Friday, June 17, 2011

The Deluxe C-3PO Figure With The Droid Factory Assembly Line Is A Good Idea!




The Good: Cool accessories, Good idea, Great playability
The Bad: Overproduced, Balance issues
The Basics: Balance issues rob this otherwise awesome C-3PO and Battle Droid deluxe figure of perfection. Still worthwhile for play and display!


In the Star Wars saga, there are few characters that appear in the entire sextet and a few one might wish did not. But because of how the droids begin the first film, there is a strong argument for checking out toys that help flesh out their story in the saga. In Attack Of The Clones, C-3P0 returns and in the toy line associated with it, C-3PO was released as his usual persona and as a deluxe figure from late in the film when he was part of the droid factory action. This toy is actually more accurately C-3PO and a Battle Droid with a section of the droid factory. This is an ambitious toy, well executed, by Hasbro.

C-3PO, the Protocol Droid built on Tatooine by a young Anakin Skywalker who is recovered from that desert world in Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!), was seen getting his head knocked off on the droid assembly line on Geonosis. There, he found himself in an assembly line where a Battle Droid received his head and he had a Battle Droid head.

This deluxe C-3PO figure is one of the best 3P0 figures and he fleshes out the full Star Wars universe fairly well, more or less being the best value for fans looking for an Episode 2 C-3PO. This figure has great playability and looks good, though outside the accessory has some balance problems.

Basics

C-3PO in this form is essentially the recognizable C-3P0, save that he is adorned in gray panels, not gold ones. He is well-detailed for an Episode II 3PO and the Battle Droid is similarly recognizable to anyone who has seen Attack Of The Clones. The battle droid is red and that is basically correct for the battle droid from the film, though that was more of a rust color. Both figures have limbs that detach from the torso section and heads that may be removed. This makes them fully interchangeable! Both figures stand flatfooted and are generally poorly balanced when they are off the Droid Factory Assembly Line which they come with.

This C-3PO figure stands only 3 1/2" tall when his own head is attached and a little taller with the Battle Droid head. The Battle Droid is 4 1/8" to the top of the antennae atop its backpack. Both figures are appropriately unadorned by any clothing, as they are robots and never wore any in the films. Both figures is made entirely of soft plastic, save 3P0's torso, so all of their limbs have a little play to them.

This toy is a decent sculpt and both have decent paint detailing. For example, the red Battle Droid has silver meticulously painted into the joints for detailing there. As well, C-3PO's arm panels have green and rust accents as well as paint detailing that makes him look like he has been kicked around a droid factory for a while!

Accessories

C-3PO, being a Protocol droid, requires very few accessories and comes with none . . . sort of. The Battle Droid comes with a Battle Droid blaster, which is a 1 5/8" black plastic gun which has great detail molded into it, but is monotonally colored. This Battle Droid also comes with a little 3/4" blaster bolt which attaches to the front of the blaster and makes it appear as if it is firing. The gun fits into either of the Battle Droid's hands or C-3PO's right hand.

The Battle Droid also comes with its control backpack. The 1 1/2" backpack has realistic coloring with the gray antennae above the red pack. This has a little peg which pokes into the back of either the Battle Droid or C-3PO. It also has a slot which may hold the blaster rifle on the side and that is a neat bit of detailing that increases the toy's playability.

The other accessory is the Droid Factory Assembly Line, which is actually a pretty cool accessory. This is a six inch long by two and a quarter inch wide plastic base that looks like the conveyer belt C-3P0 found himself on near the climax of Attack Of The Clones. There are pegs - two each - for both figures to aid them in standing. Attached to the conveyer belt section is a mechanical arm that rises almost five inches above the base. The mechanical arm swivels, rises and has magnets in it that hold both the Battle Droid and C-3P0's heads. The base is sturdy, stable and durable and looks good, though it looks very clean, especially in comparison to the C-3P0.

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and C-3PO and the Battle Droid are excellent in that regard. First, the arms, legs and head of both droid can be removed and interchanged to create freakish mixes of protocol and war robots. As well, the magnets in the heads allow both characters to have heads pushed into or pulled out of their sockets while their feet are firmly planted on the pegs the droids are designed to stand on. The mechanical arm is a great dexterity test and allows for some truly great play options.

Off the base, though, both C-3PO and the Battle Droid fall over easily if their feet are moved even a bit out of a flatfooted position. Beyond that, both figures have decent posability that fits their characters. Both have only five points of articulation, but they move like they do in the movie! Because of the balancing issues, the minimal flexibility pretty much mandates collectors pose the figure in very set ways. Both figures have joints at the groin socket, shoulders and neck. There is no articulation in the knees or ankles, which prevents them from remaining stable in forms other than with legs straight below him.

Collectibility

The deluxe C-3PO is part of the 2002 Star Wars saga collection of four-inch action figures. This series of Star Wars action figures was fairly common and the C-3PO figure was one of four deluxe action figures from the Attack Of The Clones line and was in no way shortpacked in the cases. As a result, C-3PO was pretty well available in the cases of this product and as a result is still widely available on the secondary market today. In other words, this C-3PO is a poor investment and is more ideal for collectors and children who actually want an interesting C-3PO to play with!

Overview

This is a fun C-3PO and Battle Droid and balance issues aside is well worth buying and playing with!

For other Attack Of The Clones line figures and toys, please check out my reviews on:
#02 Arena Escape Padme Amidala
#10 Shaak Ti
#23 Yoda
#27 Count Dooku
#39 Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
Deluxe Yoda with Force Powers
Deluxe Nexu
Geonosian Starfighter
Hailfire Droid

7/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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