Figure of the Day: Day 251: G3-5LE

G3-5LE Star Tours
Star Tours Disney Park Exclusive
Item No.: No. 10263
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $10.00
Availability: 2005
Appearances: Star Tours

Bio: G3-5LE, or G-3 5LE was a droid that worked for the Star Tours travel agency. He can be seen near the MSE-1T track plugging and unplugging a fuel tube. Since demands for the fuel are constant, G3-5LE stays by it all the time. He uses a broken MSE-1T unit as a table to rest the fuel tube on. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's Star Tours/Toys of the Damned shelf.

Commentary: Most figures have their fans, their cheerleaders, and those who will insist a figure is the best ever. Star Tours figures usually don't inspire that kind of love from fans, and the last (so far) series of figures based on the line are obscure like nobody's business. I myself couldn't even remember G3-5LE's name, and the figure is pretty unremarkable. Its brightly colored hoses make it look like a toy, and it's not especially well articulated. What you're looking at here is a real toy, and it feels pretty solid, but it's still a figure based on a dark corner of the Star Wars Universe that most people won't recognize. I'm not even sure where to find this Droid on the ride. As someone who's pretty big on obscure droids, aliens, and beyond, I'm not a big fan of things that aren't cool just by looking at it (like a purple Clone Trooper), or that I can't recognize as being from something. Since the figure was made for a theme park and was probably a result of the Disney/Hasbro licensing deal, it's an interesting figure because of where it came from and probably how it came to be. But by itself? Boring.

Collector's Notes: I couldn't find any closed auctions for this one on eBay when I wrote this feature, which probably says a lot. Not that the figure is rare, but that absolutely nobody cares. The bulk of Star Tours figures went from being a panic-inducing set for collectors to stuff that doesn't command its original price these days. Don't pay a lot of money for this figure, just because something is hard to find (regionally or otherwise) doesn't mean it's worth plonking down your time or resources to get it.

Day 251: January 12, 2007