As well as a Dalek Collection, I also maintain a collection of Star Wars Astromech Droids, and although this collection is significantly smaller than my Dalek collection, it still warrants its own four-part series. Part 3 will cover a famous droid with a bad motivator, various Naboo units and another droid that looks like a Halloween special.

R2-A3

Created by Hasbro for a Wedge Antilles X-Wing, this droid is loosely based on Wedge’s red droid seen in A New Hope, although the colours on that droid are inverted (as in, it has a red head with silver detailing whereas this droid has a silver head with red detail.) Why Hasbro insists on making figures of Star Wars characters that either barely appear or don’t even exist at all is beyond me, but its a nice addition to the collection.

R5-D4

Of all the droids in Star Wars that aren’t R2-D2 and C-3PO, this is the one that is most deserving of its own figure since it at least has a scene in A New Hope. R5-D4 is the droid that Luke Skywalker originally buys instead of R2-D2, but due to a ‘bad motivator’ the droid malfunctions and internal explosions cause it to shut down. That effect can be replicated with this figure, as turning the head causes the little nodule at the top (which is presumably the aforementioned malfunctioning ‘motivator’) to emerge, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, the manufacturers did not find a way to make the figure spew smoke in the process, so the effect is somewhat underwhelming.

R2-N3

One of the many astromech droids seen in The Phantom Menace that use R2-D2’s base design just with different colours, R2-N3 is seen a few times throughout the movie, both in the Theed Hangar and on the Royal Starship, before being obliterated so that R2-D2 could take the spotlight. As a possible reference to his demise, this figure had be disassembled into its component parts – dome, body, legs and feet, in case children want to recreate this poor guy’s final moments.

R2-L3

When Hasbro had finished scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas for figures, they removed the barrel’s underside and started digging a hole. When that hole got about 6 feet deep, they found this guy. Not that this droid doesn’t look cool, because it does – in fact its design is one of the most unique astromech droid paint jobs, and perhaps that alone makes it worth having – it’s just that the droid appears in Episode II for less than a second.

R2-R9

Like poor R2-N3, R2-R9 bravely ventured out onto the hull of Queen Amidala’s Royal Starship and unfortunately forgot his plot armor. Thanks to terrible writing, the Trade Federation are somehow able to precisely pick off each and every astromech droid (except R2-D2, of course, whose plot armor was well intact at this point) without actually damaging the ship itself. But whilst he was born out of a terrible movie, R2-R9 is actualized in the form of this standard quality figure, which also features the ability to be torn limb from limb.

Stay tuned for Part 4, in which I will be showcasing my Custom Astromech Droids! Remember to leave a like if you enjoyed, follow us or like us on Facebook for more content like this.