Just because I sold hundreds of Star Wars figures last year doesn’t mean I stopped buying them, but these days all I’ll pick up is a droid. And thankfully they almost never release any! Here’s five I’ve bought since the great sell-off about a year ago.
This first one was an R2-D2 released back in 2000 in packaging reminiscent of the original figures from the 1970s. I was in the tail end of my collecting days then and didn’t buy it, but recently picked up the above copy for a low price on Amazon and was amazed when it arrived in near mint condition after 23+ years!
I won’t discuss the history of the character since you all know who he is, but here’s a fun R2 fact: he’s appeared on four postage stamps!
This R4-G9 was amongst the very first Revenge Of The Sith figures released and by then (2006) I’d by and large stopped buying any figures. I recently picked the above copy up (also on Amazon) and she’s unusual enough I’m surprised I never bought her back then. Perhaps I simply never saw her?
As for the character, despite appearing with Obi-Wan her role in the film was so brief you probably forgot about her moments later. And if you hadn’t yet picked up on it, yes R4-G9 is a lady droid. Couldn’t you tell from the pink tint to her dome? 😉
I only purchased this Power Droid because it’s so ugly and weird, and I find the existence of a carded figure amusing. Another Amazon purchase, this one came in mint condition sealed in a custom shipping box and cost me considerably less than various online sites say it is ‘worth’.
This droid – long nicknamed ‘Gonk’ – dates all the way back to the original Star Wars. They have made many appearances in Star Wars movies and shows, such as in Rogue One as shown above. Gonks are just generators on legs with rudimentary intelligence, but endearing because of how ugly they are!
I’m not a big fan of the current ‘Retro’ line of figures that are sculpted to resemble the original 1970s lines. That said I love how tiny this Chopper figure is and didn’t hesitate buying him. I’ve got a thing for little droids in tiny bubbles!
Chopper (his ‘real’ name is C1-10P) is from Rebels and last year made his live action appearance in the Ahsoka series. He’s a bit of a rogue, and famously uses a garbled dialect that is almost legible. There’s a recent non-retro figure of him as well, which I’m sure I’ll get one day.
R4-D5 was in the original Star Wars, and famously if it wasn’t for his ‘bad motivator’ then Luke may have never adopted R2 and C-3PO. Decades ago I had the original R5-D4 figure, and recently I picked up the newly released version above as well.
R5-D4 was recently in the third season of Mandalorian, which was a mystery since it raised the question of where he had been for so long? The short version is that his encounter with R2 in the belly of a sandcrawler years prior eventually led him to the Rebellion where he loyally served for years. Oh and that bad motivator? That was self-sabotage to make sure Luke took R2. Good old R5-D4: he’s always been the hero 🙂