Review – Star Wars Legacy Collection Droid Factory R5-A2
Hasbro’s Star Wars Legacy Collection took the popular “build-a-figure” concept and adapted it to Star Wars in a way that captured many fans of the series: “Droid Factory!” By including one or two pieces of a different droid in with each 3.75-inch action figure, Hasbro rewarded collectors with an “extra” action figure for every four or five figures purchased. As much as I’ve loved droids, though, I’ve limited most of my Star Wars purchases to Stormtroopers which has protected me from the “Build a Droid” concept . . . until now!
Recently, while visiting Toys’R’Us, I spotted a Spacetrooper, a specialized Stormtrooper first seen in the original Star Wars movie, and found the head to R5-A2. With the head in hand, and knowing I already had the body and one of the legs at home, I went ahead and also grabbed the Han Solo Stormtrooper which completed R5-A2. Yay, a “free” droid!
R5-A2 is a fairly standard astromech droid, with a body design similar to the classic R4 figure that we first saw in the 1970s Kenner Star Wars Collection series. Since he comes in pieces, it’s a simple matter to pop out the third leg (it won’t retract into the body) meaning that R5-A2 can stand on two or three legs.
For a bonus action figure, R5-A2 is fantastic, every bit as good as the other astromech droids in my collection. Looking at him next to a few other, older figures (astromech droids from the last decade of Star Wars action figures) he looks as good — if not better — than the others. For a figure made out of bits, R5-A2 looks pretty damned good.
To create R5-A2, I bought the following action figures:
Another Viewpoint
A review by Monkey Boy at www.oafe.net takes a different look at the Build-A-Droid concept, saying:
“Unless you plan on building the whole droid, this head is pretty useless and will probably end up in whatever you use for a spare parts bin. In fact, even if you do end up building the whole thing, who really cares enough about astromech druids that they need a whole army of these BADs on their shelf?”
Well, I’ve decided on collecting Stormtroopers, instead of droids, but I could easily be swayed to collect droids — specifically astromech droids — without too much pressure. Why? Because they’re cute, fun, and come in a huge number of shapes and colors. Astromech droids, like Stormtroopers, are awesome.
Closing Thoughts
Droids are cool. Astromech droids are cool. I can completely understand the desire to collect every BAD figure. But I won’t.
Philip Reed is happy that he’s got R5-A2, but he hopes that Hasbro never switches to a “Build-A-Stormtrooper” line. If they do that, then he’s doomed.
Wow. That’s a really clean paint job. Beats the crap out of the missile-firing R5-D4 from the early years of the line.
@De: “Beats the crap out of the missile-firing R5-D4 from the early years of the line.”
Yeah, but then everything beats the crap out of that figure. I really hate that R5-D4.