Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,086: BB Droid (Silver, Advent Calendar 2022)

BB DROID Droid Cosplay
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Silver BB droid, Nutcracker R5 droid, Gold R4 droid, Giftwrapped Power Droid with bow, Elf R6 Droid with hat, C1 droid
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $69.99
Availability: August 2022
Appearances: n/a
Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up the Sandcrawler to reveal and build 6 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. May the Force be with you... and your droids!" This droid is optimized to function in the sparsely settled, unspoiled frontier world of Vandor. Join R6-SNO on their adventures throughout the galaxy! (Taken from the packaging. Yes, the one quotation mark and reference to R6-SNO, who is not included, was on the box in three languages.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: It was Thanksgiving last week, but it's not December yet, so let's look at the Advent Calendar BB Droid. While some of you say that the gold R4 droid is a bell, I don't buy it - but I could buy this one being a bell, or maybe a snowflake, or just a riff on a traditional ball ornament. Or not. I guess I have no idea what the authorial intent is, but the author is dead so I guess I'll just say it's a nice silver ball robot.

Riffing on the BB-9E head on a BB-8 body, you get a blue-gray metallic plastic robot with painted metallic blue and matte white highlights. The design doesn't feel holiday specific - if you squint you could probably place it at another holiday, or just as a robot rolling around in a post-Empire galaxy. Since the mold is nothing new, you're buying this for the colors and I'd say they're just fine. (Maybe it's a snowflake?) There's a lot to like here in its simplicity. It's not an eye explosion like the elf or nutcracker, it's not painfully obviously Christmas incarnate. You can let this little one roll around anywhere you like, and I can admire that - expanding the universe is something Star Wars should do more often, although it can be tough to do. If you come up with something too weird it's uncomfortable, but within the context of a droid redeco that adheres to the coloring book lines we've seen before it's easy to like this droid. You can put him in a sandcrawler, or under a tree. Options are nice to have, especially if you don't celebrate Christmas and just want a nice little new droid.

For those of you who don't have any BB droids from Disney, they're sort of like Weebles. The round ball robot cracks open like a plastic Easter Egg with a weighted ball inside. Curiously, the weighted interior ball has a lot of silver paint that you'll never see after you assemble it. I'm sure a lot of collectors will express admiration for attention to detail, but I'd rather not pay for paint applications I'll probably never see after I buy it. I wouldn't mind if Disney started to mold these things in color so we can - I hope - put off a price increase a little bit longer. (The exterior paint is perfectly good, don't change a thing, Disney.)

Somehow this figure is more interesting as a "Christmas" droid that's not very "Christmas" than it would be as a random grab of parts out of a bin. The silver top of the head and bright white around a big black eye give him just enough life that it seems he could go beep at any second now. For you reading this in the future, he has no given name. How you'll find it on eBay I don't know - Sandcrawler Advent Calendar BB Droid? Blue Silver BB Unit? Good luck. But do find one, if you are so inclined. He's part of a big set that's arguably worth getting if you swing that way, and I'm more willing to accept a droid with open arms if it's smaller and more reasonably priced. And this one is.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from some guy on eBay for a lower price!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,086: November 30, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,085: Chopper (C1-10P, The Retro Collection)

CHOPPER (C1-10P, Kenner Style)
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. F6874 No. F7307
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Removable third leg
Action Feature: Dome clicks, third leg removes
Retail: $11.99
Availability: October 2023
Appearances: Star Wars: Ahsoka

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection features design and detailing inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and features 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 Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now! 

