C-3PO - TSC - The Episode III Greatest Battles Collection (3 of 14)

At last, the protocol droid C-3PO receives his complete body shell. He and his companion R2-D2 find themselves in the midst of tumultuous circumstances in their loyal service to Padmé.

At one point during its production, Revenge Of The Sith was to originally show how C-3PO came to receive his golden armor. Due to time constraints of the film, that part of the storyline was abandoned. While it would have been an incredible progression of events in Episode III to see this actually happen onscreen, thankfully Star Wars fans could still witness the explanation of how this came to be courtesy of Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series. It was in Volume 2 where we saw this popular protocol droid abashedly show off his new shiny golden exoskeleton (after removing his “disguise” for Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala). Revenge Of The Sith is a landmark for C-3PO in one major way. It represents the first time C-3PO appeared in gold plates armor in the Prequel Trilogy. Hasbro was sure to bring collectors an all-new version of C-3PO based on this appearance. And quite honestly it is one of the best C-3PO action figures we have received to date. While it is hard to call this version of C-3PO “perfect” because it isn't as articulated as one might have expected, he is nonetheless a great looking action figure and a highlight of the Revenge Of The Sith line. With excellent proportions, a beautiful paint job and a portrait that we find couldn’t really be much better, C-3PO is good enough for Hasbro to reissue in The Episode III Greatest Battles Collection, a “greatest hits” line within The Saga Collection banner.

C-3PO only comes with six points of articulation, but all of the needed joints are included here. He comes with a reverse ball-socket neck joint that functions more like swivel articulation because of its limited ‘ball’ movement. As a bonus, all of his extremities and head are removable. It is very reminiscent of the 1982 Kenner “removable limbs” figure. C-3PO’s shoulders and hips are both swivel and removable as well. In a slightly puzzling move, Hasbro decided to give C-3PO a ball-jointed midsection (torso) which is wonderful to have of course, but definitely not a requirement (for us at least). Because C-3PO does come well-prepared with all of this movement and versatility, we find that this version of him may be the best to utilize as a crossover figure to represent his many looks throughout the Star Wars saga. We say this because this particular version of C-3PO can really be screen accurate for all of the Star Wars films. C-3PO isn't free from some minor faults of course. The vac-metallization is wonderful to have, but the paint job Hasbro gave this figure seems ever slightly pale (or not “gold enough” might be a more accurate assessment). We’d venture a guess that Hasbro is still looking for a way to master how the eyes (photoreceptors) get painted on the "face" of C-3PO because they aren’t exactly perfect. (They're a smidgen too big.) At this stage of the game, 2006’s TSC C-3PO (With Ewok Throne) (SAGA 042) may rival this version as the best. After all, you get more articulation with that figure than you do with this one.

The Episode III Greatest Battles C-3PO (3 of 14) figure has three variation too. Originally packaged with the Mustafar environmental base (as did the original Revenge Of The Sith version), it was quickly changed to a brown colored “Coruscant” base which frankly is quite ugly. But the repainted display stand that came with C-3PO was meant to be repurposed for part of the interior of the Tantive IV. So the coloring was changed once again and Hasbro updated it again in dark gray and white for a more accurate color scheme. At this point we’re not sure which one looks the best, and 'completionists' are going to have to more versions of C-3PO than they ever expected. But despite worrying about how many different versions you’re going to have to buy of him, there is no denying that C-3PO really looks fantastic. He also has superb posturing. The ball-jointed torso does wonders for the figure by giving it the necessary flexibility to allow him the perfect amount of attitude and indignation he possesses. C-3PO is a Star Wars character that is hard (in general) for Hasbro to mess up. Pretty much all of the versions to date have been successful (albeit imperfect). But with a fine sculpt and really nice paint job, this version should stand the test of time until Hasbro find a way to include more articulation into the sculpt. And if you’re into gimmicks, The Episode III Greatest Battles Collection also come with miniature holograms (just like the main line) and really offer nothing of value to the collector.