Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,701: BB Unit (Color-Changing Droids, Droid Factory Line Look)

BB Unit Color-Changing Droids
Star Wars Disney Droid Depot
Item No.: No. ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: 4 droids - RA-7 Protocol Droid, BB Unit, R2 Astromech, C1 Astromech
Action Feature: Pops apart, has weighted core, changes from black to red
Retail: $39.99
Availability: ca. July 2019
Appearances: n/a

Bio: All different types of droids populate the galaxy.  Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors.  These droids have the special ability to change color!  (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  It's different!  This BB Unit is basically BB-9E with a twist.  When chilled, it looks a lot like the BB-9E figure Disney sold in a 4-pack in 2017 - you got that one, right?  You didn't forget it existed and you bought it already, right?  Anyway, it has the same swivel neck, splittable ball, and an interior weighted ball cast in black with blue "lights" painted on it.

As a cold figure in black, it looks fine.  However, it's summer, so all you have to do is look at this BB unit and it changes to its warm colors - and they're great!  The figure changed to a nice red, and you can even see it peek out from behind the silver vents.  This is one of the better color-changes on these figures, with no weird fuzzy paint or colors that you just don't buy.  It's a clean transition with solid colors, so kudos to team Disney for engineering this mold well, and then for following up to paint it right too.

Disney really knocked this one out of the park, with its wobbly weighted based and perfect color change.  Get it if you can find it - it's fun.  The only thing that surprises me more than how much I like it is that we didn't see this kind of paint used on Onell Design figures first.   Also you'll need to get this one online.

 

Collector's Notes: I got mine from my pal Shannon. Thanks Shannon!  There are 2 droid 4-packs and 1 droid playset with a Gonk Droid at this time.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,701: June 23, 2020

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,446: BB-9E (The Last Jedi Line Look)

BB-9E with Rose (First Order Disguise) and BB-8
The Last Jedi Deluxe Action Figure 2-Packs
Item No.: Asst. C1242 No. C3530
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: 3-piece rifle, blaster, 2 extra figures
Action Feature: Force Link sounds
Retail: $14.99
Availability: November 2017
Appearances: The Last Jedi

Bio: BB-9E was a black-plated BB-series astromech droid in the service of the First Order. Unlike BB-8, a BB unit in the service of the Resistance, the droid featured a squarer domed head and red-colored sensor  (Stolen from Wookieepedia.  Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  Teased early and mysterious, it turned out BB-9E was a super-cool non-entity in the movie.  Its eye moved menacingly, and that's about it.  The toy makes pretty standard BB-8 noises when used with a Force Link band, and it's a bit smaller than the Disney Droid Factory BB-9E [FOTD #2,437].   Each version does different things well - the Hasbro one is smaller, a single figure, and has better neck articulation.  The Disney one is bigger, a little brighter, and arguably looks a bit more like the photo - but some elements just aren't perfect.

The small droid is hollow, a little light, and has two joints.  The head and the body are connected by a bar piece, so it can move at either place.  You can get a little personality out of the figure with head tilts, but the droid on-screen was pretty mechanical.    The dark grey "hub caps" around the silver "vents" is presented here nicely, but it also highlights some of the limitations of the 3 3/4-inch scale figure - at this budget - when the actual prop has lights coming from within.  I doubt Hasbro would want to sell a $8 figure with a light, but for all I know it would have done fine.   The silver and grey markings on the head are significantly darker than the movie, as are the eye and blue lights, which is a pity because you'd want to exaggerate those kinds of details at a smaller size.   Most action figures have brighter skin and eyes, bigger hands and heads, and other slight enhancements to counter the diminutive scale of these things.   Humans tend to be a little paler, although there are exceptions.

Given the darker deco and smaller build than the Disney counterpart, I'm currently torn on what to suggest.  As of today, Disney's Droid Factory line offers more BB-series droids making that the definitive scale to collect - but if you want First Order Rose, you'll wind up with this figure.  If you just want the droids, Disney's 4-pack for The Last Jedi should be more than sufficient - but Hasbro completists are going to want this one, particularly if you own one or more of the Force Link band accessories.   I would be very interested to see if either maker does a better, more feature-laden version some day but I am assuming the 3 3/4-inch action figure format has peaked and we're just watching it slide into obscurity.  Unless it has a weird, high-end comeback with fancy $30 figures in 10 years.  Hey, that's basically what happened with 1:6 scale figures, so don't knock it.

Collector's Notes:  I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,446: January 15, 2017

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,437: BB-9E (Droid Factory Line Look)

BB-9E Disney's, Bigger than Hasbro's
Droid Factory The Last Jedi Boxed Set
Item No.:   No. 23185
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: 3 more droid figures
Action Feature: Breaks down into 4 separate pieces
Retail: $29.99
Availability: September 2017
Appearances: The Last Jedi

Bio: All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy.  Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors.   These four BB units are featured in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.   May the Force be with you... and your Droids!  (Taken from the figure's packaging.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  As of now I've not seen the movie and have mostly ignored spoilers. BB-9E is a mystery to me - it's black, it's probably a First Order droid,  It has a head seemingly more inspired by the shape of R5-D4's head, with a more angled look and a red eye. It's black and silver, so it looks a bit more like Darth Vader - it must be evil!  Probably.  Maybe it's just cute.  Maybe he'll join up with the Resistance until BB-8 shoves him out of a space ship - which is what happened on Rebels with Chopper.

Functionally the toy is the same as the other Disney droids - he stands larger than Hasbro's models, and can pop apart at the equator to reveal a weighted ball inside that allows him to stay upright.  The head can be popped off and you can mix and match the droid hemispheres if you like.   It's basically a cute Star Wars Weeble - he wobbles, but won't fall down.   You're probably seeing the movie right now so you've got a better idea if this figure is interesting or authentic than I do as I write the review.

I can say it's neat, I like the look, and it's functionally a sound plaything.  I'd say it's a good figure for the price, as is the entire set, if you want a bunch of little round robots.  The entire The Last Jedi line feels a little anemic so far, but so did Kenner's 1980-1982 offerings for The Empire Strikes Back - it was fairly true to the movie in that sense, too.  I guess by now, I'll know if Hasbro's line was good or not - I also get the feeling Hasbro is also just finding this out.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disneyland via my pal Zac.  Thank you Zac!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,437: December 15, 2017