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: Arguably a big, exciting improvement! Chopper (C1-10P) is a new figure of a familiar face, which is what I find to be the most exciting thing about Star Wars: The Retro Collection. I love the format so much, even a lesser figure is elevated! But we'll get to them later. Today I'm here to talk droids, because I was delighted to see how this one would turn out. Hasbro's packaging is still, sadly, quite thin but they did really tone down the ugly fake "shelf battle damage" markings, with only a few unsightly white splotches. Which aren't thinks you tend to see on old cardbacks - bends, sure. Tears where the price tags were? Yes. But not weird white blobs. That's just peculiar. The "Retro Collection Kollektion Colleccion Serie" sticker is, sadly, still there and costing Hasbro money for a feature fans don't actually want. "Drop the package sticker already" is what I'm saying.

As soon as I got this guy off the cardback I ran to my 1983 Y-Wing Fighter to see if he fit in the R2-D2 droid socket. He doesn't - the feet are a little too wide. I'm surprised! I mean, I'm not surprised that Hasbro didn't test a 2023 figure against a 1983 ship - that's just silly to expect unless you're LEGO, or Playmobil, or maybe Hot Wheels - but I didn't anticipate he wouldn't be the same dimensions as R2-D2 and R5-D4. He does, however, fit in the Y-Wing Scout "Mini-Rig" from Rebels and The Clone Wars... and fits best if you have the one with the booster seat. His dome does indeed click, and there's a little screw under the body holding it in place, just like R2-D2. You have to pull out the removable third leg to see it. He has no problems standing up, and that third leg is a snug fit - that's how you want it. As a toy, it's a lot of fun to fidget with him and I don't think there are any other features you could reasonably ask for out of a 1980s-style Chopper Kenner figure. This is it, they nailed it.

 But how accurate is(n't) it? Also perfect! Getting it wrong is getting it right. Hasbro dropped the dome arms, as I suspect Kenner would have done as well. The legs are different, but not very different - the "shoulders" are changed, but the rest of the legs are pretty much the same minus the piston running down the side and the colors. It's like they made it from an incomplete picture, which is how the very best Kenner figures got made. (For the record, I'm talking about the Class of 1979 - the Cantina Aliens, Power Droid, Boba Fett, X-Wing Luke, and Death Star Droid. In the words of the great Carly Simon "nobody does it better," baby.) You get an R2-D2 style body sticker and everything. If anything Hasbro may have made it a tad too good - the extra paint on the dome for the black and blue eyes, plus a yellow stripe and a beige dish seems generous. The dark leg also has some subtle gray paint on it that seems like a luxury - but he's a tiny guy, so Hasbro probably had some budget left to trick this guy out a bit. Everything and I do mean everything is molded in color, so from where I sit this seems like a very Kenner-flavored take on the character. I believe this is how Kenner would have done it, and it feels and looks like a real 1980s toy.

 It's figures like this that touch the spot in my brain that remembers what it was like to be playing with toys in my parents' house over 40 years ago. He feels like he could have been held by the Great Heep or just was part of some phantom toy line Kenner put out after Return of the Jedi. It's 100% what I want in a toy figure, and I would give it about as high of a recommendation as I can to anybody who buys Retro or Kenner-style action figures. If you were a Kenner kid, go buy this. $12, $20, whatever - just get it. And Hasbro, if you're reading, please don't give up on this format. 10 or 12 new figures a year is perfect (I know we got more in 2023, no complaints) so keep them coming.

 

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Target but also have the case on order at Entertainment Earth. (I couldn't wait.)

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,085: November 28, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,084: Admiral Motti (Imperial Officers set, The Vintage Collection)

