Bandai does it again with their model kit line, this time with our favorite astromech! You decide which one I’m talking about. I prefer my droids with bad motivators.
Okay, not really. R2 was my main draw to this set and R5 is just creamy frosting. The Black Series R2-D2 was good for it’s time, which was a month or two, but then people started doing the worst thing you can do when you get a new toy: Looking at reference pics or going back to the movies to see what size R2 was supposed to be. Turns out, the Black Series R2 is too small. Who knew? I didn’t, or at least I was happily oblivious to the fact. Then people started spreading the word, posting said reference pics. That’s something you can’t unsee once you see it. But that’s the beauty of a license that gets sold off and it’s licensing rights get spread around to everyone that will take it. Competition is a wonderful thing. So when Bandai announced an R2-D2 in their model kit line you knew it was on. And then Kaiyodo jumped in, and you know other overseas companies will get in on the astromechs. Just wait.
Enough of that, let’s look at this set.
The box continues the look of previous releases. Just a black box with pretty pics on it. Shiny. Sexy. Between me and toy.
When you open the box, that’s when it hits you. Is it possible to feel joy and fear at the same time? It’s like a roller coaster on your workbench. My initial thought was that this was going to take longer than previous kits, given how full the box was, how many stickers were on that sheet, and the amount of teeny tiny parts on those sprues. And I was right. The Stormtrooper took me two hours. After the build, the stickers, and the paint, this took me nearly eight hours split over two nights and a morning. And it was totally worth it.
They just look so great! As they came together I couldn’t help just looking at all the little details, most of which I hadn’t noticed before on previous toys or even in the films. The models force you to take in every nook and cranny, every dot of color, every gizmo and doodad, because you are adding every one of those bits as you go. You are literally the Maker.
That joke will go over better when C-3PO drops later this month.
Both mechs are fitted with their third leg, of course. Hey, mind out of the gutter! The leg is extended by removing the dome and pushing the stem down. The head is easy to remove and replace, but my R2 is a bit looser than my R5. Not “fall off when you turn it over” loose, it just doesn’t feel as tight.
To see that in action, and to see me fumble through the build itself, you can check out my video review.
Both figures are equipped with panels that open to reveal plugholes for various attachments. These are for R2, plain and simple, but if your EU universe has R5 getting into wacky adventures, he can do that too. And I say panels that open, they don’t so much open as they pop off to be replaced with an open door replica. It’s the same for the blue panels on the top of the dome, but it only has one open panel to go with the five closed ones.
Each closed panel sits in the panel hole. Pop that out and replace it with a same sized panel that has a peg that slots in, making it look like it’s swung open. All of them stay in place very well except one, the blue panel on the dome at 9 o’clock. It stays until you try to take the panel next to it off, or pull too fast on the dome to extend the leg. The easy fix is to glue it, which I will since there aren’t enough attachments to use up there all at once. Watch though, as soon as I glue it Bandai will release a booster pack with the serving tray or something that requires that panel to be open. Overall it’s a nicer look than a hinge piece that usually causes a gap, but that’s a lot of panels to keep track and we haven’t even gotten to the actual tool attachments yet. And there is more than enough of those.
Scope, radar, saw, stun gun, data rod, claw, and gold needle. Okay, okay, according to Wookieepedia, it’s an extendable auxiliary visual imaging system with hydraulic extension, a life form scanner, utility saw, electromagnetic power charge arm, universal computer interface arm, mechanical grasper arm, and….I still can’t find the one with the gold needle. I don’t remember it at all. But they all look fantastic and plug right into the body with no fuss. But if you don’t display R2 with his tools you’re going to need a box to store them. Which you should already have, given the extra hands and weapons we got with the first two models, not to mention other toy lines.
This time around I did apply the stickers. I did the same for the Stormtrooper but there wasn’t nearly as many as there were for R2 and R5. They were tedious but do add a lot to the overall figure even though some are microscopic and barely noticeable. That didn’t stop me from breaking out the paint instead of a couple of the stickers. I painted the main holographic projector instead of using the black decal because the lens had a nice texture to it and I didn’t want to lose that. A couple of bits of silver here and there. And then a detail on the legs.
On R5 I did apply the sticker above the ankle, where the white transitions to blue on the mid-leg. But the clear parts of the decal left the blue looking frosty and noticeable. On R2 I opted to paint just to get a cleaner look to it.
You can see it in the above pic, the grayish lines on the blue, four vertical coming up from the white above the ankle and one horizontally wrapping around the blue. The lines are sculpted into the blue so it wasn’t a big deal. Slap some gray in there and then lightly scrape off the mess with a toothpick, leaving the high points a clean blue. But then looking at the official promo pictures I realized Bandai didn’t even apply those stickers.
Dang that pic, makes me realize I missed a sticker around the projector. Here’s an update with that sticker applied.
Also, the promo pics for the accessories show a lot more color. Breaking out the paint again…
But what it comes down to is this…
Much better. It’s weird, it’s kind of hard to find reference pictures of both R2 and Luke standing straight up side by side, but these give a good indication that the model is probably as close as we’re going to get to correct Black Series scale.
Hey wait, that R2 with Bespin Luke doesn’t have a black projector. Hmmm. Luke’s left arm would also match the angle of the reference pic if his hand would go flat.
Now I know it’s not Bandai’s intention to make compatible figures with the Black Series, they are probably working off a true 1:12 scale. Which is odd when you think about it. That means the Black Series line, at least for the most part, is also staying truer to 1:12 than most other American mass market lines out there.
If I were to gripe about any one thing it would be about how clean both droids look. With R2 it’s not that big of a deal, he was cleaned up at several points, but the only time we saw R5 was when he was in the desert. Sandy, dirty, getting by on a bad motivator. With this format I didn’t expect weathering so it really comes down to how much paint you want to use. It makes me wonder what the Sandtrooper is going to look like though.
So, is the R2-D2/R5-D4 model kit worth it? For $15 (plus import shipping) you get two great looking droids from an awesome movie. You get a buttload of accessories for the figures. You get the fun and satisfaction of building them yourself, which may or may not float your sail barge. You get detail, articulation, features, and a figure that better fits your 1:12 scale Star Wars collection as a whole.
Hell yeah, it’s worth it. After Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper, Bandai has my trust. I’m in all the way. And this droid pack just reassures me that I’ve made the right decision when it comes to my Star Wars shelf. When they announce a release the model kit line will replace whatever character I need represented in my display. Or add to it, in the case of the Stormtrooper and probably the upcoming Biker Scout and Sandtrooper. But they do go in front of their Hasbro counterparts…
