The Black Series 6" #4 R2-D2

Been a little while, and after dragging my feet on this one, here is the R2-D2 review.

This little droid is a very strong figure. Having said that, I would have to agree with a lot of others who feel this is the weakest figure of the wave. The biggest reason is paint. My figure has two different shades of blue on his dome. One half is a little darker than the other. Some of the other paint apps can be off. R2's eye has been seen with terrible paint applied. There is no weathering, showing R2 as the polished up showroom finish he had for the medal ceremony at the end of A New Hope. As wel all know, R2 has seen a lot of action, and it would have been nice to see some sort of wash applied. This would have also brought out a lot of the smaller details that get hidden by a clean white droid. Some guys have taken a pencil to bring out some of the detail.



One of the most surprising things about R2 is that Hasbro chose to use the old school method of turning the head to raise and lower the third leg. My thoughts for this would have been to just include the third leg, and make it removable.



There is no lack of accessories with R2, and that makes up for some of the short falls. They give us the sensorscope, the scanner and a Luke Jedi saber hilt. These all have a special spot in the dome, which is accessed by removing one of the blue sections on the top. Hasbro gave us interchangeable leg panels. Standard, which we see in all of the movies, and a set that include the "rockets" that we saw in ATOC. I prefer the standard, and will probably never use the rocket panels. (Just personal preference)



Built into the torso are two opening panels, that hide his pincher arm as well as the computer socket. These are not removable, and they did not include the saw as seen in ROTJ.



Some people complain about the size and scale of this figure. I don't have any issue, as I am not a perfectionist when it comes to that subject. Those who complain about 19.99 for a smaller figure forget that in time we will be getting figures that are also larger, and that the cost will balance out. There is also be a huge potential for several repaints of other astromechs!

I think he looks just great standing next to Pilot Luke. We can only hope that there will be an x wing to make use of these figures.



Don't get me wrong.... I am not trying to deter anyone from buying this figure. R2 is very well done, but nothing is 100% perfect. I think it is just as important to tell the flaws as it is the good. I would suggest that you pick this figure up, because he will not be on the shelf forever. Then you will be paying more to find him through secondary market when the inevitable C-3PO figure comes out. My only hope for that figure is a nice shiny metallic finish, and not the gold color plastic we saw for the TVC figure.