conflict Lucas left out of his big-screen prequels." Pirrello continues: "[W]hat Clone Wars lacks in intricate storytelling it more than makes up for with stunning animation and stirring action scenes. The mini-episodes are bare bones by design, as Tartakovsky employs a pure visual storytelling execution ... The franchise has only taken such a bold stylistic risk this one time." Collider's Liam Gaughan calls the series "ahead of its time" and says it "better utilized the environments, planets, and tech designs [than] the prequels" as well as "side characters better suited for a brief adventure", concluding that it is "a striking piece of standalone animation that doesn't require comprehensive knowledge of the universe" and "a groundbreaking work of art". Elijah Beahm of The Escapist states that the series "took effectively everything people loved and hated about the prequel films – and made it work." In a list of "Best Animated Star Wars Moments", /Film credits the series with marking "the arrival of a new era for animated storytelling that seriously expanded the canon of the galaxy far, far away", specifically praising the dialogue-free scenes of Mace Windu fighting battle droids without a lightsaber (calling it "a dream seeing the legend in action") and Anakin's premonitory hallucination of Vader's helmet on a cave wall (drawing a parallel to Luke's vision on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back). Awards and nominations Home media Both volumes were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, making it one of the few Cartoon Network original shows not to have their home releases released through Warner Home Video. Both volumes were released on Disney+ on April 2, 2021. Merchandising A series of Hasbro action figures was released between 2003 and 2005, including four Walmart-exclusive "Commemorative DVD Collection" 3-packs (which did not include a DVD). Between 2004 and 2007, Dark Horse Comics published a ten-volume comic series titled Clone Wars – Adventures, which utilized the style of the 2D animated series and depicts original stories set during the era. In 2021, more toys were released to promote the series, as part of Star Wars: The Vintage Collection. Legacy Elements of the series, including the regenerative villain Durge, are mentioned in the 2005 novelization of Revenge of the Sith. According to the (now-defunct) Star Wars Databank, Durge has a vendetta against Mandalorians and extends this to the clones of Jango Fett. Durge was considered for inclusion in