A Guide To The Clone Wars Mandalorian Warriors

9/14/2014

During the five year run of The Clone Wars toy line from 2008 - 2013 Hasbro released one single carded Mandalorian Warrior, a Mandalorian Warrior with Mandalorian Speeder, a Mandalorian Warrior 4-pack and the Death Watch leader Pre Viszla.

In addition to the figures and the Mandalorian Speeder, Hasbro released a hard-to-find-in-stores Mandalorian Assault Transport vehicle. Here is a look at these fan-favorite figures and what differentiates them from one another.

The very first Mandalorian Warrior released by Hasbro was Death Watch Leader Pre Vizsla. The figure came out in the basic Clone Wars figure assortment in 2010. All of Pre Vizsla's accessories have a unique paint scheme from any other released Mandalorian Warrior, and it's the only Mandalorian Warrior which has a head underneath the helmet.

Look at our full review and photo gallery of CW08 - Pre Vizsla

Hasbro tried hard to get Pre Vizsla right. They made the figure super articulated with 14 points of articulation and they included a nicely detailed cape with the Death Watch emblem on it, a removable jet-pack, a Mandalorian helmet and most importantly Pre Vizsla's DARKSABER! Hasbro also paid close attention to details, they've included the symbol on Pre Vizsla's left shoulder bell and on the front of the Mandalorian helmet.

This was the only time Pre Vizsla was made available, the figure was not re-released again after it's single carded debut.

Besides Pre-Vizsla Hasbro released a generic Mandalorian Warrior on a single card in the basic figure assortment during The Clone Wars collection (CW29). The figure's sculpt is identical with all the other released generic Mandalorian Warriors, but there are paint differences in the jet-pack missile and the colors on the blasters.

One thing all the Mandalorian Warrior's have in common is that they are more on the skinny side, which seems OK considering that these figures are based on stylized cartoon versions. This generic Mandalorian Warrior has a non-removable helmet.

Another release in 2010 was the Mandalorian Speeder with Mandalorian Warrior in the Clone Wars Deluxe line. This was the only time this particular vehicle was released by Hasbro.

It features a pull-out (non-shooting) missle launcher in the bottom and a hatch in the back which can be opened. The trunk holds prisoner handcuffs which are attached to the vehicle via a "cable". Unfortunately, none of the Mandalorian Warrior figures are able to sit on the vehicle well, it's possible to have the figures hold the controls and get one foot onto a pedal, but it's not possible to have both of the figure's feet reach the pegs.

The Mandalorian Speeder is sculpted and painted beautifully and it looks very close to what these vehicles looked like in The Clone Wars TV show.

The sculpt of the Mandalorian Warrior figure is identical to all the other released generic Mandalorian Warriors, but there are significant and very noticeable differences in the color tone of the armor. It's much darker than on any other released Mandalorian figures.

A very good example of how to re-use an exisiting sculpt and make fans of Mandalorian Warriors happy at the same time was the Mandalorian Warrior Battle Pack, which included four identical figures plus various weapons and accessories. This was a truly fantastic set because it gave fans the chance to army build quickly. Even though the figures in this set were all identical, Hasbro included extra accessories such as the arm gauntlets, different blasters and generic jet-packs. This added the ability to make the figures a little different from one another. The paint applications on the blasters and the jet-pack missles are also different when compared to any other released generic Mandalorian Warrior.

All Mandalorian Warriors Released

From left to right: Pre-Vizsla, Mandalorian Warrior (with Mandalorian Speeder Bike), single carded Mandalorian Warrior, Mandalorian Warrior from the Battle Pack

Let's Have A Look At The Accessories

Here you can see the paint differences between the accessories and weapons which were released with the Mandalorian Warriors. From left to right: Pre-Vizsla's cape, jet-pack, 2-toned silvery blasters, blacksaber, Death Watch helmet
Second From Left: Mandalorian Warrior (from Speeder Bike) darker Jet-Pack, 2-toned blasters
Third From Left: Single Carded Mandalorian Warrior Jet-Pack, darker missle, darker blasters
The last two Jet-Packs, weapons and accessories are from the Mandalorian Warrior Battle Pack

The very cool looking Mandalorian Assault Transport was released in the Class II vehicle assortment. It had room for six Mandalorian Warriors and it featured a retractable landing gear and moving wing panels which exposed rocket launchers. The Mandalorian Assault Transport was nearly impossible to find in the United States. It showed up briefly at Toys'R'Us stores in a special value 2-pack bundled together with one other randomly selected vehicle for $39.99 a few weeks before Black Friday in 2012. In September of 2014, almost two years after the vehicle was released, these special value 2-packs re-emerged at Ollie's stores, but again, these 2-packs were very difficult to find.

Availability

In the Pacific Northwest all the Mandalorian Warrior action figures, including Pre Vizsla, were easy to find on store shelves. The Mandalorian Speeder with Mandalorian Warrior from the Clone Wars Deluxe line went on clearance at several locations, and the Mandalorian Warrior Battle Pack could be found at Target stores for as little as $13.96 at the time.

Missed Opportunities

Season 5 of The Clone Wars animated TV show featured some very cool episodes revolving around Darth Maul and the Death Watch. New and cool looking Mandalorian Warriors were featured in these episodes, which would have made fantastic figures. Hasbro could have easily re-used existing figure parts, give them a different paint application and in some cases include a different helmet, and it would have made fans very happy. Hasbro also didn't release figures of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Mandalorian Armor, Pre-Vizsla in updated season 5 gear and one of the more prominent featured Mandalorians: Bo Katan. Here is a collage of some of the Mandalorian armor seen in season 5 of The Clone Wars.

Final Group Shot

And here is a final picture of the all the Mandalorian toys released from The Clone Wars Collection.