Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,295: Gonk (Gift Snowflake, Advent Calendar 2024)

GONK Gift
Star Wars Droid Factory 2024 Advent Calendar
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: R2 Gingerbread Droid, BB-8 Snowman, Chopper Penguin, Gonk Gift, D-O Holiday, B2EMO present, R1 Holiday Bell, wreath, Santa hat, drink tray, scarf, tiny top hat
Action Feature: Hat, open hatch to reveal mechanical guts inside
Retail: $79.99
Availability: August 2024
Appearances: n/a

Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up the Sandcrawler to reveal and build 7 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. 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: This Gonk (Gift) is not poison, despite what your High School German classes may have told you. Wlel, maybe it was - the $80 set is going for about $40 on eBay now, which means it likely underperformed. As of my writing this there's no 2025 Advent Calendar, and based on last year's designs I'd say that might be a good thing. They weren't bad - heck, some are great! But I feel like it's getting harder and harder to make something stand out as original. Thankfully, this Power Droid is plenty weird.

Making use of the ever-popular Santa Claus Hat, the existing droid mold gets cast in white plastic with a blue snowflake wrapping paper pattern. It's very good for what it is - a holiday souvenir. We don't tend to see a lot of figures with printed-all-over patterns, let alone ones with painted red ribbon motifs. The deco is sharp, and a couple of bolts - plus the face - also get some paint. There aren't special eye details or anything, which is unfortunate - I would have loved a little more face here. The 2022 gift Gonk was similarly underpainted in that region, but the 2024 model spends its paint budget. It looks distinctive. Depending on your vision, you might be able to squint at let this guy roam around your dioramas hatless and he'll fit right in.

In terms of action features, there's not much here. This formerly gray droid with his festive hat's legs swing forward and the legs swing back, but where's he bobbin at? Probably Hoth. The dome is removable revealing molded gray detailing inside, but there's not a lot of paint or special detail in there. This is normal for the mold, and Disney has been continuing to get dividends from its droid tooling investments. As they should. But I don't think they've ever done a carded Power Droid for their parks or proprietary stores.

I like this guy a bunch - he's hung out on my desk since getting him last year, partially as a reminder to review him now and partially because it just looks neat. Given that the whole big cardboard Sandcrawler is reasonably inexpensive due to lack of consumer interest, I'd recommend the set to droid fanatics and those who need holiday droid things. I also wouldn't mind seeing Disney let their designers go wild and do "designer droids" in whatever colors they deem worthwhile, because that sort of thing sure works for Be@rbricks and Glyos.

Collector's Notes: I got mine with some coupons from DisneyStore.com last year. They're out, but it can be had on other marketplaces, as can the 2022 version.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,295: November 20, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,094: Power Droid (a.k.a. Gonk, Advent Calendar 2022)

POWER DROID Droid Cosplay
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Silver BB droid, Nutcracker R5 droid, Gold R4 droid, Giftwrapped Power Droid with bow, Elf R6 Droid with hat, C1 droid
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $69.99
Availability: August 2022
Appearances: n/a

Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up the Sandcrawler to reveal and build 6 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. May the Force be with you... and your droids!" This droid is optimized to function in the sparsely settled, unspoiled frontier world of Vandor. Join R6-SNO on their adventures throughout the galaxy! (Taken from the packaging. Yes, the one quotation mark and reference to R6-SNO, who is not included, was on the box in three languages.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: As the year winds down, I've got a bunch of holiday droids we didn't get to yet - but we have to put those things away until next year, right? Right. So let's open one more gift - the Power Droid, or Gonk Droid, or EG-6 or whatever dressed up as a gift box. Given how these things were photographed I'd say it's arguable which accessories can go with which figure - the little bow & mistletoe could be a part of the golden droid, or seen as a bow at the top of the power droid. Problem is, the Power Droid's hat hole has paint in it, thus making it impossible to cram a hat in the hat hole. (Is this getting dirty? Is this dirty talk?) Anyway, you can give him a hat if you want, just be prepared to shave down the hat peg or to scrape some paint off the socket. I will be doing neither of these things.

As with other Power Droids, you can pop the hatch off and see the inside with what looks vaguely like old PC guts or cooling stuf. The droid mold itself is molded in green with red ribbon deco and silver highlights, including the face (which could use some more color), the restraining bolts, the antenna, and the vent on the back (no notes.) Springy silver deco is there on the legs too, which gives it a Santa Claus Conquers the Martians vibe. It's colorful - very not-Star Wars. On the other hand, the simple coloring does look like it could be a blurry background bot in a comic or on the Droids cartoon, doesn't it?

