Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,368: Vendor Droid (Silver, Droid Factory)

VENDOR DROID Silver
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: The Clone Wars

Bio: A vendor droid, also known as a shopkeeper droid, was a type of droid assigned to sell merchandise. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I've had a few of these for a while, but haven't reviewed them - but I hear parts bins are supposedly making the rounds again in some parks. So let's check out the Silver Vendor Droid, or Shop Droid, or whatever the cool kids are calling them. Is there some reason to bring it up now, to showcase it, is it appearing in something, somewhere? No. It's just a build-a-droid, made from a parts bin, and it's more of a souvenir than a part of this complete breakfast action figure collection. My pal Shannon put it together for me since he's able to go to Disney more than I am. (I think I was last at a theme park in 2016?)

It's funny calling anything obscure in the age of the internet, but the Disney droids made of parts from bins with no names are somewhat difficult to identify and how many were "manufactured" by fans is hard to know. Given that Disney allowed fans to create what they will, these are likely some of the rarest mass-produced droids in the entire history of Star Wars collecting. Aside from Vlix.

While neat, I increasingly find that I don't know what to do with some of the droids. The Vintage Collection lacks open-ended playsets or new environments, and we've never really gotten shop or street playsets of note. As such, this guy is just sort of taking up space - but he's pretty cool. This particular configuration uses CZ-style arms, a Shop Droid head, a C-3PO body, and C-3PO legs. The end result is pretty decent, especially since the right shoulder has some blue metallic silver paint on it. It's a subtle accent, but it gives the figure a sense of having been repaired.

He's got standard articulation for one of the Disney droids, with swivel wrists and jointed ankles. It's kind of funny to think that the body is riffing on what was more or less standard for Hasbro's build-a-droid releases in 2008, and here we are 18 years later with some of these molds still in rotation... without a price drop. If you look back to the 2000s and earlier, old molds usually gave us cheaper toys too - that doesn't seem to happen anymore. At the time, $13 for a single droid was still kind of expensive but not horrible for a theme park souvenir. Given how hard these are to get outside the parks, you'll probably pay considerably more for a junker made of random parts, and good luck to you if you can find something cohesive. I like this droid because I generally like droids, but the yellow eyes and blue scanner do little to really add zing to a pretty bland gray/silver chassis. It is a perfectly fine robot, but nothing about it is likely to stand out in a pool of over 3,000 Star Wars action figures in an era where there's no single complete tome of reference allowing any collector to see them all in one place.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,368: August 4, 2026

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,162: 3PO Protocol Droid (Gold, Droid Factory)

PROTOCOL DROID Gold with Yellow Optics
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a 

Bio: The 3PO-series protocol droid, also known as the 3PO-series protocol unit, was a model of protocol droid produced by Cybot Galactica sometime prior to the Invasion of Naboo. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.   

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: It's not C-3PO, he doesn't have a red arm or a silver leg. This Gold Protocol Droid will, for most kids who built one, be their C-3PO toy. It's more or less how he looks in The Last Jedi and later The Rise of Skywalker, neither of which were released when this figure came out - but we didn't notice when we were kids, and it's possible the fact that he's all gold wouldn't bother them, either. Proper C-3PO figures from Kenner didn't have a silver leg until 1997, and generally speaking I didn't hear many complaints.

It's just like the other 3PO Protocol Droid builds - same molds, sort of like the Hasbro figure, and you could put together whatever parts you wanted. I kind of wish they would bring them back, only with no new parts, because I don't think I can manage tracking down more theme park exclusives that rely on chance when I live in another state. Like C-3PO, this figure has gold plating and yellow optics. The same basic design was used for See-Threepio [FOTD #2,387] when Disney made a 2-pack with added orange dirt and a silver leg. For those who need all the variants, there's another one you forgot to buy. It's a nice figure too, but the dirt is odd. This unnamed gold droid might do the job better, depending on what job you are looking to do.

