We are living in a fantastic age of 6-inch scale Star Wars action figures, and many companies are presenting us with a lot of options for our collection shelves. However, will Medicom, via their MAFEX impression, be the first company to get us decent action figures of both R2-D2 and C-3PO? So while they win the race against Bandai and Hasbro, are these going to be the “droids you’re looking for?”
I really cannot believe it has taken me so long to get a C-3PO on my action figure shelf. The 1:12 lines have all been going for a bit now, but it has taken quite a while to get one of only two characters to appear in every single Star Wars film. Yeah, there is the Bandai Model Kit 3PO, and the stylized Revlotech one as well (with those much-maligned joints), but I have been wanting more for a Threepio. He is definitely a main character, so I was very pleased when Medicom announced their MAFEX offering of this two-pack, as I was pretty sure I would be in for an upgrade for R2 as well. I was approaching this release cautiously because, while I do like my MAFEX Darth Vader quite a bit, I have heard some horror stories about some of their other non-Star Wars releases.
Bandai has been teasing their SH Figuarts release of these two droids for a long time now, but I thought this set looked great as well, so there was no way I wasn’t going to bite and eventually end up with both sets. There are enough differences between the two to justify them anyway, and I have to say, the weathered and roughed-up deco on this set really appealed to me as I like all my Star Wars stuff slightly grimy. With hopes very high, this set arrived late last week, and, right out of the box, I knew these guys were going to be a mixed bag.
The good and not-so-good can pretty much be drawn right between the set: R2-D2 is absolutely fantastic, while Threepio is … not so much. Everyone’s favorite fastidious golden concierge isn’t ALL bad, but as an overall action figure, he just did not turn out very well. Which is a shame because I think the MAFEX brand has been improving with subsequent releases, but there are several things going on with Threepio that make me pause when considering endorsing this set as whole.
Before I get to that, though, I want to say this: as shelf dressing, C-3PO looks really, really great. If you want a Threepio to put on your shelf in a neutral pose to stand with the rest of your Rebels, I think this release will be a great fit for that. For scale, he is pretty much right on with Hasbro’s Black Series, and while the upcoming Farm Boy Luke figure will be the big determining factor, I think he goes well with SH Figuarts too. The paint is nicely done, especially for vac metal, and all of the painted details in the hands and in the lower torso are great. I was hoping he would be a bit more weathered, and the exposed wire section (where Threepio gets all of his extra height) is a bit too long, but those aren’t deal-breakers as far as I am concerned.
His likeness overall is very good. His eyes look powered-down due to not being able to see the “pupils” really well, so if I had to pick anything to go after as far as aesthetic deficiencies go, this one bugs me the most. That being said, it is still not terrible, so for a shelf piece in the display, I think this a pretty good effort. The included extra hand and Death Star com link are a nice touch, and the fact that you can pretty much take him completely apart is cool for some Bespin Wookiee backpack feature. However, while that ability is cool, it is also the start of several issues the figure has when it comes to construction.
Unfortunately, there are a lot fairly big things that make this a pretty not-great action figure. As I mentioned, the figure can come completely apart, but I did not do it here because I am already agitated by the fact that he pretty much falls apart on his own. All of the pegs make for easy swapping, but they don’t have any mushroom features at the end of the pegs, so gravity can pretty much cause some joints to completely disconnect. Right out of the package, the left leg on my figure was completely floppy at the hip, so getting him to stand can be a bit of a literal balancing act.
Just how floppy? You can hear the frustration in Robo’s voice during his video review:
Speaking of “right out of the package,” the upper left arm split completely apart the first time I tried to move it. Granted it wasn’t hard to glue it back together, and while I really appreciate the thought put into making Threepio’s arm piston moveable, it just isn’t well executed. I am handling this figure very gingerly now because he does feel so fragile and I don’t want to have to fix anything else. Plus, wiht the figure being completely covered in glorious gold vac metal, I don’t want to chip anything. I do like a lot of the design choices, but I really wish they had been executed better because I would like to get a bit more from this figure than just having to put him on the shelf once and never touching him again. So he will look nice on the shelf for me while I wait to see if Hasbro and/or Bandai can get me better figures.
All that said, though, Artoo is really awesome. I LOVE this figure and just about everything about him, and while I have never hated the Black Series Artoo, this one laughs it right off the shelf. I find the size of this release to be damned spot-on-perfect with my collection, and as you can see in the comparison pictures, the Black Series version looks tiny by comparison. Plus, this figure has that really nice Tatooine weathering about him that I love so much, so that puts this version right at the top of the heap as the Black Series version isn’t like that, and it looks like the SHF figure skipped it as well.
There is so much detail on the figure, and with all of the panel and leg details sculpted into the figure, the weathered paint applications really bring them out. THIS is the Artoo I have been waiting for for sure, and everything else this release brings is icing on the cake. I say that, even though those things are what make this a really great ACTION FIGURE. As much as Threepio missed that mark, Artoo hits it in spades, and everything from the articulation to the engineering works remarkably well.
Artoo moves in all of the places he should: his dome head turns, his legs and feet move right where they need to, and he even has little rollers on the bottom of his feet so he can move right along. Those, coupled with the push-release action of his third leg really put this over the top with two well-conceived action features. I cannot praise this figure enough and he really is everything I could want for Artoo, and Medicom still included some great accessories.
First, you get the fountain and drink tray from his time as a serving droid on Jabba’s barge. The drink tray is especially well done and detailed, and it clips right into place over the tops of his legs. The fountain plugs into the top of the dome, just as it should, but you have to take the dome off first to remove the regular plug. This is easy enough to to, and the dome goes back on easily via a peg system. Also included is the holo-message Princess Leia, which is a cool inclusion. The sculpt isn’t particularly crisp, but it serves its purpose, and I am glad to have it. I know this set is expensive and Artoo is a small figure, but the price is almost worth it for him alone, this release is going to be tough to beat.
Overall, due to the MSRP, I struggle to recommend this set due to C-3PO not being a very good action figure. It is kind of crazy that R2-D2 can be so right and he can be so wrong, but here we are. Artoo is so great, though, and if you don’t plan on moving Threepio, maybe this set will be okay for you. I have my Artoo now, but I will now wait for another release of Threepio to get the best figure, but as I said, this one at least looks nice. I really hope MAFEX continues to improve and they directly address the Threepio issues immediately so his upcoming Episode VII figure will be better, but we will see. Additionally, there are a lot more MAFEX releases coming soon, like Phasma, Kylo Ren, and Rey, so I am REALLY hoping those will be better, and 3PO’s complicated construction is somewhat to blame here. At the end of the day, it is cool to get both of these guys on the shelf, but my overall opinion can be boiled down to six words: R2-D2, good; C-3PO, not so much.
This set is currently available at AmiAmi.com