Articulation on this green robot consists of legs that can swing forward. And that's it. Honestly, even that seems pretty generous - he can stand just fine, and emote just a bit by posing him looking up or down. It's pretty much all you need, and I would argue it's one of the better droids in this set. If I were Disney I'd probably have cut costs by not painting some of the guts silver, but that's probably why you'll never see anyone hiring me to make budgets for these things. If you can see this set for a fair price, the per-robot retail is pretty good. But I'm a sucker for robots.

Thanks for another great year, dear readers, and I hope we can keep doing this until you or I can't stands no more.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from some guy on eBay for a lower price!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,094: December 28, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,824: EG-01 (Droid Depot Line Look)

EG-01 Disney Parks Exclusive
Droid Depot Droid Depot Droids boxed set
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $49.99
Availability: ??? 2020
Appearances: Galaxy's Edge
Bio: EG-01 was a GNK-series power droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton[1] with green plating. (Taken from Wookieepedia. Box has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: This is a new sculpt! At first glance I wasn't sure if EG-01 was a retool of previous Power Droid figures or not, but it looks like they gave us something wholly new here. There are clearly some elements which seem to share inspiration - the guts, for example, may come from a similar digital sculpt - but the exterior and legs are new for this figure. In other words, you probably want it, and you probably want the set.

I make no secret of liking droids (the robots) and Droids (the cartoon) so any time Hasbro or Disney crank out something more than a repaint, I get excited. Disney hasn't fully exploited the existing Power Droid tool, and here we are with a new one. I'm OK with that. There are numerous riffs on these walking batteries in the games and movies, with this one coming from a theme park. You can see it outside of a store, and buy it. Should you? I mean, no, but we're us. We like this kind of thing. The green is incredibly pale, almost looking bleached by a star surrounding whatever planet he was on. The exterior is covered in nifty greeblies, with all sorts of buttons, switches, symbols, vents, panels, and of course the "E"-lookin' symbols we've come to know and love. He's even got a big antenna on it. The droid seems to be one of the largest 3 3/4-inch scale Power Droid figures, and certainly the mst ornate. The top of the head has nifty indentations, a hole for a hat/crane, and all sorts of little bits that arguably make it better than the flat, bland Sandcrawler droid or his tan Hasbro inspiration. (Which I also still like. But this new one looks cooler.)

Articulation is two moving legs - they swing forward, and that's it. That's enough, really. The dome pops off to reveal vents and guts that look somewhat similar to other droids, but it's a new design with some minor differences. What surprised me is the smaller Power Droid's lid fits - it's a perfect fit. It actually lets you swap parts and customize your droids, which would be awesome if there could be more parts in a build-a-droid factory set. (Not bin parts, please. Boxed sets only.) If you somehow get stuck with a lot of extra droid parts and love to make your own robots, I think this feature is going to be a huge selling point. It's not easy to swap parts of differently sized figures.

With incredibly subtle dusty dirt deco, this is a spectacular little robot with an abundance of detail we rarely see on a Power Droid. Someone over there did a great job, and it's a pity this is relegated to theme park souvenir status. Vintage fans would probably dig it, it's a great way to build out the Star Wars toy galaxy with a non-movie (I think) design as I am admittedly lacking in complete movie reference power these days. It's bigger, it has more detail, it's covered in little painted parts... you've got no real reason to skip this one. It's in a nice boxed set, and it's a cool droid. The only way it could be better is if Disney takes the mold and painted it in Kenner 1979 Power Droid colors, giving us the "close enough" Power Droid we've all been wanting for years now.

Collector's Notes: I got this from eBay for about $63 delivered. I was not happy to overpay by $13, but after tax and shipping, it wasn't too bad. It's still cheaper than paying the theme park parking rate were I still relatively local.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,824: June 8, 2021

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,724: Power Droid (Lars Family Homestead, The Vintage Collection)

POWER DROID Still not the one in the cardback picture
The Vintage Collection   3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. E9393
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #167
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable top
Retail: $12.99
Availability: July 2020
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: Little more than walking batteries, power droids trundle along as directed by their owners or their programming, recharging vehicles and machinery.   (Taken from Hasbro marketing materials.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: For years there has been question as to what the original Kenner Power Droid was.   This is Hasbro's first attempt to do it on the 1979-style cardback... and it's clearly not the same robot.  The one in the picture has a different face and some different greeblies on the side of the head, but this absolutely is the Lars Family Homestead Gonk Droid we see tooling around Beru when Luke makes his first appearance in the original film.   This is absolutely a new on-screen droid and that's a huge blessing.  But it it in any way a replacement for the original Kenner figure?  Not a bit.   It's still essential and you will want it.

When you see it walking around in the movie - easily found on Disney+ streaming version - you can see where the original Kenner robot's colors probably came from.  (Certainly not from the photo used on the cardback.)   The grey can be easily mistaken as blue, and the white stripe around the belt area made the cut.   Everything else seems pretty fanciful creation from Kenner's imagination - and it was a good one, too.   It would be nice if Hasbro made a new Power Droid as a tribute to the Kenner original, but until then, this is another droid you can add to your collection.  The 1999 The Power of the Force CommTech edition is probably the closest you'll get to the original cardback from Hasbro, but they could redecorate their tan one and give us a better taken on both it and the Kenner one.