ADMIRAL MOTTI Imperial Officers Set
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Hasbro Pulse / Shop Disney Exclusive
Item No.: No. F8300
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster, 3 additional figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $59.99
Availability: October 2023
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: Imperial officers fought against Rebel forces in an effort to maintain the Empire’s stronghold over the galaxy. Add these four unique figures to your collection, including two new officer portraits; Admiral Piett (with his admiral rank badge); and -- for the first time in The Vintage Collection -- General Motti. (Stolen from Hasbro marketing copy. It says "General" Motti on their page.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: You'll probably want Admiral Motti. He comes in one of those odd white boxed sets, and as of my writing this isn't planned to be a part of the carded line so far as I know. He's not the first Motti figure - we got one in the CommTech line over 20 years ago, and he got repacked in The Saga Collection as part of a big Imperial Officers gift set. Since then he's been dormant, but now you can get one loaded with articulation. That's good! But he doesn't have that "tugging at the collar" hand we saw previously, so you may want to get both releases. The 2023 one is objectively better overall, but it also illustrates how we've gone forward and back. Yes, the new figure is loaded with articulation and is one of the best-jointed Original Trilogy figures Hasbro has ever made. However, it comes at the expense of a figure's personality, a pose and a simple joint that gave you everything that this character was about. Breathing problems.

If you want a figure to sit at a table (that Hasbro has never made), this is it. He can sit! The skirt piece is a little stiff but he has those new ball-jointed hips that give him a tremendous range of movement. The knees and ankles move, the shoulders move, the elbows move, the wrists bend and swivel. It's a very good mold and one they're using for Piett, Thrawn, and undoubtedly many more figures in the years to come. I'm glad they gave Motti the right rank badge and code cylinders, because some Imperial Officers just get hand-waved as being "good enough" without every last change. (Admittedly, it would be better than nothing.) I should also note that he has no problems holding his blaster, even though we never saw the character with a sidearm.

Hasbro's sculptors did a great job here. The scowl looks amazing, the hair is fantastic, and the uniform is nice and crisp. It's the kind of figure that would make you run back to your giant Death Star playset, if Hasbro made one, which they still have not. While you have to assign the figure's personality by posing the otherwise generic male Imperial stooge body yourself, it's nice to have the option. It's so rare that we get new minor human character in this line that I'd say, overall, it's great. Hasbro needs to maximize its tooling investment, which means that somehow we wind up paying more for more articulation and we trade away a little personality. I think most adult collectors will prefer this The Vintage Collection release, but I'm not going to be getting rid of my The Power of the Force Motti. There's an element of charm I would lose in the upgrade, and I can't have that. As such, I recommend both figures. At current prices, they're still affordable.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,084: November 23, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,083: General Hera Syndulla (The Black Series)

GENERAL HERA SYNDULLA (Live Action)
The Black Series 2023 Closed Box Line Look Ahsoka Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F7109
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #06 - Star Wars: Ahsoka
Includes: Blaster
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $24.99
Availability: October 2023
Appearances: Star Wars: Ahsoka

Bio: Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an energing threat to a vulnerable galaxy. (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I have some outstanding pre-orders still on the books, so figures like General Hera Syndulla are still coming - and are pretty good. It looks like someone painted Mary Elizabeth Winstead green... which is someone's lifelong ambition, I'm sure. The figure gives you a high-quality take on the Rebels character, as seen in the live-action connective tissue limited series that will get you to the next one. The costume designers did a great job bringing the CG outfit to life with enhancements like a cool jacket - which is good enough for me.

She still has orange pants and a brown top, but now there's a Rebel general bomber jacket with a cool painted logo on the back. This is a figure that looks like Hasbro saw the $25 budget and made the most of it, with those shrug-forward shoulder joints, the double-jointed neck, and a waist joint at the pants - rather than mid-torso, which looks like garbage. Hasbro cut the joints nicely, so she can easily be posed to grab her blaster in her holster, or adjust her goggles - a separately-molded piece that does not actually rotate. The jacket looks gorgeous, with a fluffy collar and painted patches. And a painted rank badge. And largely unpainted pants, so the orange color is consistent throughout. I'm looking for reasons to complain, and I don't really have one. She stands, she sits, she has an easy-to-find center of gravity.

The figure's head is amazing. Her lekku are molded green plastic with painted details, just like her face, and the brown flight cap is molded in brown. It looks way better than a paint job, but that isn't to say the paint used on this figure aren't great. The painted face turned out very well, with glossy eyes and a wry smile. With no human skin tone to match, Hera looks eerily realistic. Obviously it's not a high-end Hot Toys figure, but for the low price she does almost look like she might start talking.

