Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,116: R3-Series Astromech Droid Clear with Orange

R3-SERIES ASTROMECH DROID Clear Dome with Orange and Silver Markings looks like R3-A2
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Head, 2 legs, torso, central third leg, optional hat
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $12.99
Availability: Fall 2015
Appearances: n/a   

Bio: These figures do not have specific packaging or configurations. As such, we will be treating each dome as a unique "figure" as that part is the most plentiful. This batch does not have Hasbro on them - markings read "© DISNEY" and "© LFL" as well as "China" on each leg. (Taken from the packaging)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I'm slowly going through pegs of unopened figures and I cringe that this R3-Series Astromech Droid with a clear dome and orange panels has been sitting since 2015. But that speaks to the very real glut - I can open a few figures a week, every week, and not hit the end of this very long collection. I'm glad Disney stopped making new figures for its customizable build-a-figure bins, instead focusing on a larger and more expensive product. That's a pretty good example of where the industry is going these days - nobody wants to make money selling value-priced figures. They want to sell $30 or $50 or $80 figures. This one was only $13.

Mine has the only orange body for sale at the time, which was an R7 body. Sadly, this body hasn't shown up in the movies yet, but I'm hopeful. There are more angled parts and a lot more paint than usual, with nice white highlights popping (but absorbing some of the silver.) It looks good in a dimmer display too, and the white panels match the white feet pretty nicely. The exterior legs have jointed feet, with all three having articulated wheels. As with the other bin figures, you can pop them apart at the bottom foot, the dome, and the arms.

What makes this figure stand out is the dome, with glossy orange panels and a silver box around the central black eye. Hasbro's orange domes typically have an unpainted box around that eye, and when Hasbro did a Droid Depot R3-Series Astromech Droid [FOTD #2,732] figure for Target it had an orange box around the eye. That makes this one distinctive - also note the red light below the eye, and a couple of silver greeblies. Also note there's a hole in the top of his dome for a hat peg. At most angles, it blends in to the clear plastic quite nicely (but looking at it straight-on, it's quite obvious.) Depending on your point of view, this figure may be just different enough to make you mad. But we've got over 200 astromech droid figures which means we're well past the point of a sane, sensible collection here unless your focus is droids exclusively.

 Having said that, there are two Hasbro R3-A2 figures that also feature clear domes with orange highlights on mostly white bodies. That may be preferable for you, but they're all priced similarly. The advice I would give you - and not take - is that you don't need every last astromech droid variant out there as you have plenty of orange R3 alternatives.

As I write this, I see two people selling this exact build on eBay. One is $35, one is $60. I wouldn't pay $60, but it's a cute figure and I like orange things. If you don't have too many droids, whatever your definition of that is, this is a perfectly nice figure and I think $35 for a theme park exclusive that's nearly 10 years old is a steal. If you disagree, you are bad at math. Parking at Disneyland, tax, and shipping adds up fast so even if you could just run in to grab it and leave, you probably couldn't get one for $35. If you're collecting a lot of these guys, though, try buying them in a lot or as part of a larger collection to get the per-figure price down.

Collector's Notes: I got mine in 2015 and I am actually not sure how long these parts were made in the bins. I got this from my pal Shannon who was cool enough to get me a set from Disneyland.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,116: March 14, 2024