R2-DL70 70th Anniversary of Disneyland Exclusive
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: No. 418148205339
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $14.99
Availability: June 2025
Appearances: n/a
Bio: All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. From the heart of Coruscant, this droid assists with celebrations. Join R2-DL70 on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your droids! (Taken from the packaging.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!
Commentary: New! The
R2-DL70 is one of those bits of corporate synergy that you'll either find irresistible or cloying. I'm on the fence. I missed out on/skipped (I can't remember which) the C1 Mickey droid, and haven't felt I missed it as I am not a Disney fanatic - I can appreciate making weird things to celebrate your legacy, but it's always a little weird to see
Star Wars as a part of Disney because the two were not in the same up-front presentations at licensing shows until about 10 years ago. For many, it's a long engagement since 1987 when
Star Tours opened. It's going to be interesting to see if future generations - assuming they care about
Star Wars - incorrectly assume George Lucas worked for Walt Disney. You laugh, but history gets real fuzzy real quick for a lot of people.
If Disneyland crashed and burned, and this was just some random inspiration someone took to make a toy, I would still like this figure. The droid is colored like Cinderella's castle at night, with a blue dome and various purple, blue, and gold bits. If you like the theme park? It works on that level. If you want something that also just looks like a 1960s kid's book or advertising art? It works on that level too, but I am something of a Disney party pooper. I used to poo-poo "It's a Small World" back in college until my late friend Zac one day said "it's like a Shag art fever dream" in the days before the Servotron/Tiki Tones/Man or Astro-Man? record cover artist went to do official Disney collabs. Zac was right. This feels more like that - some sort of anachronistic midcentury weirdness that should not exist. It's bright and cheery, and feels like it was made from the era before style guides. For a figure like R2-DL70 to have a blue dome, with another metallic blue color for his panels on the top of his head, there's a certain kind of gaudy overkill and I absolutely dig it.
Looking at the dome alone, it's so utterly charming and off-kilter that I demand you buy one. The gold around the black eye? Great. White panels? Great. The trim all looks like it came from a bygone era that people idolize, but probably isn't as good as the present, and that's just the head. The body has more purple and gold, dark blues, silvers, and black wheels. There's even gold trim on the feet. It's ornate - it doesn't need to be, but it is. The droid has no hat, and you can tell that the budget probably went to the paint. The back of the figure is also fairly pretty with big bold purple and blue boxes, making this one of the better colorways. And there are plenty of good ones.
Pop off the dome, and the greeblies underneath are all purple. That's unusual, I was expecting them to be either silver or unpainted to keep costs down. It's striking.
I miss my friend Zac a lot. He had his wedding at Disneyland. One of the last places I went before I moved away from LA was to take a rare day off work to travel to Anaheim so we could go on an off-peak day to see tons and tons of rides. I'm not a huge theme park guy, but if you ever have the chance to go with someone who is? I highly recommend it. I wonder if he would have dug this one, as he was not a toy collector but had plenty of other awesome stuff. I can tell you I really like this figure, even though it set me back over $25 shipped. It's too unusual to pass up, and is a welcome break from mascot characters and holiday icons. If there are other famous buildings they want to make as a toy robot, I would be interested in seeing how that worked out.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney. It did not sell out immediately.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,261: July 24, 2025
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