B5-R4 The Book of Boba Fett Set
Star Wars Droid Factory - Shop Disney/Park Exclusive
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: #361
Includes: 4 figures, drink harness, drum harness, salad harness
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $44.99
Availability: May 2025
Appearances: The Book of Boba Fett Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. These droids can be found in Garsa's Sanctuary on Tatooine. 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: Fwip your lid with
B5-R4. While not fully appreciated, Disney's droid game has been pretty good when they decide to make something neat on TV - sometimes they translate well to toys. Sometimes not. This one's in between. I find
The Book of Boba Fett a show that excelled in the craft of
Star Wars, if not the art of storytelling. Each episode is loaded with cool creatures, amazing sets, wonderful droids, and the alien costumes were very realistic.
White with the most desaturated green this side of Naboo, B5-R4 looks pretty good and has some similarities on other R4 units you've seen before. Usually they're greener, and instead of the slightly rounded lines of R4-J1, it's a little more straight. But similar. I had to check because the little guy seemed pretty similar, but upon closer comparison you can see they're merely just very, very similar. The coverage is unique - it's a new paint mask - with some unusual patterns like a circular notch taken out of one of the white trapezoids on the dome. The white eye box looks great, as does the gold around the silver on the holographic projector. The robot has the silver on the shoulders and generally does a great job of looking like the prop on the show. Maybe the gold/bronze band around the head could be a bit more pronounced, but aside from that? This is very good.
I don't like the drink harness as much, but again, it's probably as good as we're going to get. It's not the same one as R2-S4M or the other drink bots, but it's similar and it's gold. It comes with eight removable glasses and two silver plugs, plus has two empty indentations that aren't being used. It does not have the clear windows on the sides of the drink tray, plus the drinks don't have the green garnish seen on the show. Is it reasonable to expect this? Probably not. The fact that the little glasses have any texture or paint is pretty remarkable, and speaks to the low expectations I have from repaints of repaints of repaints with the occasional bit of remolding. It's good we got a new part, and I like the little silver greeblies sticking out of the front. If it were a little darker gold overall, I'd say it was very good - but it's fine. We don't have an official Garsa Fwip figure, much to my chagrin, so I doubt a lot of fans who aren't customizers with 3D printers will ever get to build out Garsa's Sanctuary anyway. I find this vexing - "scene building" gets thrown around as a reason some fans collect, but it's hard to do when you're missing the main key players. And the minor players. But the low-hanging fruit, the background droid repaints? Those you've got.
I hope Hasbro or Disney keep building out The Book of Boba Fett in 3 3/4-inches, mostly because there are just so many wonderful designs that make great action figures. This droid turned out acceptable for what all parties were trying to do... minus, you know, making enough of them to meet demand. For something that's a few years late it's a good set. 4 droids for $45 is a steal in 2025. I'd recommend the set to those with an affinity for automatons, but I wouldn't say to pick it up to future-proof yourself for that Garsa Fwip Playset. I don't think Hasbro is going to revisit this show much.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney. It was posted on May 4, and abruptly sold through. Check the theme park or eBay for this one. I hate directing people to eBay, but given the cost of admission (and parking, and a plane ticket, and a hotel) it might be your least worst option. At this point in my life I'd pay a small mark-up just to not lose 1-2 days of my life across state lines for a shopping trip with paid parking.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,264: August 5, 2025
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