clone repaints from obscure sources. I absolutely do want on-screen clones from Revenge of the Sith that are in need of update.

This is going to be a long one (which is why I quit doing these), so buckle up.

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Last 100% new tooling: 2008
Exists in Vintage Collection: Yes
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: This is as safe of a bet as it comes. It should be Tier AAA. This is the most compelling Anakin. The PT generation is aging well into their disposable income adult collecting years. The 2010 release is prohibitively expensive on the secondary market, and it's not even that good by today's standards. In fact that's being kind. It's outright bad by today's standards. It's a kitbashed, monkey-armed abomination. The figure can lace up its boots without bending over. And in the ultimate justification, it's not even an Anakin Skywalker figure. It's a Sith-eyed Darth Vader figure. An all newly tooled Anakin with normal eyes would sell by the wheelbarrow.


Last 100% new tooling: 2007
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: The Galactic Marine has everything going for it. It's a PT Republic army builder that breaks the monotony of white armored Clone Troopers. It hasn't been released in a dog's age. To the best of my recollection, the last movie accurate release was 2008's Battle on Mygeeto battle pack, and that was just a repack of 2007's TAC 30-02 Galactic Marine, which was never very good. As with all army builders on this list, a new Galactic Marine would instantly lend itself to an army builder set. Plus there is a legitimate publishing repaint of the Marine for Commander Keller's special forces.


Last 100% new tooling: 2007
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: You can pretty much cut and paste much of what was said about the Galactic Marine here (and for one more Tier A entry below): Army builder; Offers some uniqueness to the clone armor; Previous figure from 2007 (30-07 Airborne Trooper) is severely lacking by today's standards. Most of the tooling from the upcoming Phase II Clone can be leveraged here. As near as I can tell, the only base tooling changes would need to be for the left shoulder and helmet. The rest can be done with a kama and an Indiana Jones-esque messenger bag.


Last 100% new tooling: 2005
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: Even though Ki-Adi-Mundi is one of my personal most wanted PT figures, I hesitated to put him in Tier A. Despite being in every movie of the PT, I'm not sure how much pull the character has with casual fans. Ultimately there are two factors that lead me to include the Jedi Master in Tier A. First is the fact that Ki-Adi-Mundi was part of the Episode I line. As mentioned above, the kids who grew up with that line are well into their nostalgia collecting careers. Second is his more prominent role in The Clone Wars, which is also entering its nostalgia window. The last time this source was touched was 18 years ago with the ROTS 29 - Ki-Adi-Mundi, which features the dreaded swivel elbows. That injustice shall not stand!


Last 100% new tooling: 2008
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: Say it with me one more time: Army builder; Unique clone design; Old mold doesn't hold up. The most recent new sculpt, 2008's TAC 08-04 Kashyyyk Trooper is okay-ish. It passes for super articulation, but you can't really get the figure into any cool poses. Modern articulation would do wonders for the Kashyyyk Trooper, but that's not the biggest sin with the previous release. It's entirely too short. It looks comical next to other clones.

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Last 100% new tooling: 2005
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: It's treason then. Papa Palpatine has two big action scenes in Revenge of the Sith. One is his man-fur clad battle with Master Yoda. We have a super articulated figure for that scene courtesy of 2010's VC12 - Darth Sidious. The other scene is of course the "office duel" where Chancellor Palpatine takes on a quartet of Jedi. 2005's ROTS line is the only figure release, and it's hardly an action figure. It's a salt shaker with articulated arms. This is a Tier B figure, however, because it's ultimately an old man in a red dress. That does lend itself to tooling reuse since Hasbro can take liberties with the lower body sculpting under robes (see VC224 - Bib Fortuna), BUT it would require the new barbell hips and rocker ankles. The original figure came with an alternate "scarred" head. If you packed an "office duel" Palpatine with that alternate head and the black cloak he dons shortly thereafter, it would make a versatile and desirable figure.