You can remove the head, arms, and legs, and the figure has a decent range of motion. Swivel wrists, bend-and-swivel ankles, bend-and-swivel knees and elbows, and even a waist that can pivot a bit. It's not amazing, but it's good enough. C-3PO was always a little stiff thanks to the costume, so a figure that can match his body language is arguably better than one with too many joints. It only falls short in that it can't sit well thanks to the hips being restricted from swinging forward fully, and obviously we know C-3PO can sit. We've seen Return of the Jedi. But I digress - for a generic gold droid to fill your displays, this is a nice figure. For $13, I'd say it was good if maybe a smidgen expensive, and at secondary market prices you might not want to pick him up. Unless you're out of other things to buy, which you may be depending on how much you are enjoying Disney+ content product these days.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,162: August 13, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,158: 3PO Protocol Droid (Silver, Droid Factory)

PROTOCOL DROID Silver with Blue Optics
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a   

Bio: The 3PO-series protocol droid, also known as the 3PO-series protocol unit, was a model of protocol droid produced by Cybot Galactica sometime prior to the Invasion of Naboo. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.   

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: The Disney part bins have been gone for a while, but they aren't forgotten. Their Silver Protocol Droid struck me as a good way to do a "same but different" approach, with blue eyes in an unpainted silver plastic body distinct from U-3PO or TC-14. On a shelf, they look different - and coming up with different ways to do the same color is some sort of manufacturing gymnastics that deserves a pat on the back. Disney did a good job making this a distinct release that doesn't seem to match anything I remember in the movies or TV shows, which is both kind of awesome and also not. I like new figures and new characters, I prefer stuff from on-screen appearances, but I'd rather have a new robot than C-3PO with different dirt patterns.

The mold remains similar to Hasbro's 2008 build-a-droid parts, with an open hand and a decent amount of articulation given the nature of the product. Swivel shoulders and wrists, bend and swivel elbows, that sort of thing - a modern fan would balk at this being full price at $17 or higher, but the $13 at the time seemed fine for a theme park exclusive with the Disney tax on it. While some of you may disagree (and are wrong), not every figure needs mega-articulation. If a figure can function well per its design - Han or Greedo should sit, but Mon Mothma need only stand - I think we're in good shape. A generic droid like this benefits from having some mobility but by no means needs to be the ultimate robot action figure, in part because you're going to have a ton of them and they're not going to be doing a lot of line dancing. The ankles and knees are good enough, but the hips are still pretty awful. I would hope a new C-3PO-esque figure can sit better than the one from 1978, but this one can't. It stands well, it gets the job done, and indeed is Good Enough - butbetter hips for better sits would have been appreciated before we got dozens of figures based on the mold.

You have so many droid options, this one isn't necessarily any more enticing than the others - but I like it, the unpainted silver gives a different feel than the usually shiny silver droids. It feels more like some sort of weird steel thing, and I think it'll look good in a average collection if you need more droids. Given how few Hasbro makes, it's probably worth tracking down if it shows up for the right price. (And it rarely will.)

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,158: July 30, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,136: LOM-Series Protocol Droid (Black, Droid Factory)

LOM-SERIES PROTOCOL DROID Black with Silver Head Highlights
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a

Bio: The LOM-series protocol droid, also known as a LOM-series droid was a model of protocol droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton. They were designed with insectile features to emulate the species they were created to serve, the sentient Gand. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.   

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I do - and don't - miss the Disney bins. Their Black LOM-Series Protocol Droid doesn't really exist, but it looks cool. Disney put parts in bins with glossy black plastic and silver highlights, and you can mix and match them to make something new if you like. And I got something! I just took about seven years to do anything with it, which really just says how we have too many figures coming at me to enjoy, let alone fully absorb and reflect upon. He's been in a box since I got him and opened him - it's kind of sad, actually.