The one thing I don't love is how her blaster fits in her holster - the little tab doesn't quite lock in because the blaster gets in the way. She can hold it perfectly in her flexible fingers, and it's worth noting that the blaster has multiple colors of paint on it to make it look like more than a toy accessory. It's great - you're paying for it, but at least you can't fault its quality.

While I'm planning to stop buying the 6-inch line in the very near future, mostly because of cost and space considerations, Hasbro's quality seems to be going up with each new wave. Any newly-designed figure looks amazing, poses well, and has so much personality in the face I can't not recommend it to a fan, or as a gift for someone who loves the character. You will like this figure, but this format isn't necessarily as fun if you want to buy a lot of figures. Like I said, she can stand and sit - but she'll never pilot a vehicle. You can't ask for a better figure to display on your desk, but I need a smaller figure to play around with and thankfully, we're getting two soon for Vintage and Retro fans. Even though I don't have them in-hand yet, I can't deny that this 6-inch one is going to be the best-looking of them.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,083: November 21, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,082: R6 Droid (Advent Calendar 2022)

R6 DROID Droid Cosplay
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Silver BB droid, Nutcracker R5 droid, Gold R4 droid, Giftwrapped Power Droid with bow, Elf R6 Droid with hat, C1 droid
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $69.99
Availability: August 2022
Appearances: n/a

 
Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up teh Sandcrawler to reveal and build 6 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. May the Force be with you... and your droids!" This droid is optimized to function in the sparsely settled, unspoiled frontier world of Vandor. Join R6-SNO on their adventures throughout the galaxy! (Taken from the packaging. Yes, the one quotation mark and reference to R6-SNO, who is not included, was on the box in three languages.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: The holidays continue! This Advent Calendar R6 Droid is elfin, complete with belt buckle deco and hat. Unlike the last one, this one's a bit more obvious with a green body, black feet, plus other highlights. For all I know I have it wrong, but I'm going to say no, I don't. As always, it keeps the same basic build with removable arms (and third foot), a removable dome, and a hole for an optional hat. You know them, you love them, probably.

I liked most of the holiday droids because they didn't seem too Earthy - this one veers more toward a holiday decoration, something you probably couldn't actually work in to a shelf of normal action figures. This is the one you put next to your Holiday S.L.U.G. Zombies or your The Black Series holiday edition figures. It's vibrant, charming, and as a nice hat - there's a lot to like here in terms of creativity. It makes sense that there would be figures that use the droid body as a base on which to make decorations or artist figures, and I'm surprised there aren't actually a lot more of them yet.

The paint is nice and thick, so there's not a lot of plastic showing through The details on the dome are few and far between, with a painted eye, a blue light, and a red line around the neck - because the rest of the figure got all the paint. I really do like the vibrant colors, and the artist behind it came up with a good color layout. But what do I do with an elf droid on December 26? That I haven't figured out yet as the parts don't particularly lend themselves to other environs. I think it's an admirable design but if it weren't part of a bigger set with other, more normal droids I could see letting this one go. I probably sound pretty wishy-washy here, but it's a hard figure to recommend if you want to collect figures that belong in the Star Wars universe. This is one for your holiday displays, and little else.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from some guy on eBay for a lower price!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,082: November 16, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,081: Wicket W. Warrick (Ewoks Cartoon, The Vintage Collection)

WICKET W. WARRICK cartoon version
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Fan Channel 2-Pack
Item No.: No. F8300
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #283
Includes: Spear, bag, hood, coin
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $36.99
Availability: October 2023
Appearances: Ewoks

Bio: Wicket's friendly, adventurous, and mischievous nature makes him a leader among the other young EWOKS. (Taken from the cardback.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: There are a lot of things Hasbro makes where I don't know who the audience is going to be, but I do know that this Ewoks cartoon Wicket W. Warrick was made for me. If you were a kid in the 1980s, you may have watched these shows on Saturday mornings for a couple of years, and then saw them at Kay-Bee for a buck. What's interesting about Wicket is that he's a remake of a character from 1985, while Kneesaa never actually came out until now. (There's still hope!) Back in the early 1990s and late 1980s, nobody wanted those figures - I got them super cheap and their relative scarcity was in large part because nobody cared to sell them. As such, if you didn't have the then newly-sculpted cartoon-specific Ewoks, you can get these now.

