Figure of the Day: Day 46: FX-7 Medical Droid

FX-7 Medical Droid
Power of the Jedi Collection 2
Item No.: Asst. 84455 No. 84656
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $5.99-$6.99
Availability: Fall 2001
Appearances: Primarily The Empire Strikes Back

Bio: The multi-armed medical droid FX-7 was stationed at Echo Base on Hoth, serving as an assistant to the medical droid 2-1B. FX-7 played a crucial role in saving Luke Skywalker after a vicious wampa attack and a night spent in the freesing temperatures of Hoth. Thanks to FX-7's excellent medical programs and the bacta tank, Luke's life was spared. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Atop some more shelves, this time placed in Bacta Luke's... tank cradle thing.

Commentary: This is possibly the most articulated figure in the entire line. FX-7 has over a dozen arms, each with multiple points of articulation. His arm "rack" moves, his head moves, it's a figure that shows that Hasbro can, in fact, make a figure with a significant chunk of moving parts. Significantly more detailed than his vintage counterpart, this droid was a fairly speedy seller upon its release in the mega-popular (with collectors) Power of the Jedi range. As a marvelous recreation of a nifty design that goes above and beyond his vintage forefather, this is a figure that's well worth tracking down online or off, and it's likely as good an FX-7 figure as we'll see in our lifetime. It's just that well done.

Collector's Notes: This version of the figure was also one of the first modern figure designed with real synergy in mind-- FX-7 and Bacta Luke were designed to fit together nicely, and almost feel as if they were a set that got split up in the course of development. Many figures with interlocking parts were developed after these, but as far as individually packaged Star Wars figures go, this is the first time they made it so that you really felt something was missing if you didn't buy both toys. With Attack of the Clones, Hasbro took synergy to a new level with figures from the Cantina having connected bases, the Outlander club sub-series in 2003, and of course the gun pods and Clone Speeder Bike that you could place in the Republic Gunships. Truly, this was the start of something wonderful.

Day 46: June 21, 2006