Review: Star Wars Black Series Anakin Skywalker and Clone Captain Rex, Clones of the Republic Exclusive #04
- Mephitsu
- 3 minutes ago
- 9 min read
“You're a good soldier, Rex. So is every one of those men down there.”
The Star Wars Black Series added the first Clones of the Old Republic exclusive 2-packs in 2024. The intention of the sub-line was to bring us a selection of Clone Troopers and their appropriate Jedi commanders to build on our Prequel-era Republic Forces. The line kicked off as intended with an updated version of Mace Windu as a Jedi General alongside a 187th Legion Trooper in the original comic-book purple colouring. The second release gave us a Prequel-era Yoda and his Council Chair alongside a comic book release of Commander Gree in standard Phase II armour.
Hopes were therefore high going into 2025, but the next release wouldn’t quite live up to the first two, with nothing particularly new or innovative for the line and instead was essentially a re-pack of the Clone Commander Obi-Wan Kenobi and a slightly updated version of the 212th Clone Trooper. The line then announced its fourth set and the one we will explore today, the Clones of the Republic release of Anakin Skywalker and Clone Captain Rex. This set, a Hasbro Pulse Exclusive, was listed as a 2025 release, arriving at the end of the year with most collectors receiving their figures in early 2026.
The Clones of the Republic releases are still using the older format Phase 4 packaging despite it changing in 2024 to the squared collector packaging. The wider 2-pack black mat box comes with two slanted sides, each containing an image of the characters in the set, Anakin on the left panel and Rex on the right. The COTR packs have their own accent colour in blue, and this is used within the artwork as well as on the key text elements front and back.
The back of the box includes the repeated character art and some background text, which doesn’t specify the set from a particular era of The Clone Wars, and instead talks about Rex as a “no-nonsense trooper” adjusting to his “maverick Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker”. As the set uses the older format box, the figures are set against a plain grey backdrop.
Anakin is presented in his Jedi General gear as seen in the Clone Wars cartoon series and more recently in the World Between Worlds scenes from Ahsoka. This starts with a plain burgundy torso, overwhich we have a full soft-goods tunic in blue/grey that is held in place at the shoulders by the Clone armour which is a plastic piece cast in grey. There are matching grey pauldrons to either side of this shoulder armour, hinged under the shoulder piece against the torso. The left pauldron is inclusive of a sculpted Republic symbol picked out in burgundy paint. Anakin’s arms are the same burgundy finish and then we have long brown gloves, the right glove featuring painted fastenings to reflect this as Anakin’s prosthetic arm.
The soft goods robes are wrapped at the waist by a softer plastic belt, cast in a dark brown to match the gloves and with pouch details at the side and around the back. The front buckle is painted in silver, and we have a few more panels of gold and silver to the sides. Under the main soft goods blue/grey tunic is a second soft goods piece to create the burgundy skirt, which hangs more as a tabard so its visible through the join of the main tunic as Anakin opens his pose for battle. Like the arms, the legs are burgundy and then move into knee-high boots in brown, and while these feature a lot of straps and fastenings, none of them are painted. These legs are also pinned at the knees, which are visible as the skirt piece does not come low enough to cover them.
The headsculpt is a good likeness to Anakin, but rather the one we see in Ahsoka, a de-aged Hayden Christensen, rather than being a converted version from The Clone Wars brought into realistic style using the original prequel movies as inspiration.
Right to Left: 2025 2-Pack, 2025 Single, 2021 Carded
That likeness, along with the pins in the legs, indicates the figure is a re-use, and as it stands in the COTR set, this is very much the Ahsoka ‘World Between Worlds’ Anakin that we had a single release in 2025 as part of Wave 21. That figure was based on the 2021 Clone Wars Exclusive Anakin, and the legs in particular date all the way back to the original 2014 Anakin.
Right to Left: 2025 2-Pack, 2025 Single, 2021 Carded
The headsculpt on the newer Anakin from 2025 does improve on the 2021 version considerably, with the Clones of the Republic version being a crisper facial print than the single release, but the difference is marginal. Both 2025 versions have the same body and soft goods, while the 2021 version uses plastic upper robes connected directly to the shoulder armour. Which is the better execution will be a matter of personal preference. For me, I like the soft goods when it's controlled and kept in check by sculpted parts.
Anakin comes with his lightsaber, the long-standing accessory used in multiple sets since The Force Awakens. This is silver in colour with black fins and a gold switch. It can be secured on Anakin’s belt by way of a plug and socket. The saber blade is translucent blue and clicks into place securely for displaying Anakin wielding his lightsaber.
Articulation is a hybrid of the now-dated 2014 legs and a newer 2021 torso and arms. Overall, we have 19 points of articulation with the upper torso carrying all of the more modern pinless functionality, including a dual-joint neck and butterfly shoulders. This provides Anakin with a range of both static and offensive options, wielding his lightsaber in both offensive and defensive positions.