This figure takes the 2010 The Vintage Collection movie mold - which also had a movie hood, and was only $10 - and adds the requisite collector tax mark-up, giving you a reissue of the coin (freebies in the $6.99 line in 2017) instead of a hood at what is basically a 85% mark-up. If you just had the orange hood, rather than the green hood, I'd probably say no - but since they gave you the season two hood first, this is interesting. On the actual cartoon, it was an orangey brown. On the old licensed merchandise and package art, Wicket's hood was usually a dirty yellow. The bright orange of the final figure is a rung below neon, and seems much more saturated and bright than the relatively muted product photography. The mold isn't new, but it's good - Hasbro is excellent at making the most of its existing tooling library, and gives you a handy pouch for sunberries on the side. This accessory is why I pre-ordered the figure, but I'd be lying if I said it turned out like I expected. The cartoon one was brown, while Kenner's preschool Wicket was that yellow color. As such, this is different enough where Hasbro has wiggle room to make another couple of cartoon Wicket figures if they really wanted to do so.

The spear is fine, and he can hold it with both hands since they did a good job designing him. Having said that, you won't feel you got your money's worth with swivel ankles, jointed hips and shoulders and ankles, and a jointed neck that won't move much. Combined, the two-pack has about as many parts as a modern full-size figure (give or take) so I'm sure Hasbro is making a good return on this mold investment - and it's a nice figure. The eyes are painted to be sort of like the movie while also being vaguely like the cartoon. The fur patterns are much cleaner than the movie version, and I actually kind of prefer it. You can move the legs so he can be posed standing without falling over quite nicely.

This figure is very much for a specific kind of fan. I'm sure completists will grouse, and even though this is something I very much want I do feel a little stung over the price tag. I assume we'll never see another Ewoks cartoon figure, but I like it enough to say that old Kenner kids might want to look into getting it. It's also worth noting the bonus coin feels a lot like the original, minus a sharper sculpt that seems a smidgen off from the real deal while paradoxically looking almost identical save for revised copyright markings. I bet it could pass for a genuine original if a fan wasn't intimately familiar with the years being stamped on the Kenner versions. Recommended if you like this sort of thing, and don't mind spending the equivalent of $18.50 for a repaint of a figure you may own already given the obscure nature of this release.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,081: November 14, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,080: Ahsoka Tano (Padawan, The Black Series)

AHSOKA TANO (Padawan)
The Black Series 2023 Closed Box Line Look The Clone Wars Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F7100
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #13 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Includes: Lightsabers
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $24.99
Availability: October 2023
Appearances: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Bio: Ahsoka Tano, a young Togruta, was the Padawan learner to Anakin Skywalker and a hero of the Clone Wars. (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Click here to buy it at Walmart now!

Commentary: I can't complain about Ahsoka Tano (Padawan) as the figure is a great "live action" recreation of the season 3 cartoon costume, which also appeared on the Ahsoka TV show, and looks more or less like that. But maybe older. This is what the figure should look like - for long-time fans of the cartoons, this is pretty much what you would have in your head and the people at Hasbro did a nice enough job that you'll see this at $25 and go "OK, I want that."

