This year at Star Wars Celebration, Disney announced a new assortment of Droid Factory figures; Protocol Droids were finally coming to Build-a-Droid. Meaning your custom Astromech could finally have its very own Protocol Droid buddy. At the same time they launched a number of new limited release action figures, one of these was a 40th Anniversary C-3PO & R2-D2 two-pack. Collectors had been asking Hasbro for these figures for years, and Disney finally stood up and made them a reality.
When Build-a-Droid was in its heyday, I never actually built a complete droid. The best I could do was cobble together a RA-7 Protocol droid made from 2 different droids. I am a huge fan of the Build-a-Figure concept, and thought Droids were the perfect way to bring it into the Star Wars Universe. I would much rather have and extra Droid at the end of the day, than some giant plastic rocket firing weapon that Hasbro seem perfectly content on packing with their 3.75” figures. Disney Parks’ Build-a-Droid has been going strong for a number of years, and with the addition of Protocol Droids, doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
The PACKAGING of these guys is awesome. The front has a great pseudo Vintage Kenner Star Wars feel, with a big foil 40th Anniversary sticker up in the top right corner. What better way to celebrate the 40th Anniversary in the Droid Factory line than paying tribute to the two Droids that started it all. They even spelled out the names phonetically like the old Kenner figures first did. Both figures are seated in their own separate trays, but are both packaged under the same bubble. The back of the card has more of the modern Droid Factory feel to it and has a basic blurb about the characters.
The SCULPTING of both figures is top notch, and should fit in beautifully with all the other Droid Factory Figures. These could absolutely be considered modern definitive editions of both of these characters. However, the one thing I noticed right off the bat is that C-3PO is huge when compared to the recent 3.75” Black series and Vintage Collection figures. When standing next to other figures though he looks fine, maybe just a hair too tall. The R2-D2 figure is gorgeous. It’s really subtle, but when compared with other R2s, this one looks more R2 than they do. Does that make sense? I’m not crazy about the hold in the top of the dome though, and he is missing some wires on his feet, but these are really minor nit-picks.
The PAINT on these guys is overall fantastic. C-3PO’s eyes are just about perfect, and there are some nice pops of color in this stomach wiring. R2-D2 is great as well, but the vents on his front are a little fuzzy. Some of the silver details are also obscured by the heavy weathering on these guys. They have definitely been out in that Tatooine sand. They might have been a little heavy handed when they applied the dry brush to R2, and with all the gold on C-3PO some of the effect does get lost. The sand color is a little too bright in my opinion, maybe a little too much orange/yellow in there. But really, when are these guys ever squeaky clean, they fit into that used universe aesthetic.
All the ARTICULATION that you’d want in a droid is there, and it all works great. Also, since these are from the Build-a-Droid molds you can pull them completely apart. The only thing missing would be a ball joint in 3PO’s shoulders. However, I don’t think that would be feasible with the Build-A-droid concept. Other than that, he’s got a swivel neck and shoulders, ball jointed elbows, swivel wrists and hips, and ball jointed knees and ankles. I’m not sure what kind of joint he has in his torso, he can definitely bend forward and back but side to side seems more restricted. R2’s dome can spin around, as can his legs, and his feet can rock back and forth. These guys were never the most athletic, so I think there’s more than enough articulation here.
These figures came with no major ACCESSORIES, the only thing that may count is R2’s third leg. It slides in and out easily, but stays firmly in place. Still, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything in this 2-pack.
OVERALL, these guys are awesome. This release was perfectly timed with the 40th Anniversary celebration of Star Wars and I think these could absolutely be considered definitive modern versions of C-3PO, human cyborg relations, and his counterpart R2-D2.
 |
| Chopper Review coming soon! |
No comments:
Post a Comment