Last 100% new tooling: 2005
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: All of the Clone Commanders get relegated to Tier B because they lose the "army builder" bonus of standard clones. Bacara is needed to complete the Order 66 scene on Mygeeto with the aforementioned Ki-Adi-Mundi and Galactic Marine. Bacara got a swivel elbow release in the 2005 ROTS line. It was upgraded to ball jointed elbows in 2008's TAC Battle on Mygeeto battle pack (man, those were awesome). That updated figure was finally repacked as a single carded release in the 2009 Legacy Collection line. As is common with "super articulated" figures from the aughts, it doesn't translate to a highly poseable figure. This should be a fairly low tooling effort to exexute, so what's the hold up? HUH?


Last 100% new tooling: 2009
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: Yes
Notes: This will be the first of three somewhat controversial Tier B entries. Many readers likely think that 2009's TLC BD45 - Plo Koon figure is good enough. But it falls far short of what Jedi figures need to do. As with Ki-Adi-Mundi, Plo doesn't exactly get a ton of screen time in the PT, but he features prominently in The Clone Wars, and also like Ki, he taps into nostalgia for the kids who collected the ROTS line (and POTJ line...and "Saga" line).


Last 100% new tooling: 2005
Exists in Vintage Collection: No
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: Here's a bit of a two-fer. Aside from paint scheme, and the flip up macrobinoculars, all that distinguished Bly from some of his rank and file is whether or not the pauldron is worn on the left or right side. Bly had a single carded release at the tail end of the ROTS line, which has been repacked a couple of times. That sculpt was decent at the time, but yadda, yadda, yadda, it's not up to today's standards. The best base 327th Star Corps clone came with 2009's Gelagrub Patrol Battle Pack, but in addition to being difficult to acquire, it could also use a refesh if Hasbro goes down the Commander Bly road. Bly is an ARC Commander, so the current ARC Trooper mold could be used, but I'd prefer a soft goods kama and barbell hips.


Last 100% new tooling: 2008
Exists in Vintage Collection: Yes
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: Here's the next controversial entry. Once 2008's BD25 - General Grievous was repacked with a cape for 2010's VC17 - General Grievous, many fans considered it "definitive". It is not. THE FIGURE DOESN'T STAY STANDING! I got so tired of finding a crumpled VC17 on the floor beneath my ROTS shelf that I retired it from my display. I've borrowed the cape from VC17 and lent it to 2014's 5POA Mission Series General Grievous. At least it's tall and stays standing.


Last 100% new tooling: 2009
Exists in Vintage Collection: Yes
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: And here's the third controversial entry. 2009's BD44 - Clone Commander Cody was repacked as 2010's VC19 - Clone Commander Cody. For the second release, Hasbro painted the shoulder antenna silver and fixed the upside down belt. That's good enough for most collectors, but not me. The biggest problem is the pin head under the removable helmet. This would be more tooling intensive than other the Phase II based clones on the list. The upper arms are different, and the torso needs tweaking for the rank badge. Collectors might expect the battle scaring from the previous release too, which adds to the tooling effort (please note that the recent Black Series Commander Cody skipped the distressed armor). Why this might tempt Hasbro is the easy Bad Batch repaint that could follow.


Last 100% new tooling: 2010
Exists in Vintage Collection: Yes
Original 96: No
Original 96 alternate card opportunity: N/A
Requires 100% new tooling: No
Notes: I feel like I've been writing for 18 hours at this point. We can all be thankful that this is the last entry. If you've made it this far, put "John has a long mustache" in the comments for a chance to win a free upvote from me. But don't do that. It will make a mockery of the comment section. As stated in the open, Shaak Ti should have been in the Attack of the Clones entry. She's definitely pushing the concept of "main.” She has no live action dialog. But she's a Togruta Jedi with publishing, video game, and Clone Wars legacy. That's enough extra credit to get here into Tier B. The best version of Shaak Ti comes in 2010's Shaak Ti & Geonosian Warrior Geonosis Arena 2-pack, but that figure lacks ankles. ANKLES! If a Jedi figure only has regular ball jointed ankles instead of rocker ankles, it's a travesty. If they lack ankles entirely, it's a galdern national emergency!

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