The costume looks like what you saw on TV over ten years ago. She lost the tube top for a sleeveless number with gloves, arm bands, boots, and ventilated pants - which I guess may not seem Star Wars-y, but having left my house and seen airports I can assure you that the young people still do wear pants with rips in them. Functionally, it's probably pretty similar. How it works out for sword fighting, I have no idea. I sit at a computer for a living. Much like The Vintage Collection figure, she has two lightsabers. You can plug them into her belt if you like! Her belt fits well, the sculpting all turned out well and it seems multiple molded color pieces were stitched together to keep her looking her best for the longest possible time. You want things molded in color - paint scrapes. If the head is white plastic and pink plastic, at least those parts will stay nice if it falls and dings on the ground.

Since this figure is $25 I'm always torn between "do something to get the prices down" and "maximize the quality to make it worth $25." Ahsoka seems to be the latter. She has an extra joint to allow for extra arm movement, so inside her torso is an extra purple piece that connects to her arm and leets her have a bit more room. The figure's pose is pretty good too - her left hand has fingers extended in a "Force user" pose. The designers sculpted her to have a good center of gravity, so she actually stands on my desk while I hammer out this review. I didn't have a problem getting her into some neat poses, and I had no problems getting her to hold her lightsabers either. Hasbro even snuck in a surprise bonus joint - not only do you have rocker ankles, but the top of the boot is a swivel joint. I assume it was done because it helps keep paint costs down, but you can rotate that boot if you want. I don't think it's necessary but it is wonderful Hasbro budgeted it in there so nobody can complain that they didn't.

As I keep writing, I'm cutting my pre-orders for the 6-inch line and probably won't be buying a heck of a lot more - but I like this one a lot. I don't know if I'll keep her (and indeed them) forever, but she'll be one of the last to go. It's a pity the Anakin and Obi-Wan were really hard to get, because it would be great to have them to go with her - but maybe there's still room for Season 3 redesigns as figures, to keep things going. Hasbro did a nice job here, and if you are a fan of Ms. Tano I highly recommend getting this figure and watching The Clone Wars. (The Ahsoka show, well, if you have some time on a plane, sure.)

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,080: November 9, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,079: R4 Droid (Advent Calendar 2022)

R4 DROID Droid Cosplay
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Silver BB droid, Nutcracker R5 droid, Gold R4 droid, Giftwrapped Power Droid with bow, Elf R6 Droid with hat, C1 Drpod
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $69.99
Availability: August 2022
Appearances: n/a   

Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up the Sandcrawler to reveal and build 6 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. May the Force be with you... and your droids!" This droid is optimized to function in the sparsely settled, unspoiled frontier world of Vandor. Join R6-SNO on their adventures throughout the galaxy! (Taken from the packaging. Yes, the one quotation mark and reference to R6-SNO, who is not included, was on the box in three languages.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: Life is confusing when you're not sure if you're in on the joke. This Advent Calendar R4 Droid came out last year (and returned this year) with no name on the box or its web site - it's just called "R4." They make special mention to not name-check Christmas, as some companies are known to do to broaden the potential sales audience. Many of these are sly nods to various stories and tales from pop culture surrounding the holiday, with designs that evoke elves and nutcrackers and more. But this one? I don't get it. I also went looking at other reviews, which all seemed to go out of their way to not identify what this was. So what is it? I don't know, but I like it.

At first the colors reminded me of B-R72, a hulking yellow beast with claw hands and a massive head - but it's not bright yellow, our R4 friend is more gold. It sort of looks like a DHL mascot, but it's not, and there's a red equals sign on the dome plus metallic red highlights. And silver highlights. One commenter said it might be a golden bell with ribbons, but I don't think I buy it. It' weird posting thousands of toy reviews and picking up something that I recognize - a Star Wars droid - clearly formulated to be a joke of some sort, and I don't get the joke. Is it based on some British holiday tradition I don't know? A snack treat? I have no idea, but the color layout is unique with lots of big red panels. It's not gingerbread, but I guess it could be a riff on those ball ornaments that come in metallic colors. I swear this isn't a troll for comments, but does anyone know what they were gunning for here? "Ornament" seems to be a cop-out answer, but it worked for Rung.