This particular sample looks like the kind of thing Kenner might have made in the 1980s if they rushed the figure out the door. The official Kenner figure is a little off-model, but this one is gleefully wrong in fun ways. A shiny black exterior with limited paint gives you a figure that could be in the Death Star playset that you probably don't have or the Star Destroyer that probably won't get made, but if it did, you'd be ready for it. It looks like a real toy - like something you'd see in a store and go "that looks cool" and pay whatever it would have cost. That era seems long over, but at least we got a lifetime's worth of figures to track down. Seriously, if you aren't already someone with a complete collection, it's going to take you actual years to get everything unless you happen to come into a complete collection auction some day. And you very well might as fans get older and exit this hobby.

My build uses the same arms as C-3PO with a LOM head and torso, but my pal selected the Death Star Droid-style legs. I like it! It's not "wrong" because there's no actual black droid to copy, and all the parts fit together perfectly. I was going to write "seamlessly" but that's not true - you can see the seams where the joints fit together, giving you about 20 points of articulation. I wish the figure had slightly more paint - none of the facial elements other than his eyes got any decoration, but it admittedly doesn't need a lot of embellishment. The big silver eyes pop really nicely, and it looks like the kind of thing that might be walking around off-camera on the original Death Star.

The figure included no accessories, and since you could pick the arms and legs I have no idea what you might actually find should one pop up on eBay. Hopefully it's similar to mine - it looks cool enough on its own to capture the feel of Star Wars without the actual grit, which is more or less how I think most of us saw the Empire much of the time. I'd recommend it at a fair price - which I guess would mean under $40 nowadays. Good luck, these are not common figures.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,136: May 23, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,127: CZ Series Communications Droid (Gold, Droid Factory)

CZ SERIES COMMUNICATION DROID Gold with Silver Head Highlights
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a
Bio: The CZ-series communications/business droid was a droid series produced by Serv-O-Droid, Inc. The CZ-series was released as Serv-O-Droid began to wane in its position as a dominant droid manufacturer. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I don't deny that as I get older I take the hobby for granted a bit, but I still get excited by some things. The Gold CZ Series Communication Droid is fun because it's unique. There are so many figures we get these days where you can pick it up and say it's a lot like a figure you already own, but not this one. While Hasbro has done a CZ-4 droid, that was an oddity - Disney did them in other colors and they made some interesting choices along the way. This gold version uses the same parts as the other Disney droids I plucked from the bins, with very limited paint.

Articulation would be excellent for 2008 - but this figure came out in 2017, so swivel hips and shoulders were a little old-fashioned at that point in time. Swivel wrists are fine, and bend-and-swivel wrists, knees, and elbows made it a decent figure. The neck swivels, and there's a nice pivoting waist joint. While a new figure could add articulation, these droids work well as being slightly stiff. Anthony Daniels and the other performers had severely hindered movements, so figures that can't sit easily make some degree of sense. The hips only swing forward about 45 degrees, and you don't need a protractor to measure the disappointment. Unless you just want him standing around, in which case he's perfect.

As the CZ droids are known mostly from their filthy on-screen appearances, a shiny non-vac gold finish brings out a lot of detail and ribbing you don't normally see. What's particularly amusing is that the details look more like something out of the 1960s - if this came out of Mel Birnkrant's sketchbooks, it would fit in with other midcentury droids. The ribbing on the torso and arms really stand out nicely, and I wish we could see more of this figure so customizers could fill in those chest panels like some sort of stained glass window. It's a nice, angular, weirdly blocky look that would be right at home with any of a number of toys that predate The Transformers. If this were in Adventure People, I guarantee you that the toy snobs would be telling you how great it is and how you're a monster for not having one next to your Opticon.

Deco is light, but good. The figure has a painted midriff that you probably won't notice thanks to the chest hanging over the painted colorful wires, but at least it's there. Disney went the extra mile by painting black dots for his eyes plus subtle silver detail around the face like a mask. It's really striking, and very un-Star Wars-y. Given the dogmatic adherence to classic designs in the Disney era, I'm absolutely delighted that once on a while, we get a figure that looks like it might not necessarily have come out of the same old design aesthetic. This is fancy.