That aside - what matters is what this figure does deliver.  It's exceptionally rare that we get a new droid from the original trilogy unless it's the result of a handsome, smart toy buyer from some online toy seller.   It's even rarer that we get one that has managed to keep out of the prop books and didn't stand out to fans as actually having been in the movie, despite taking place during a prominent scene introducing the entire saga's most important character not named Darth Vader.   The figure has the same lower body as the previous Hasbro releases since 2012, and that's pretty great.  There are some painted symbols and what appear to be grease stains all over, plus lots of faux weathering and paint chipping.  The only deco thing I don't like is their decision to put the date stamp and SKU in silver in plain sight on the figure's lower back.  Why not under the removable dome? Or on the foot?  Or generally out of sight?   But I digress.

The new "head" is amazing with tons of radar dishes, wires, doodads, and thingamabobs.  It's right out of the junk heap aesthetic during that early era of Star Wars where science fiction was transitioning from Flash Gordon-style rockets to a grimier, used look.  It's all here - this figure looks like a bunch of junk got slapped on a couple of Rubbermaid bins, and the result is perfection.  The figure also has bend-and-swivel hips and bend-and-swivel ankles - neither of which are necessary, but for $13 that's the very least we should get.  It would have been nice if Hasbro included an alternate "head" or other accessory to up the value of this one, but given that it's a supposed update of one more of the original 21 it's something I think you're going to buy with a smile.  On the card, it's a fine collectible.  Off the card, it's a necessary addition to your dioramas.

Figures like this are the reason I still collect this figure line in 2020.  It's from my favorite movies, it's new, and it showed me something in the movies I didn't really notice until now.  It's kind of expensive, and yes it's just an existing figure with a new hat - but that's all it needed to be in order to be perfect.  I hope you can get one.   And I'm glad Hasbro gave us a brand-new, we-don't-have-this action figure from the original trilogy.  It's been a long time - and we'd love to see some more like it.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,724: September 10, 2020

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,713: Gonk Droid (Droid Factory Line Look)

COLOR-CHANGING GONK DROID The Droid Factory
Star Wars Disney Droid Depot
Item No.: No. ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Power droid, some basins, and no instructions
Action Feature: Top of chassis pops off
Retail: $49.99
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.  Perform diagnostics and change the color of the droids!  (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!




Commentary:  A simple color-change redeco that scratches a Kenner itch, this Color-Changing Gonk Droid is going to cost you $50. Or more, because thanks COVID-19.   Always pays on time.  Always fits the bill.  He comes well-prepared.  Cube top, squared-off. Eight corners, 90 degree angles.   Flat top, stares straight ahead.  Stock parts, blockhead.

This mold is a lot like the previous Disney mold, which is a lot like the previous Hasbro mold.   It lacks the wacky eyes of the new 2020 Hasbro version, but has the legs that swing forward and sturdy feet.  He stands, you can pull off the dome and reveal what I assume must be some sort of printer parts or something.  It looks neat, and there's a hole in the top of his dustbin head that allows you to use him on a hook in the included playset.  Or in the sandcrawler.  Or even lets him wear a hat.  It's a hole that keeps on giving.

When heated, it's a pretty blah grey.  There are some nice textures thanks to the color-change paint, which makes it blue enough that it may serve as a stand-in for the 1979 Kenner blue Power Droid that you'll never, ever get from Hasbro at this rate.  I mean, maybe you will, but The Power of the Force '95 kicked off 25 years ago this month and Hasbro/Kenner still haven't completely updated the original line.  I wouldn't hold your breath.

For this reason, I would recommend this figure. It has a little playset thing with tiny fans and places to put water which you can pretend is paint.   It's interesting, but maybe it's just inflation because this seems pricey.  Kenner's vintage Droid Factory was $9.99 in the old Sears catalog around 1980, and that sucker came with parts to build tons of figures.  With inflation, it would be about $30 - and this is $20 more than that, with less stuff in the box.  "Clear box for water" isn't exactly an improvement, but there's a lot more paint and some electronics too.  Well, you decide, I guess.  $50 is a video game and this playset and figure seem more like a souvenir for kids or a collector's thing.  And if you want an old Kenner Power Droid, they're still pretty worthless - which is $20 by modern standards.

