Figure of the Day: Day 1,292: Battle Droid (Orange)

BATTLE DROID Battlefront II
30th Anniversary Collection Previews Exclusive
Item No.: Asst. 87561 No. 87478
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster, display stand, additional figures
Action Feature: Removable limbs
Retail: $39.99
Availability: Late 2007
Appearances: Star Wars: Battlefront II

Bio: Many of the best known battle droids were those used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. By the time of the Battle of Yavin, however, battle droids were extremely rare, most likely due to the Clone Wars, or because the Empire didn't want an army that could be easily built and used against it. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' toy shelves.

Commentary: If you like Battle Droid figures with removable limbs, well, here's another one. Five points of articulation, the same Saga Deluxe/Saga Legends sculpt, and you can pop off the backpack, head, and limbs. Since this figure is arguably prohibitively expensive to troop-build, odds are you'll just get one or two and call it a day like I did, and it's a good enough figure to pick up once. With a little bit of grime and orange, Hasbro made this one stand apart from other figures it has released so far. To date, this is the only orange-shouldered Battle Droid, which would make this a worthy purchase for fans of the video games or droid variants. And you droid variant hunters are a dedicated bunch.

Collector's Notes: This set was the slower seller of the two, the other being a batch of Clones, but it did well enough for both to get reissued in the blue-and-white packaging as Toys "R" Us exclusives after Diamond's exclusive run was finished. Arguably, the Battle Droids set was a lousy deal-- sure, you got 7 figures, but one was assembled backward, 4 were "half" figures in basic figure 2-packs which originally cost $7 each, one was missing its major accessory, and one was half of a "deluxe" figure. So yeah, not exactly a great value, but distinctive enough to be interesting and worth buying. Today, the set can be had for under $20 on eBay if your timing is good.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 1,292: May 27, 2010