Color-Changing Droids [A] - DD

All different types of Astromech droids populate the galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. These droids have the special ability to change color!

Well, it seems that the Droid Factory branding is slowly fading away. And in its place, new for Galaxy’s Edge is the Droid Depot where Star Wars fans and collectors can purchase reinvented Build A Droid figures for their collections. The Colo-Changing Droids [A] brings together four “Droid Factory” figures. Many resemble the characters we know, love, and adore from the Star Wars saga, while others are new to the sets. Color-Changing Droids [A] includes a purple RA-7 Protocol Droid /Death Star Droid and looks a whole heck of a lot like the RA-7 Protocol Droid that interacts with Boba Fett in the old Star Wars Marvel comics. Also included here is a never-before-released red BB unit (which we believe it featured in many places in Galaxy’s Edge). A “version” of R2-D2 also debuts in this set, although, due to the color-changing feature the droid looks very pink instead of white. Finally, a lookalike to C1-10P is the final figure in this set. Disney put together a motley crew of droids, but the combination works nicely because it should provide the depth and diversity of the droids that make up the Star Wars universe. The big kid-oriented feature here is the color-changing feature of these figures. And when we tried, we were impressed with how well it worked for a what is nothing more than a gimmick and not a “needed” feature for these figures.

The color-changing feature works like this. There is a range of temperatures, and within these ranges, the color will be one color or the other. Disney describes a WARM range of 86℉ to 107.6℉ Fahrenheit. They also describe the COLD range as any temperature between 32℉ and 64℉ Fahrenheit. Of course, there are intermediate temperatures when the droid begin changing back to their room temperature color (which more often than not falls under the WARM range). Interestingly, after we placed our figures in the freezer to get cold for our photoshoot, we came back the next day, and they still maintained their “COLD” colors. It wasn’t until we began touching them and running them under WARM water that they began transitioning back to their original colors. So, for lack of a better term, there is some “memory” with this color-changing feature. It’s fascinating to see this effect, and we’re not sure if we fully understand how this functionality of this gimmick works. All of the droids have slight retooling updates, and they all possess unique textures we haven’t seen in the line to date. All have a “fuzzy” texture to their plastic which must be because of the color-changing feature added to them. All have paint jobs that are very different from the characters they imitate.

Here is how the color-changing feature works for the four included droids in Color-Changing Droids [A]. The purple RA-7 Protocol Droid turns completely black, save for its silver eyes. The black coloring is very deep, and this simple update turns it into a completely different character. We’re at a loss to find a character in the Star Wars universe that the black version of the RA-7 Protocol Droid could represent, but it’s a great addition to the line. The reddish-pink BB Unit converts to a BB-9E lookalike. We haven’t analyzed every last detail between this figure and Hasbro’s/Disney’s versions of this character, but the similarities are uncanny. The R2-D2 lookalike figure converts to a bright (or neon-like) “raspberry” red color. We don’t know what character this is intended to emulate, but it’s a fresh take on an astromech droid, and we wonder if the character can be recreated with Disney Parks’ older Droid Factory parts. Finally, the “Chopper” lookalike converts to a close-but-no-cigar version of when he donned himself in an Imperial disguise in the Star Wars: Rebels television show. The biggest inaccuracy is that the color-changing figure has yellow accenting details on the dome, whereas the one featured in the television show is red. Still, the effort is appreciated, and it’s nice to get another C1 Astromech that isn’t “Chopper” in the 3.75” Star Wars action figure line. This fun set retails for $39.99.