R2-D2 Carryall Playset - EI - Playsets

A generation before Star Wars: A New Hope...

In a galaxy far, far away, an evil force is gaining strength and threatens an entire civilization. Two courageous Jedi, a young queen, a Gungan outcast, and a slave boy named Anakin, band together to save a planet under attack as the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance.

The adventure continues with this R2-D2 Carryall Playset from Star Wars Episode I! It's styled like R2-D2 on the outside, but inside, its a complete play area and storage space for up to 20 Star Wars 3 ¾" figures and accessories, so you can recreate the excitement of the Trade Federation battleship, just like in the movie.

Hasbro merely stuck their toes in the “playset” pond during The Power Of The Force “2” line. With only a few half-hearted attempts, they never developed an acceptable play area for collectors to interact with their action figures. Some of them were passable, but overall, they didn’t meet collectors’ expectations. Despite the initial lack, Hasbro went significantly deeper into this arena with the Episode I line. Between the Theed Hangar Playset and the Theed Generator Complex Playset, Hasbro decidedly delved into providing environments for the new action figures they created for collectors in the Episode I line. In addition to the marked Episode I playsets, Hasbro also blurred some lines with other toys produced. For example, they called the ‘largest’ vehicle of their career to this point, the Naboo Royal Starship Blockade Cruiser/Playset, a vehicle, and a playset. And then they produced a carry case and developed it into a playset as well. The R2-D2 Carryall Playset is half carry case and half playset, and all fun. Not entirely screen-accurate, Hasbro designed the interior play area to look like scenes we saw in both the opening and the closing of The Phantom Menace. Part of it seems like the Neimoidian’s Radiant VII, while other parts look like areas of Theed. It’s an even mix of the two.

The R2-D2 Carryall Playset opens up like a Star Wars carry case. Hasbro sculpted the exterior to resemble R2-D2, but inside, if you’re looking at it as a book, the left side features the “playset” area, and the right side features the “carryall” area. The playset side is pretty nice, albeit small and straightforward. The second level folds out from the inside, and then you attach a third section so that it extends out further. Hasbro tooled a fantastic amount of detail here, but the playset comes wit live that to the addition of MANY decals here. There are so many here that Hasbro included two sticker sheets worth of them. It takes some time to apply them, but once you do, you can see what a huge difference they make here. There are many features here. There are double blast doors that open up. And there is a lower level that features a gate that opens up as well. You’ll have to use your imagination on how to utilize them here, but there is quite a bit of functionality to help you develop unique play scenarios. Hasbro also added a new “rolled up” Destroyer Droid/Droideka action figure here as a pack-in premium. It’s nothing extraordinary, but it’s an excellent addition to help accentuate the play value of the set. Hasbro designed ramps so that you can roll the Destroyer Droid down them and have them attack action figures like Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The right side serves as your carry case. It’s mostly a transforming shelving area for your 3.75” Star Wars action figure collection. It comes with removable shelves so you can create appropriately sized space for the action figures you intend to include in this set. You can also create smaller square spaces to store CommTech Chips and Freeze Frame Action Slides, as pictured on the packaging. There are two compartments with snap-shut doors for the storage of weapons, including blasters and lightsabers, and other accessories. It’s an impressive display when you add various action figures to the storage section of this item, but they also don’t seem practical. The action figures won’t stay in place if you decide to fold this up and carry it to another spot in your collection. Impractical is probably the best word to describe this set. We feel that Hasbro should have utilized the tooling budget to create a full-fledged playset, not walk the fence and create an R2-D2 Carryall Playset as they did. What the heck does that mean anyhow? For what this is, the R2-D2 Carryall Playset seems adequately priced. The inclusion of a “new” action figure almost makes this a worthwhile purchase. And the interior Playset is not half bad. But with as big of a toy line as Episode I is, there will be too many other and more critical products distracting collectors from this product.