Bantha Skull’s TVC Retrospective Halftime Show!

Welcome to the Bantha Skull Half Time Show, sponsored by Bantha Skull.

We now send you to the studio, and Jon Gruden. Wait, what? Gruden isn't here? He's not doing this anymore? He actually got a head coaching job? Ha ha, you're making that up! Holy crap. OK, uh, we'll just improvise then...

We have put together a handy spreadsheet of the first half statistics, which you can download HERE.

For a deeper analysis of the 60 figures we've revisited so far, here's a breakdown:

Major Source
25 PT
33 OT
2 EU

You can see that Hasbro came out with a balanced gameplan, going with a nice mix of figures between the PT and OT, with the OT having the edge. Special teams action was relatively light, with only 2 releases from the EU. We're expecting some pivotal EU contributions in the second half.

Specific Source
0 TPM
12 AOTC
13 ROTS
8 ANH
13 ESB
12 ROTJ
1 Comics/Books
1 Clone Wars Micro Series

Interestingly, The Phantom Menace, the subject of some negative pre-game press, was on the sideline for the entire half, never leaving the bench. A New Hope played relatively sparingly, but made an impact when inserted into the lineup. Other films got fairly equal playing time. EU Literature got one odd opportunity in Nom Anor, who went rumblin' stumblin' and fumblin' his way through the game. But Hasbro shocked the fans with a trick play, calling "Not Captain Fordo's" number at a moment that we might look back upon as one one of the most memorable plays of all time. Not Fordo was the Cinderella story here, as Hasbro had previously announced that they would not be signing players from the Clone Wars Micro Series, having seemingly fallen out of favor with Lucasfilm ownership. Not Fordo may turn out to be one of he greatest players the game has ever seen, and a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Leading Characters
8 Clones, plus Jango and Boba for good measure.
3 Lukes / 3 Hans

There were 8 different clones produced out of the first 60 TVC figures, spanning both AOTC and ROTS (and the Micro Series). Some were generic and some were named. Some had the veteran, bulkier sculpt, while a leaner rookie sculpt was introduced, gaining favor from Hasbro as the game wore on. Fans may still be spilt as to which they prefer. If you want to get technical, you can throw in Jango Fett (the genetic source for the clones), and Boba Fett (the unaltered clone of Jango), which would give you a shocking 10 Clone or Clone-related figures in the first half. That's a whopping 16.67% participants in the game so far! And make no mistake, the Clones aren't done yet, as we expect more action in the second half. You can't stop them, you can only hope to contain them.

Superstars Luke Skywalker and Han Solo each had 3 appearances by halftime, tying them for the most so far. There should be more to come for both as the game progresses.

Ratings Comparison from Original
6 downgraded
1 upgraded
53 maintained score

It's been 7-8 years since these players first came into the league, and it's nice to know that the majority of them maintained their health and have so far stood the test of time. A few have been downgraded from probable to questionable, doubtful, or even ruled out. One, VC45 Clone Trooper out of Kamino State, was upgraded from an 8 to a 9 by Coach Chris, while Coach Bret wasn't onboard, and feels the rating should have gone in the other direction. Is there some dissent within the coaching staff? Can they pull it together for the second half, or are we going to have a full blown Clone controversy?

Recommended Action for Hasbro
36 - No action
20 - Re-sculpt
4 - Re-issue

Team Bantha Skull recommended to Hasbro that a slim majority of the players be left on the roster as is. These were generally a solid, quality player, but had little need to be re-played in the foreseeable future. 4 players were deemed both outstanding and fit to be re-signed to a new contract due to high fan demand. The rest were recommended to be replaced at some point by younger players with more flexibility or better physical attributes.

Definitive?
34 - Yes
26 - No

Finally, 34 of the players on the team were ruled as defnitive candidates to make the Pro Bowl, while some could...go...all...the...way...to the Hall of Fame. These players should be added to your fantasy team immediately, and should remain there for years to come, perhaps in perpetuity. 26 of the 60 players need more practice, and Hasbro could conceivably replace them through the draft. However, the quantity of draft picks available to Hasbro for 2019 is disturbingly low, so they may be forced to play Moneyball.

So there you have it. We're looking forward to an exciting second half of TVC, and if we're lucky, we might even go to overtime! We take you back to the action after this commercial break...

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