S. H. Figuarts Star Wars Battle Droid (Geonosis Color) Review

Late last year I was pleasantly surprised when the prequel’s Battle Droid became one of my favorite Star Wars toys I’d purchased in years. Battle Droids are similar to Clone Troopers in that it was inevitable that a repaint would eventually happen. This is the repaint that I expected, but Bandai added one little accessory that I would have never guessed a C-3P0 head! This, of course, means that they will eventually have to make a ‘Revenge of the Sith‘ version of C-3P0 with an interchangeable Battle Droid head in order to complete the scene.

The C-3P0 headpiece has a permanently attached red neck part that plugs into the chest. Unfortunately, my dreams of sticking his head on every other figure in my collection are dashed since the head can’t be removed from its base. The head is also on a swivel joint, so it can’t really look up and down. Which I would have to assume would be movie accurate since I doubt C-3P0’s head fell upon some type of ball joint.

As I mentioned in my previous review, the Battle Droid base body is absolutely stellar. It can hit a plethora of poses. More poses than you’d ever expect a toy of a Star Wars prequel Battle Droid to be able to do. Of course, this version is painted red like the ones that show up in the giant arena in Geonisis. I wonder if this means we will eventually get Super Battle Droids? I believe Bandai showed some Super Battle Droid prototypes about a year or so ago. And they love themselves some prequel trilogy, so anything is possible!

Its accessory load-out is basically the same as the original: extended backpack antenna, blaster rifle, and the C-3P0 head. I wish the Battle Droid could hold his gun a little better. In order to hold the gun you basically wrap its fingers around the barrel to keep it snug. Unfortunately more complicated posing can end up being frustrating as it’s very easy to knock the gun out of his hands. When it isn’t being a murderous blaster wielding droid, it can store the gun on a clip that folds out from the right hand side of its backpack.

Now would I have bought this figure if it hadn’t come with the C-3P0 head? That’s a tough call. I feel like I’d be a lot less inclined to, however, I’m a borderline completest with this line. And on top of that it feels right having more than one Battle Droid in my ranks. It made my decision a little easier since this release is not a web shop exclusive like the upcoming unmasked Kylo Ren. That is one I’m likely to skip out on since its exclusivity drives it up to almost double the price of a regular release, and I already have the masked version.

As of right now Amazon actually has pretty fair prices on these guys. Possibly even cheaper than I paid to import after all was said and done with shipping.

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