Looking on eBay, very few come up for sale and he's about forty bones if you can find one. The sick thing is that I should be decrying this as highway robbery for a figure you had to assemble yourself, but we live in an era of $17 Hasbro figures. Is $40 outrageous for a figure that had a $100 cover charge, parking fees, and possibly an airline ticket or rental car involved? Probably not. I don't have to like the price, but this is absolutely one of the most charming gold and silver droids you can get that look like it came from an unlicensed fan film you never saw. If you have a chance to get it at a fair price, failing to do so is a mistake on your part.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,127: April 23, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,122: 3PO Protocol Droid (Red, Droid Factory)

PROTOCOL DROID Dark Red with White Eyes
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a
Bio: The 3PO-series protocol droid was a Human-cyborg relations protocol droid produced by Cybot Galactica. The model series had very similar aesthetic design in its casing to other Cybot Galactica droid model series such as the TC-series, 3PX-series, and 5YQ-series protocol droids. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Not the same figures.

Commentary: It's red! The Red Protocol Droid is an odd duck - because he may or may not be "somebody." The figure looks a lot like R-3PO, and I dare say looks more like the illustration on Disney's carded R-3PO figure than the figure in that packaging. This dark red figure with white optics looks a lot like some of the fuzzy stills from the movie too - although figures with that name tend to get yellow optics. Which is right, which is wrong? Thanks to a lot of incorrect or fudged reference material, it seems unnecessary to make the call. Teach the controversy, and get whichever figure you think fits your collection needs best. This figure is basically just diorama filler, regardless, and I would say the same as R-3PO as a character. You've got options!

The figure is very similar to Hasbro's build-a-droid Protocol Droid buck from about 2008-2009. As Hasbro has been stingy with new C-3PO sculpts, this may well be as good as it gets - we got a new C-3PO in 2010, but it was shorter, with removable panels. This one has removable limbs. You can pop off the head, shoulders, or hips, and swap with other parts in those bins. The figure is largely unpainted, and as the customer had to package it themselves it probably could have cost less. That's the theme park souvenir business for you. It has a nice glossy finish, plus a painted midriff with colorful wires inside. There's a little black paint in the mouth and eyes, plus white circles on the head. In short, it's a nice figure.

If we lived in an alternate timeline where the Disney Store existed beyond an outlet store, it would be amazing to be able to put these together and probably would have been a way to get kids at least a little interested in action figures. Making your own figure worked for LEGO - admittedly, there are more options - but it's arguably a fun thing to do if the end goal isn't "get one of every figure." At that point it just becomes work to track down these many parts and pieces, and if Disney is reading I bet it would be easy money to sell a bucket of droid parts online. I bet there are very interested customers.

The protocol droid bins weren't around nearly as long as the astromechs, with the program seemingly coming to an end after about three years thanks to COVID-19. Maybe they'll come back some day, but given the proclivity to business to push for higher price point items? I doubt it. Right now this once-$13 figure commands about $45 on eBay when you can find one, so try to get one for less than that. I think this was one of the more interesting "standard" builds you could make, because it really does look like something from more than one of the movies. If you have a chance, why not pick one up?

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,122: April 4, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,817: LOM-Series Protocol Droid (Silver, Droid Factory)

LOM-SERIES PROTOCOL DROID Silver
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a

Bio: The LOM-series protocol droid was a model of protocol droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton. They were designed with insectile features to emulate the species they were designed to serve, the sentient Gand. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Commentary: Nifty! The Silver LOM-series Protocol Droid is a Disney Parks exclusive, made up of any parts you want. Mine has CZ arms, 3PO torso, 3PO legs, and of course the head. It's a pretty neat design, and a silver 4-LOM certainly feels like a "wrong" color Kenner could have done in the old days. Since no LOM torso was manufactured that I know of, you can just use whatever you want.

