Target has a bunch of Galaxy’s Edge exclusive merchandise, including a few single-carded re-releases of some formerly Disney Park exclusive Black Series figures like Hondo Ohnaka and DJ Rex. I have not been collecting these releases because I got most of the figures at Disneyland in the sets last year, but they finally pulled me in when they added a new character. Let’s take a look at the Black Series version of Hondo Ohnaka’s astromech, R5-P8!
The box is similar to the usual Black Series style packaging with the classy character art on black, but instead of the red side panel there is a bit of Galaxy’s edge branding. This sort of brown, weathered look is similar to what you see on a lot of the boxes for Galaxy’s Edge product sold near the Rise of the Resistance ride.
R5-P8 comes with nothing. One thing that I would have really liked to see was the blaster R5-P8 had mounted on his head in the cartoon or perhaps a little stand modeled after his place on the ride. He doesn’t have that blaster in the parks, and it would require new tooling, so I could see why Hasbro would skip it. I would have taken the booster rocket panels that came with the original Black Series R2 or the MSE droid they released in earlier Disney Parks sets.
Sculpting is fine in terms of detail, but it’s based on that old Black Series R2 body so it feels under-scaled to the human figures. Here he is with Hondo and the Bandai and Black Series R5-D4 figures.
Articulation is pretty simple due to the character design with a swivel head and legs and hinged ankles and utility doors. The middle leg comes out via a cranking mechanism in the head and two little tool arms can hinge out from the doors on the body. The arms are pretty tiny and I’m not sure why they are red when these parts are usually silver on an astromech and appear to be on the R5-P8 at Disneyland. I assume it’s a cost-cutting thing.
The paint is okay. There is some slop on some of the red detail sections on my figure, but I like the weathering in spots. In general this figure would benefit from a panel lining wash for a little more grime.
I’m of two minds about this figure and can’t really recommend it. On one hand, the continued re-use of the under-sized R2 base body and lack of accessories makes this feel like an exceptionally poor value at this premium price point. On the other hand, I’m really happy they made this particular droid and I’m glad to add him next to Hondo on the shelf. He makes an excellent accessory for Hondo for sure and I’d rather just spend the cash on this than tracking down another R5-D4 model kit and customizing it because I know I’d probably never get around to actually doing that.
