Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,912: R1 (The Mandalorian Droid Factory Set)

R1 Robot Cop
Droid Factory The Mandalorian Boxed Set
Item No.: No. n/a
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Stand, 3 more droid figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $44.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. These four are featured in Star Wars: The Mandalorian. This is the way... for you and your Droids! (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: The Mandalorian and his crew roughed up some New Republic R1 droids in the first season of the show, and unfortunately the boxed set will not make it conducive to army-build this one. While incredibly similar to other R1 droid figures, each part seems to have new tooling so despite appearances it's not just an old droid with a few new greeblies. It's a new droid.

It's pretty good, but the colors seem off - the gray is too light, the eye doesn't seem blue enough, the yellow pinstripes and New Republic symbols seem a little pale. The general shape seems spot-on, and you can rotate the head and the, uh, secondary head. (It's a distinctive shape down there.) Thanks to the lack of jointed limbs, the figure is basically an accessory - it can stand around and turn the head, and that's about it. If you like what you see, that's the figure.

I can't say I'm overly impressed by this one, but the form factor is correct and the colors could be improved a bit. It's fine, but it's not great. "Fine" works for figures that are made before the show airs, or from unfinished reference files, but they had a couple of years to get this one right and the colors just feel off. It should look fine on a shelf of robots, and if Hasbro or Disney ever build out the crew from the jailbreak episode you'll undoubtedly want more R1 droids. This figure might be worth getting to future-proof your display, but the set is off-model in enough ways that some may want to wait for a better version later. I am hesitant to believe that day will ever come unless a lot of people at Hasbro, Disney, and Lucasfilm get rotated off these brands and bring a new direction to the line, so get this one and enjoy it. It's a lot better than nothing.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from my pal Shannon. Thanks, Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,912: March 31, 2022