R5-D4 - POTF2 [R/G] - Basic

HEIGHT: 1 Meter
STATUS: Battle-Ready Combat/Guardian Droid
CLASSIFICATION: Astromech Droid
AFFILIATION: Rebel Alliance

Apparently it is possible for Kenner to make a greater debacle than “monkey face” Princess Leia Organa. And that would be in the form of R5-D4 with concealed proton missile launcher! You have to understand the history behind this figure in order for it to all make sense. But it won’t make sense so don’t wait for a resolution. Already itching to make multiple versions of the droids from Star Wars (since they’re relatively the same throughout the Original Trilogy), Kenner thought it would be a great idea to make an “attack” R2-D2 and C-3PO. The names of these characters even appeared on early product lists. Thankfully they never materialized. However, tooling must have progressed further than we realize, because Kenner applied this “attack” mode to the long-awaited update to R5-D4. Sadly, we wanted our money back as soon as the figure hit pegs. There is disappointingly no way you can get around the fact that this R5-D4 is a Hasbro concept which relegates it to Expanded Universe status Had they not put the cannons on the legs, it would make it easier to swallow that this is the same droid from A New Hope. But because they’re permanent, well, this is from another unknown Star Wars tale.

Despite our own disapproval for making R5-D4 into a killing machine, if you’re able to put aside the fact that you know all about this Star Wars character then the figure as a toy is actually interesting. We don’t think it’s a revolutionary action figure, but we’d be lying if we didn’t comment that the droid’s interior is beautifully tooled and nicely painted. That doesn’t mean we’ve accepted the way the droid splits in half, is unable to rotate its dome, and tuck its third leg up into its body. Cleary, as an astromech droid first and a killing machine second, R5-D4 is riddled with inconsistencies and is frankly an unbelievable character in this light. When not in attack mode, it is hard for us to acknowledge that R5-D4 looks good. His domes is not proportioned accurately, its third leg is too chunky, and its outer legs are yoked together by a “bar” which prevents the swivel legs from any genuine movement. In short, R5-D4 is VERY limiting when functioning as an astromech droid. Even while in R5 unit mode, a yellow action feature level is visible on the bottom left of its body (and for those of you that keep track of variations there are two lever shapes: straight latch and “L” shaped latch).

R5-D4 appears to be painted nicely on the outside too, but between the whiteness of the droid’s exterior and the spotty dirt applications, it looks like R5-D4 has freckles more than dirt on it. Kenner should have used a more off-white colored plastic to cast the figure in because the droid just looks too clean. The silver spattering just doesn’t cut it. Also, R5-D4 has three red vertical bars on its back. Kenner neglected to include them here, so R5-D4 is screen inaccurate in more ways than one. When in attack mode, well, let’s just say we’re suckers for campy things. Inside of R5-D2 is a nicely designed cannon with a big yellow projectile. But even the interior of the droid halves are wonderfully sculpted and decorated. It’s our opinion that more work than was needed went into how the inside of this droid should look. We commend Kenner on thinking outside of the box here. In missile launcher mode, R5-D4 doesn’t have too many available positions, but if you don’t care if all three legs touch the ground or not then your options aren’t as limited. Keep in mind that this is a “play thing” and not meant to be taken seriously as an action figure. It may have been better if Kenner released this as a “silly” R2-D2 action figure instead and then released a more screen accurate R5-D4 in the future. But better versions will continue to come.