The Good: Great balance, Decent sculpt and coloring
The Bad: Poor articulation, Lack of accessories, No workable treads
The Basics: The Star Wars Legacy Collection FA-4 is, arguably, the grail of the new line, but it’s a pretty underwhelming figure with limited appeal.
Every Star Wars action figure line has a “grail figures.” The “grail” is usually underproduced and unique to the wave, like the Darth Malgus figure (reviewed here!) released in the Vintage Collection. For Amazon.com’s exclusive Legacy Collection line, the unique figure (outside the build-a-droid figure) was FA-4. FA-4 was Count Dooku’s droid from Attack Of The Clones and it’s surprising that Hasbro made the grail figure from one of the least recognizable characters from the least popular film in the franchise.
For those unfamiliar with the FA-4, it was the droid piloting Count Dooku’s shuttle at the climax of Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!). It was the bronze and gray droid seen for only a few frames as Dooku was escaping Geonosis.
The 4" FA-4 figure is a cool-looking figure of a largely unrecognizable, CG-generated character that is not as sophisticated as it could be.
Basics
The FA-4 figure stands 3 1/4" tall and it is a thin robot with giant “feet.” The feet, which are at the bottom of the vaguely humanoid droid’s legs are made to look like they would allow the droid to roll around. This is where the sculpt is thoroughly unimpressive; the feet have texture for the tank-like treads on the feet, but the treads do not rotate or allow the figure to roll around.
That said, the rest of the sculpt for FA-4 is decent and its coloring is great. The character is cast in monotones, but it suits a clean droid. The copper/bronze portions of the droid are cast in a pearlescent plastic that makes it look like it is built of metal. Like many of the virtual characters from Star Wars made into action figures, the FA-4 figure has ridiculously thin arms and neck. Because FA-4 is based upon a briefly-seen subject, the sculpt is immaculate, but the detailing is minimal; the character was not given exceptional detailing, so the figure lacks it as well.
Accessories
The FA-4 is a droid that could have come with Dooku’s shuttle, but was made on its own. As such, it comes with no accessories outside the build-a-droid part. The FA-4 features the torso section of TC-70. The copper torso jointed and includes sculpted and coloring detailing for the wires in the stomach area. The torso looks exactly like what one expects of a Star Wars protocol droid. The torso has a ball joint so the chest and bottom section can move a bit. The torso section is the essential part of the Build-A-Droid figure; all other parts plug right into it.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and the FA-4 is fair on that front. The FA-4 has absolutely perfect balance, but somewhat limited poseability. The FA-4 is articulated at eight points, four of which are simple swivel joints! The FA-4 figure is articulated at the groin socket, shoulders, elbows, neck and head. The head is on a ball-and-socket joint. The elbows are both on hinge joints and the shoulders and groin socket have simple swivel joints which do all they truly need to do. This figure does not twist at the waist or have much in the way of lower body articulation.
This is one of the few figures in the Star Wars line that does not have a hole for the pegs found on playsets or vehicles, but that’s fine; it is incredibly stable as it is.
Collectibility
The FA-4 is part of the Legacy Collection with the build-a-droid figure that was released in 2013 exclusively through Amazon.com. The FA-4 was released with equal frequency as the rest of the line. Given how this figure is unique and includes the essential Build-A-Droid piece, it is already appreciating in value. Given how unremarkable and small the figure is, though, one suspects it is reaching its peak value now, making it a shaky investment figure.
Overview
FA-4 is a very basic and unimpressive droid figure, though one that is essential for collectors of Star Wars droids as there are no other figures quite like FA-4!
For other Star Wars droid figures, please check out my reviews of:
2013 Legacy Collection Battle Droid
Capture The Force #3 – Destroyer Droid
Saga Legends SL02 IG-88
4/10
For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my Star Wars Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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