What I like about this figure is it's convincingly "off-camera." Like Kenner's old Mini-Rigs, you could imagine this guy hanging out in a line behind R2-D2 and C-3PO on the old Droids cartoon, or appearing in the background of Russ Manning's old strips, or being a broken pile of parts in Maz Kanata's castle. Even with wildly mismatched limbs, it would be a convincing fixture in a Hutt's lair. It's a nifty and completely believable design.

Articulation is the same as the rest, with about 20 meaningful points of articulation - and sadly, no blasters. The silver plastic is nice and shiny, but not vac-metalized. It's still rather reflective, so it may fit in well in any bar or Imperial installation too. The joints mostly move nicely, but as with the others the legs aren't anything special. The right shoulder of these arms have an added silver accent, and of course there are some painted wires on the torso. Theres not a lot of paint here, but what's here is deployed where it counts.

If you have the means to get one at or near cost, I'd say it's worth it. It is in no way disappointing, but it's also completely not essential. It's the perfect souvenir figure, but it would be a build you would likely take delight in having found in a store too.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,817: May 24, 2021

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,814: 3PO Protocol Droid (Blue, Droid Factory)

PROTOCOL DROID Blue with Stripes - It's D-0T!
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: The Clone Wars
Bio: The 3PO-series protocol droid was a Human-cyborg relations protocol droid produced by Cybot Galactica. The model series had very similar aesthetic design in its casing to other Cybot Galactica droid model series such as the TC-series, 3PX-series, and 5YQ-series protocol droids. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Commentary: It's blue! The Blue Protocol Droid is a decent - and most importantly, different - release. The pin striping only appears on the blue droids, and I think these are unique to the figure - I don't believe this design appears in any story. (I could be wrong.) You can assemble these figures in parts bins - and mix and match. This combo platter goes together nicely and gives you teh blue C-3PO Kenner always wanted to do, but got turned down.   As a reader pointed out, it's also a dead ringer for The Clone Wars' own D-0T!

There were plans for blue and red ones - or prototypes, at least - from the old Kenner line. It's a great concept but they seemed to not want to milk it back then - oh, how times changed. Disney is all about droid repaints and they made for great souvenirs. The stripes on the head look like eyebrows, adding a lot of personality to the same static face we've seen for nearly 44 years. The matching marks on the chest may even make you forget this is the same mold you've bought a few times already.

Articulation is build-a-droid standard, with 6 removable limbs and a grand total of 20 points of articulation and a design modeled from/copied from Hasbro's The Legacy Collection protocol droid. I copied that sentence from the last protocol droid review, because, hey, it's still true. With theme parks supposedly being more open, I don't know if these parts will still be available - or if this activity is acceptable given, well, everything - but you can keep an eye out for them. They rarely showed up on eBay as people didn't seem to be assembling them for the flipper's market, so there aren't many to buy. It's a cool figure for the obsessive completist though, and I hope you can find one if you want one. Hasbro doesn't make anything quite like this in their main line, so your only hope is a tourist or passholder got one and got sick of it at this point. Or maybe you can take a vacation in the future at some point.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!  Also thanks Eddie for pointing out that we forgot a cartoon robot!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,814: May 17, 2021

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,801: Vendor Droid (White, Droid Factory)

VENDOR DROID White
Star Tours Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: The Clone Wars
Bio: A vendor droid, also known as a shopkeeper droid, was a type of droid assigned to sell merchandise. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.
 

Commentary: The new head! The White Vendor Droid is a little muddied. As of when I got this one - and he's been in a box for, oh, four years - the "white" body had this pretty nifty dirt deco printed on it, which goes particularly nicely with the CZ droid heads. But there are also other muddied torsos and limbs, which creates a good consistent look across all the droid parts. My sample has a torso that takes some cues from K-3PO with the red dots and blast mark/smudges over the chest, resulting in what you might call a decent original design. As far as I know this colorway has made no actual appearances in the saga, but Wookieepedia places them in The Phantom Menace and Solo - and I don't believe this head has appeared in those films. You know what the kids say 0 pics or it didn't happen.