Collector's Notes: Mine came from my pal Shannon who picked it up at Disneyland.  Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,713: August 4, 2020

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,543: Gonk Droid (Droid Factory Line Look)

GONK DROID with Sandcrawler
Star Wars Disney Droid Factory
Item No.: No. ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Sandcrawler, Jawa figure
Action Feature: Removable hatch reveals interior
Retail: $99.99
Availability: September 2018
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: The GNK-series power droid, also known as the gonk droid, was a type of well-known power droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton that used binary codes. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.  Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  Disney manufactured toys with Hasbro at one point, but now seems to have no problem either borrowing tooling or copying figures and making new ones with quality ranging from decent to knock-off.  This Gonk Droid comes with the Sandcrawler Playset and is actually pretty great.  It copies the Target-exclusive brown Power Droid from a few years ago, giving you a similar appearance with slightly different engineering.  That figure had bend-and-swivel legs and ankles.  This new one has swinging legs like the 1979 Power Droid, and you can see traces of where the joints were on the sculpt. Clearly, they copied Hasbro's work and didn't do a good job cleaning it up. (The companion Jawa does this much worse.)

Aside form the weirdness of the copy, it's a good figure. The cables on the legs are different, and some of the interior details are different.   Also, both the "dome" of the droid and its interior have small holes inside for compatibility with things like Disney hats and the Sandcrawler's own grappling arm accessory.  It's a clean figure, painted in the 1999 CommTech Power Droid's colors.     I like how they copied most of the greebles, but the placements and sizes frequently change.  You'll even see some added color in the interior of its head, which was a real stunner.  Why add paint and sculpted bits on the hidden part of the toy?  It's weird, but a nice change of pace since Disney's droids tend to drop detail compared to Hasbro counterparts.  I'd say this is a lateral move - it's different enough to be interesting and worth your while.

You will want this droid.  The Sandcrawler it comes with is no slouch, and if Disney sold it alone for $10-$13 I'd still recommend it. (Confidential to Disney - put it on a Vintage-style cardback in 1979 Kenner colors. Hasbro can't be bothered, so please fill the void and do this one. Thank you.)   I like how this figure changes things up a bit, but the vestigial articulation sculpt marks makes me feel that it's at least a little pathetic.   Granted, you won't be looking for those, nor will any children that receive this figure in the behemoth that is Disney's Sandcrawler.   Get the whole box if you can - and prepare to hate the Jawa.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from ShopDisney.
--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,543: December 18, 2018

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,492: Power Droid (Wind-Up Fight Droids, Solo: A Star Wars Story Line Look)

WIND-UP FIGHT DROIDS Blue Power Droid
Solo: A Star Wars Story Disney Parks Exclusive
Item No.:    No. FAC-012641-18060
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Two Droids
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $9.95
Availability: April 2018
Appearances: Solo: A Star Wars Story

Bio: Insufficient data.  (Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability:  Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  For whatever reason, Disney seems to be controlling droid toy output now - including the wind-up Fight Droid set.  Today we're looking at the blue "gonk" power droid, and online reference for it and its partner is scarce.   I wasn't squinting hard enough at the movie to know if it's even the right size - so this is either twice as big as it should be to fit in with your 3 3/4-inch figures, or maybe the right size.  For the price I just snagged it as Hasbro seems reluctant to put out any sort of background droids in the Disney era.

I like this figure - the wind-up droid is a lost art, and one Kenner (and later Hasbro) never really could get the hang of in the USA.   When you wind a key on its back, the saw and pick arms flail while the figure has that too-familiar wind-up motor drive its legs forward.     What makes it even better, the red "eye shade" moves - so it's like it's waggling its robot eyebrows at you.  This gives the toy a ton of personality, although it seems its mechanism sports one failing thing - the saw appears like it should spin.  My sample is fused solid.

The sculpt and deco are exaggerated a bit for the toy, with giant feet and a big spinny handle on the non-spinning saw.  I love the grime and paint, the rivets, the bolts.  Even if it's too big, I just love owning it - this is the kind of toy I would buy if I wasn't a collector because it's such a wonderful anachronism.   If it's in scale, I'd recommend all of you buy it - but at press time I simply don't even know myself.  I might need to see it a third time to verify.

The flailing, grimy robot is so utterly charming I'd recommend this set just for it.   I kind of regret not buying a second set - it's lovely.   I expect I'll soon learn it's the "wrong" size if I flip through the right guide book, but as a plastic oddity it's great - by far, the most fun figure in the 2-pack.   Kenner was experimenting with various "attack" droids since the 1980s, so this killer Gonk feels completely appropriate to my old fart at play sensibilities.   Considering these guys are about the same size as a Funko Pop! and you get two for ten bucks, even with the shipping I feel like I got my money's worth.   Even without a movie, toys like this are inspired and fun - I really hope Hasbro integrates more fun mechanisms into its future toys, too.  They're far and few between, plus they're exceedingly difficult to get right - this is an oddball miracle I suspect we won't see the likes of which again.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney's web site.  Shipping cost almost as much as the toy.  

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,492: June 20, 2018