Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 1,625: YVH-1

YVH-1 Build-A-Droid
The Legacy Collection Droid Factory Figure
Item No.: Asst. 87535
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: n/a
Availability: November 2009
Appearances: New Jedi Order novels

Bio: The YVH 1, or Yuuzhan Vong Hunter One combat droid, was a battle droid developed by Tendrando Arms as a means to effectively combat Yuuzhan Vong warriors. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' former back yard BBQ.

Commentary: Figures which hail from novels are pretty uncommon-- usually a "book" figure actually can trace its roots to a comic panel or a book cover, so this YVH-1 figure was a somewhat unlikely creation as his head sorta appeared on a book cover and a full-body design appeared, eventually, elsewhere. It's a unique mold-- most build-a-droids were made with repaints in mind-- and it's an army-builder, shipping with some figures which weren't supremely easy to find. The figure itself is pretty nicely done, although the design (especially when reduced to the 3 3/4-inch scale) screams "Terminator" more than "Star Wars." The skeletal robot was meant to evoke the Yuuzhan Vong warriors, except robotic, and a voice (in the books) based on that of one Lando Calrissian. So basically you have a Lando-bot designed to kill aliens. I can't fault that as a concept.

The figure has 14 points of articulation and like most build-a-droid figures, lacks ball-jointed shoulders. He does sport 14 points of articulation, which is pretty swell, although I doubt most of you are going to do much with this guy once you assemble him. The detail is good, although the plastic choice doesn't really evoke "metallic soldier" all that much as it's sort of beige and the way this kind of plastic interacts with light makes it feel less awesome. The painted parts, and the silver blaster, look great though and Hasbro's sculptors did a great job recreating the source material here. It's a nice figure, but given the size of the line-- I mean, damn, it's huge-- it may not be an essential buy unless you're a really big fan of the Expanded Universe. (Not being a huge fan of the novels, I didn't know that this guy was a thing until Hasbro announced the figure.) I'd say get it if you like droids and toys from the distant future of Star Wars.

Collector's Notes: There are two toys that more or less reference cable news networks-- YVH-1 and the vintage mini-rig, MTV-7. His many parts shipped with n Revenge of the Sith-themed wave of figures in 2009, and that wave was actually somewhat difficult to get in many markets. A complete loose figure is worth about $10. Since the figure was distributed as a bonus part with other action figures, packaged samples don't technicaly exist.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 1,625: September 6, 2011