The main selling point here is the unique head - one of a couple of dozen released into theme park bins in 2017. The white head has a scanner-like hat on top of the noggin, yellow eyes, and a black slot mouth you could probably slip a few bills in. It looks a lot like an old-school LEGO man head, minus the color and lack of a smile. It's also a little small, but as a unique creation you can only get at the theme parks, collectors will have to deal with hit. Hasbro has made no plans to do any such droids and I doubt that they ever will at this rate.

Articulation is build-a-droid standard, with 6 removable limbs and a grand total of 20 points of articulation and a design modeled from/copied from Hasbro's The Legacy Collection protocol droid. If you get in real close, you can see some of the details on the chest are printed like the current "photo real" bits - but here, they're glossy. Given that this is a figure that exists mostly to serve as a DIY souvenir, I can't recommend you get it, or replicate it, as it's probably only worth getting if you're a droid fanatic. Sadly Disney never offered a big box of Protocol Droid parts to do your own, so your proximity to theme parks will probably result in if you get one of these or not. I have no idea if they're still available - they're scarce on eBay too. This is one of those weird robot figures that, one day, someone will make a "definitive" guide to these figures and probably leave out. That's how it goes when you're a forgettable nobody of a robot - except you're me, I love this nonsense.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,801: April 15, 2021

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,468: Vendor Droid (Gold, Droid Factory)

VENDOR DROID Gold
Star Tours   Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: The Clone Wars

Bio: The CZ-series communications/business droid was a droid series produced by Serv-O-Droid, Inc. The CZ-series was released as Serv-O-Droid began to wane in its position as a dominant droid manufacturer.   (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Commentary:  The new head! The Gold Vendor Droid needs to be reviewed - along with other droids - because that's why we're here.  I know that.  We've got a job to do!

The dull gold finish is nice, with a C-3PO body in this sample being the vehicle for a newish head.  The gold head looks good with yellow eyes and a silver... visor?  Price scanner?  What is that, anyway?     The can head with a partial dustbuster hat is sort of out of place, but it's not like anyone has been good at giving us new droids in any sort of realistic style lately.

I appreciate that Disney used the best super-articulated build-a-droid tooling available, but a few months in to having this I wish they made something new, cheaper, and simpler because what the heck do I need ankles for on these guys?  5 joints would have been great, particularly given the dozens of combinations you can build from these parts.   It's a good, sturdy figure with more articulation than any of the main characters in the main line from the last three movies, so... that's where we're at now.   It's a great way to populate the bases they don't make or the vehicles nobody is doing, and being an "animated" figure it has less of a place in any existing collection.  It's a cool souvenir, but it's solely for the crazy collector person.  You know, like me.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios.   Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,468: April 2, 2018

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,466: LOM-Series Protocol Droid (Blue, Droid Factory)

LOM-SERIES PROTOCOL DROID Blue
Star Tours   Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: n/a

Bio: The LOM-series protocol droid was a model of protocol droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton. They were designed with insectile features to emulate the species they were designed to serve, the sentient Gand.   (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Commentary:  Nifty! The Blue LOM-series Protocol Droid brings us more of a class of droid that really hasn't been seen much.   I don't know where the blue droid with chest pinstriping idea came from, but it's neat.  I'd like to have had Disney do things like this on other colors, as it offers us something truly different.

The blue finish is - as far as I know - unique to this figure.  If there's another fictional instance of this kind of droid, I've not seen it.  The chest on this sample is a 3PO body, with 3PO arms and Death Star Droid legs.  You can build whatever you want.  The light blue metallic eyes look great, but I wish the "face" had some more detailing.  The bare blue is a little light, a couple of painted details would have made a ton of difference.  Since it has no real specific place in the mythos, it's great.   I could put this to work in that Sail Barge we may or may not get, or in that other playset Hasbro will never make.   It has no gun, but it looks cool and seems like it would fit in off-camera pretty nicely.

