Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,035: See-Threepio (C-3PO, The Retro Collection)

SEE-THREEPIO (C-3PO, Kenner Style)
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Shop Disney / Hasbro Pulse Exclusive Set
Item No.: Asst. F7649 No. F7649
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a with R2-D2, Tusken Raider, Death Squad Commander, Jawa, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $69.99
Availability: May 2023
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection features design and detailing inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and eatures original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from a galaxy far, far away. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now! Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Addendum: As the comment below states, you can indeed pull off the head and limbs - but they are not as smooth as the original removable limbs function, and probably were not intended for you to yank them off. I still advise not yanking them off more than once or twice to keep this figure in the best possible shape.

Commentary: After saying "But I don't bother" for years Hasbro realized they could show up with the coldest six pack, rather than saying "no" to everything. Finally - finally - we got reissues of the rest of the original 12, or the figures that came out on 12-backs in 1978. If you believe my older friends, not all 12 came out at the same time and getting a Jawa in some areas came a lot later but I haven't had a lot of confirmation of this. What I do know is that the 2023 reissue of See-Threepio (C-3PO) is excellent, and better than the ones Stan Solo made. And his are usually slightly better reproductions compared to what Hasbro gives us. His have variant paint jobs - and I hope Hasbro takes notice - but the official product's sculpting and/or paint is much closer to the original for a fraction of the cost. You should get this one.

Hasbro actually got the details replicated extremely well here. If you compare a 1978 C-3PO to 2023, they're pretty much the same. I think they must have worked harder to get this one right, because the little sculpted details are all here and have to show through the vac-metal paint process. You can see all the joints. The sculpted panels fit together and you can see all the lines cleanly detailed. The chest has the three indentations. For whatever reason, the Stan Solo C-3PO - while neat - leaves these off, probably (again) due to the painting process washing it out. There's no beating the original. The detail is a little softer, but it's probably about 98% as good as the original and that 2% is a wash because the joints are tight and the paint is clean.

It's a good figure. C-3PO has the metal rivet so he can stick to magnets. How cool! The joints are all nice and smooth, and since it's modeled after the 1978 version you can't pop his limbs off. The only thing I don't think they replicated properly was the foot peg holes, as he doesn't seem to really want to play nice with the PDT-8 on my desk.

This time around, the cardbacks come unpunched and that's a nice surprise. It still has the doofy sticker (thus raising costs) and the awful faux weathering (presumably a licensor requirement), and the backs of the card are hideous walls of words with none of the charm of the original art or design. I know it's a challenge to include multiple languages here, but I can't imagine they're selling enough in all of these countries (or even distributing the at all) to warrant teeny tiny illegible letters when you could show upsells and illustrations. At least it's on a nice cardback, packaged in a wonderful box modeled after an old Canadian exclusive boxed set. Other than the sticker and the back of the card, Hasbro did a nice job with the packaging here.

I don't know if 6-packs are something they're considering for the future, but they probably should. Fans are going to want Bespin Han, Snowtroopers, and Hoth Luke. Ugnaughts and 2-1B might be tougher sales. Similarly we've already got Boba Fett, but I would probably buy another Hammerhead, Greedo, and Snaggletooth if they came with R5-D4, a Blue Snaggletooth, and a clean X-Wing Pilot Luke. Also it's probably cheaper for all involved - six figures in one box would be cheaper than shipping six individual figures, or tracking them down in shops.

It's funny that after years of complaining about the same characters being reissued and resculpted, and samey troopers getting repainted and re-repainted, I'm heaping praise on replicas of action figures I got at garage sales for pennies 30-40 years ago. But Hasbro did a good job here and it's worth saying they really seem to have improved this one - but with the vac-metal deco, they have to. If the paint washed out the sculpted details, I'd be complaining. Instead, I'd say you can go ahead and be happy you bought this one. Please note it's a Shop Disney and Hasbro Pulse exclusive, and is $20 cheaper at Hasbro Pulse at press time.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,035: June 6, 2023