The legs thesmelves are definitely showing their age, with double-jointed pinless knees that provide a good range of movement, but are not particularly pretty when used. One notable tweak is that the weak ankles that have plagued all of the Anakin releases using these legs has been tightened, and while there are large gaps between the internal ratchets, Anakin is easier to pose and stay standing. The soft goods work well enough around the legs to allow this version of the character to kneel.
Moving to Captain Rex, and this is Rex as we see him in The Clone Wars in his Phase 2 armour with his own unique take on the helmet in particular, fusing the newer helmet and the older Phase 1 helmet to his own personal preference. The figure uses the older Clone Trooper body that dates back as far as 2014 and includes cast white parts and painted black internal joints and connections, with some paint bleed and rough edges evident when viewed up close. The armour is painted with the colours of the 501st in a blue finish down the arms and legs, with Rex also featuring ‘tally’ marks etched into the markings on his lower arms and on his right shin armour.
The commander Pauldron is an individual piece, cast in black with blue painted panels and a touch of silver on the fastenings for the ammo pouch. The belt is the same white as the armour and holds in place a soft goods Kama skirt in black with a blue trimmed edge. The final decor is on the custom panels Rex has added, painting the sculpted weld line on the chest section in bronze finish. The whole armour is then given a weathered wash.
Rex comes with a fully sculpted and painted head with the standard Clone Wars era likeness of Temura Morrison. It uses facial printing to give a crisp finish to the eyes, mouth and the shading around the nose and cheeks. Rex’s light bleached hair is painted with a relatively crisp transition at the hairline.
The helmet is the same white plastic as the armour, with a black painted visor, and both silver and black are used on the breathing gear and on the large viewfinder. The 501st blue markings are added as a trim around the visor with the Jaig Eyes logo above. Further tally marks are added to either side in black, and the welded joints between Phase I and Phase II helmet parts are painted in bronze, with the helmet also weathered.
The helmet is a good, snug fit for the Clone head, but due to the shape, there is some visibility of the chin through the rounded segment of the front vents. The range finder is hinged and can be brought down to simulate a firing position.
This Captain Rex Phase II figure is identical to the one originally released in 2018, initially as a Convention Exclusive and then as a Wave 15 standard release. It was also used again in 2022 for the Bad Batch release. This means that, like Anakin, anyone with the current figure is not getting anything significantly new or innovative.
vs 2018 Exclusive (image 1), vs 2018 Single Release (image 2), vs 2025 Phase II Armour (image 3)
There are paint variations in the armour, but nothing significantly better in the 2025 release vs the earlier versions. The facial printing of the unmasked head is, like Anakin, crisper than the 2018 standard release and with more natural tone to the hair (the convention version did not use facial printing tech).
vs 2018 Clone Captain Rex (right)
Because this is a reuse, the figure carries with the pinned elbows and knees and the lack of a trigger finger on the left hand. While Rex’s armour is unique and needs some variant parts, an opportunity has been lost or ignored here to give us a Captain Rex Phase II using the much-improved new Clone Trooper body that was used on all of the previous Clones of the Republic sets, and on other upgraded Clones like Commander Cody’s 2025 release.
Rex comes with his twin DC-17 blaster pistols. These are cast in black with limited details and are designed to sit in the twin holsters included on the belt section. One will fit snugly into the right hand, where a trigger finger sits into place. Sadly, the older Rex/Clone body does not have a matching left hand, so the positioning for the left blaster is not quite right. Even though the body wasn’t updated, it wouldn’t have been overly difficult to give Rex two trigger-finger hands.
As the base body dates back to 2014, the articulation is very much of that era, with visible pins on both elbows and knees. Both are double-jointed, so that makes them both very mobile for posing. There are 18 joints in total, and while there is the benefit of the pinned double joints, there are other areas that are more problematic, with the hips on the older Clone body physically restricted by the armour shaping, so Rex is not able to kneel or sit naturally.
You are also missing butterfly shoulders, but as Rex only has single-handed blasters, that is less of an issue. The torso is limited in movement to rotation or leaning backwards, but not forward. And the neck has a pivot joint that is visible, but not overly intrusive, as its on the black part of the neck.
At £44.99, this Anakin and Rex set is only available at Hasbro Pulse, with stocks heading to Shop Disney later on in 2026. That does mean it is cheaper than two single figures, but for that £45, you are getting two figures that already exist in the line, with this version of Anakin released as a single figure just a few weeks before this two-pack hit. Rex hasn’t been on shelves in this Phase II armour since the 2022 Bad Batch figure, so it will be a welcome upgrade to new collectors or those who missed out the first time round. But it is a crying shame this release wasn’t used to give us a brand new Clone Captain Rex on the newer body, fixing many issues this figure has with articulation and the ability to hold its gun.
For those who own these two figures already, the paint decor update is negligible, but I do feel the COTR pair have crisper facial printing, although that is personal preference. The set remains in stock at the time of writing, but is unlikely to see heavy discounting from Hasbro.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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