You don't need this figure.  You really don't.   It's one of those things that you'll ignore now and will either be worthless in 10 years or will cost more than your shoes.  I don't know which, and that's why I bought it now.  Or rather Shannon did, and I paid him back for it, because Shannon is good people.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios.   Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,466: March 26, 2018

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,398: Vendor Droid (Black, Droid Factory)

VENDOR DROID Black
Star Tours   Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: The Clone Wars

Bio: The CZ-series communications/business droid was a droid series produced by Serv-O-Droid, Inc. The CZ-series was released as Serv-O-Droid began to wane in its position as a dominant droid manufacturer.   (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Commentary:  The new head! The Black Vendor Droid is basically the new head from The Clone Wars, now in a handy glossy black color.   It has a big silver thing on its head, like a hat, with yellow eyes and whatever body you give it.

The glossy black finish is super shiny to a ridiculous extent.   It's gorgeous, and I wish I had a better display to show these sorts of figures off.   It stands, it looks cool, it has articulation.   You know the drill.   So far I've only heard of these in Orlando, but I also don't pay super close attention so maybe they're in Anaheim by now.  The droid is curious in that Disney opted to make this design in colors that were never actually seen on the show, so perhaps those are coming later.  I can hope.  It's still nifty and if we had a decent playset that worked for it, he'd be right at home.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios.

Column Notes: We are going on a brief hiatus due to an excessive amount of travel and The Last Jedi launching - so we'll be back with new stuff as quickly as availability allows on or after September 1.  Until then, please visit Galactic Hunter and 16bit.com for more toy news and reviews and dubious opinions.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,398: August 23, 2017

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,381: CZ Series Communications Droid (White, Droid Factory)

CZ SERIES COMMUNICATIONS DROID White, Dirty,  basically CZ-3
Star Tours   Droid Factory Customizable Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney?
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $12.95
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: The CZ-series communications/business droid was a droid series produced by Serv-O-Droid, Inc. The CZ-series was released as Serv-O-Droid began to wane in its position as a dominant droid manufacturer.   (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Commentary:  This one might look familiar. The White CZ Series Communication Droid is a droid that appeared in two films with two different names, but the same suit was supposedly used with minimal (or no) modifications.   A CZ-4 action figure came out in 2007, and this one looks a lot like it - but it also looks like reference photos of CZ-3 (from Mos Eisley) and CZ-1 (from the Sandcrawler) from the original Star Wars.  And it could stand in for CZ-4 in a pinch, of course.

The figure you see here has specific arms, as well as a head and body.  The legs are the same as C-3PO, and the dusty deco is also the same as the white protocol droid.  Articulation is just fine, with 20 points of articulation.   I love the sculpted detail, although the glossy white plastic isn't exactly what I would have pictured for this generally dusty and worn robot.   Disney's crew did a pretty good job getting the major paint details right, such as the dirty deco, the silver shoulder, and the dots in the eyes.  The wipes weren't quite handled to match the movie, but you get the idea of who this is - and we all need droids to fill out shelves.

It's worth noting that this isn't the CZ-4 mold.  That Hasbro figure splits at the waist, presumably by design, while this one pops apart at the neck/shoulders/hips.   You can indeed throw parts around a Sandcrawler - and you're probably going to see a big Sandcrawler again soon - so you should probably snag this one.   If you're happy with CZ-4 (and have a few of him) you're all set, but this one is certainly welcome to add to the seemingly unending droid hordes.   It's worth the asking price, although the trip and the wait in line may not necessarily be worth the potential exhaustion and emotional turmoil.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Hollywood Studios.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,381: June 26, 2017