Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,094: Power Droid (a.k.a. Gonk, Advent Calendar 2022)

POWER 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: As the year winds down, I've got a bunch of holiday droids we didn't get to yet - but we have to put those things away until next year, right? Right. So let's open one more gift - the Power Droid, or Gonk Droid, or EG-6 or whatever dressed up as a gift box. Given how these things were photographed I'd say it's arguable which accessories can go with which figure - the little bow & mistletoe could be a part of the golden droid, or seen as a bow at the top of the power droid. Problem is, the Power Droid's hat hole has paint in it, thus making it impossible to cram a hat in the hat hole. (Is this getting dirty? Is this dirty talk?) Anyway, you can give him a hat if you want, just be prepared to shave down the hat peg or to scrape some paint off the socket. I will be doing neither of these things.

As with other Power Droids, you can pop the hatch off and see the inside with what looks vaguely like old PC guts or cooling stuf. The droid mold itself is molded in green with red ribbon deco and silver highlights, including the face (which could use some more color), the restraining bolts, the antenna, and the vent on the back (no notes.) Springy silver deco is there on the legs too, which gives it a Santa Claus Conquers the Martians vibe. It's colorful - very not-Star Wars. On the other hand, the simple coloring does look like it could be a blurry background bot in a comic or on the Droids cartoon, doesn't it?

Articulation on this green robot consists of legs that can swing forward. And that's it. Honestly, even that seems pretty generous - he can stand just fine, and emote just a bit by posing him looking up or down. It's pretty much all you need, and I would argue it's one of the better droids in this set. If I were Disney I'd probably have cut costs by not painting some of the guts silver, but that's probably why you'll never see anyone hiring me to make budgets for these things. If you can see this set for a fair price, the per-robot retail is pretty good. But I'm a sucker for robots.

Thanks for another great year, dear readers, and I hope we can keep doing this until you or I can't stands no more.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,094: December 28, 2023