Sideshow’s R2-D2 is perhaps the ultimate step in a long history of toy collecting. My addiction to toys began with the 3 ¾ inch R2-D2 in the late seventies, and now Sideshow has produced a 12-inch scale version that dominates the shelf and looks as if it Boop Da-Whoop Whistle-Blatted right off the screen.
The unofficial mascot of the Star Wars universe has been well-served in the action figure realm. From that initial little figure he soon received an upgrade with actual extending periscope, and then a little later a pop-up lightsaber. He’s been made in 1/18th scale, 1/12th scale and 1/6th scale, miniature, oversized…he’s run the gamut of action figure sizes and types.
Sideshow’s R2-D2 is a great figure that suffers only slightly from a few nitpicky details that don’t diminish the grandeur of how well done he is. Whether standing upright or leaning back and cruising around on his actual wheels, Artoo looks great and plays extremely well. He isn’t freshly polished, instead favoring the “lived in” quality, with a dirty bottom half that transitions to a cleaner top-half, which makes him look as if he’s been scooting around in the desert. each panel is outlined and detailed with gives him a more finished quality than Hasbro’s Black Series Artoo. While he is by necessity a hunk of plastic that lacks a lot of articulation, Artoo’s figure does not skimp on letting him do all that he needs to do, most of which means saving the day at every chance, all while being haughtily chastised by a walking nannycam.
While he’s not a spider-ninja, his ankles, “shoulders” and dome are all fully articulated. His dome spins a complete 360 degrees, and each of the three sensorscopes on his dome are fully movable to allow for any manner of expressive positioning.
His trademark third leg is spring loaded, so all you have to do is press on it and it will pop out. Pull it out fully to lock it into place and R2 is ready to zip around the Tantive, Tatooine, Jabba’s barge, Endor or wherever you want him to do his zipping.
While there is no sound feature, Artoo does feature a light-up dome, and here is where one slight nitpick comes in. In order to activate the feature, you have to remove his dome and flick a switch from “off” to “on” and then replace the dome. It seems like the same thing could have been managed with one of the unused ports on the top of his dome, or even by pushing on one of his sensorscopes. Having to remove the dome each and every time you want to activate the lights is a pain, but not a figure-killer by any means. Once they’re activated, they’re very bright, vivid and pretty awesome.
Edit: Well, apparently you don’t have to remove the dome. That larger blue panel on the left in the lower panel is a sensor pad that turns the lights on and off. Touch it once to turn the lights on, touch it again to turn the hologram projector light on, and a third time to turn it off. Now you–and I–know!
He comes with a variety of accessories, all of which plug into various ports on his body. He comes with Luke’s unlit lightsaber from Return of the Jedi, which has a magnet on one end that allows you to open each of the panels on his body. His dome houses his sensorscope, his lifeform reader and a slot for Luke’s lightsaber, all of which fit into recesses. Unfortunately, nitpick two is that his lifeform reader doesn’t want to stay fully extended in the slot. That’s pretty much the only other major nitpick, is that a few things are a bit loose, which means if you tilt him forward, some of the panels pop open just by gravity. The simple solution would be “not to tilt him,” but the problem could have been alleviated by a little bit more of a locking feature on certain things. I guess that would have obstructed the magnetized lightsaber trick, so there’s always a tradeoff with certain gimmicks. Again, not a figure-killer, but worth mentioning.
He comes with a handful of attachments, including his electrical prod that he used on Salacious Crumb, his claw that he used on Yoda, and his terminal arm for talking to various computer systems. Unfortunately, he doesn’t come with his saw attachment, so if he gets netted by Ewoks he’s boned.
He comes with his ornately sculpted serving tray from Jabba’s barge, including 7 separate drink glasses that plug into pegs on the tray, and a multi-armed, fully articulated serving arm that plugs into a port on the top of his dome. Once attached there’s no threat of spilling these drinks, so the Dune sea holds no fear for the barge’s thirsty occupants.
His final accessory is a big one: Old Ben Kenobi’s table. With the handy lightsaber magnet, you remove a small hatch on top of it, slot in a clear blue Leia statue, press a knob and Leia is telling General Obi-Wan Kenobi to help her, because he’s her only hope. And trust me, if your only hope is an old man living in his own filth in the desert, your situation really sucks. Again this is a very bright and very cool addition to the overall package.
R2-D2 is a well done 12-inch scale figure that looks great and is fun to fiddle with, and will look even better once he’s joined later in the year by Sideshow’s C-3P0, who will be significantly more expensive that Artoo’s 150 price point but will be well worth it to have the pair of them together in so many scales.