If Hasbro or Disney or Lucasfilm dropped this in a scene somewhere, you'd probably not immediately think it's a holiday tie-in. Or at least, I wouldn't - I would totally believe some Republic senator might have a gold and silver robot with red highlights to bling out and show off. There's a big black eye, plus silver soles. It's a nice design and I suppose it would look great under a miniature tree, or by a gingerbread house, or in Jabba's Palace. He doesn't not belong there, right?

At $70 you get 6 droids in a box - that's about $12 each, or just under before taxes. It is not an amazing deal, but a single robot is $15 now, which is a less amazing deal. If you like all the designs I think you can grit your teeth and say that it's worth it. I personally had issues spending $28 per 6-inch Hasbro Holiday The Black Series figure because it adds up too quickly all at once, and $70 for a bunch of robots - some of which aren't really all that Christmas or Winter Holiday-specific - I can live with that. Or rather, my ignorance allows me to live with that. This set isn't really essential at all, but the gimmick is fun and I like droids that don't cost me a lot of money. And that's a big part of it now - am I getting my money's worth, or is someone trying to make me think "more expensive" means "value" in some sort of way that isn't how words work? I think Disney did a fairly good item at a fairly good price here, and I like it enough - despite being confused by it - to recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to avoid things like an elf robot. I admit my sense of whimsy is bent at this age.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from some guy on eBay for a lower price!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,079: November 7, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,078: R3-T6 (Custom)

R3-T6 (Custom)
Fan-Produced Custom Figure
Item No.: No. n/a
Manufacturer: n/a
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $37.00
Availability: ca. May 2020
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: A This figure is injection molded plastic. The dome clicks when rotated. This is a new loose figure. (Stolen from the Stan Solo Etsy store web site. There is no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I like droids a lot, but I didn't know how many of the astromechs and protocol droids existed from Stan Solo until a bunch were sold out - I regret missing them. Hopefully they'll consider another run. I did get a few, like R3-T6. It's the kind of figure you never really understand why Kenner didn't make given their love of repaints - it would have been pretty simple to have done. Hasbro did one and their R3-T6 [FOTD #101] was at the behest of a retailer with a clever, handsome buyer. This figure is very much like that one - existing tooling, and new colors.

Stan Solo's figure uses a pop-up lightsaber R2-D2 body with a classic-style dome. The dome is cast in clear, so you can look down and see the groove for a lightsaber to travel - but there's no hole, so you can't actually see it in motion. (It would be cool to see this figure cast completely in clear with no sticker just so you can see the mechanism in action.) His arms have black greeblies on the side, and so does the dome - it's mostly clear just so you can appreciate the vast nothing inside. His sticker has red and black panels, which is not quite unlike R5-D4. I love how the dome clicks, the figure feels sturdy, and the only thing I don't like is that the legs curve in a tiny bit. It's a very nice figure, but these were somewhat expensive - and still are.

I don't know why Hasbro isn't doing these kinds of droids, as they have the tooling and I'm sure they have multiple willing partners who would absolutely love an exclusive Kenner droid of their very own now that the official tooling is up and running. But I digress. Stan Solo did a great job delivering a quality figure that looks and feels exactly like you would want, you just need to pay accordingly. It's not a licensed product, but since it's unlikely a licensed product will exist, why not go for it? (Cost, I know, cost.) I like it and figures like this pried me off of buying more The Black Series, mostly because I can actually have fun with retro Kenner figures and The Black Series - from where I sit - are mostly about posing them and never touching them again. I don't need that. I want toys, and this is - despite the cost - more or less a toy. (For legal reasons: not a toy.)

Collector's Notes: I got mine from one of Stan Solo's US resellers around July of 2022. They've since ran out and the prices are getting pretty high.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,078: November 2, 2023