CZ-4 - TAC - Basic (30 26)

Originally a simple CZ-series communication droid, CZ-4 has been modified by Jabba the Hutt to continually scan the environment and warn the crime lord of imminent attack. The strain of doing Jabba's bidding has taken its toll, and now the droid lies in pieces in the bowels of the palace until Jabba wants to use him again.

Sometimes action figures tend to cause a bit of confusion for all involved in making them. Such is true for CZ-4, an awesome protocol droid that quickly became a favorite in the 30 (77-07) line and a figure that we think Hasbro confused with another character in the Star Wars films, particularly CZ-3. What makes this difficult to distill is that both characters utilized the same prop in Episode IV and VI, so you may be wondering if it’s even possible to split hairs here. But we do have a few points to back up our argument. You will rarely hear us complain about a figure that has too dirty of a paint job, but unfortunately this is the case for CZ-4, a protocol droid that inhabits the palace of Jabba The Hutt. While we don’t think that CZ-3 (from Episode IV) is that much dirtier, it should definitely have a little more grease and grime than a droid out from under the suns in Jabba’s palace. CZ-4 may (or may not) have first been intended to be CZ-3. He was released in a wave that both succeeded a wave based on A New Hope and also has other wave mates based from the same film with it. CZ-4’s paint job is well, filthy and it’s much to dark of a wash for either character, but we would be more inclined to believe this is a droid from the street of Mos Eisley before the other option. While the paint job is stunning, looking at CZ-4 in Return Of The Jedi should prove to you that it is rather clean in comparison to CZ-3, although our stills are from afar rather than up close.

But let us continue our arguments. Hasbro also accidentally inscribed “A New Hope” on the back of this figure’s coin as well. This kind of makes us think that between the rough and dirty paint job and the “mistake” on the coin as well as being released concurrently with both A New Hope and Return Of The Jedi figures that Hasbro may have intended this figure to be either CZ-3, CZ-4 or both. Any way you take it, we don’t think we will be seeing any more CZ protocol droids in the basic figure line anytime soon. So this may be our one and only chance here. It’s also not widely known, but CZ-4 was one of the most short-packed figures in the 30 (77-07) line. The droid was in a case assortment that had multiples revisions due to the “gold” Ultimate Galactic Hunt chase figures and CZ-4 was only packed in one of those assortments. When this wave hit retail, many collectors could find all of the gold variants and other new figures from this wave yet had a bit more difficulty locating CZ-4. Despite its “more” limited availability, CZ-4 doesn’t command a high premium in the aftermarket. In fact, this figure can be found for way below original retail price.

CZ-4 is so well sculpted and beautifully painted despite the heavy coat of paint operations. But the droid is loaded with articulation and the likeness is superb. However, in order for us to be completely happy with this brand of droid in our Jabba’s palace dioramas (and even Mos Eisley for that matter), we’re afraid we would want a much cleaner version of this droid to round it out. We would encourage Hasbro to let a paint job like this be reserved for a clone trooper or definitely a sandtrooper. Again, this goes without saying that this action figure is extremely well done and absolutely one of our all-time favorites in the 30 (77-07) line. (We may just have to call him CZ-3 and stick him with our A New Hope figures even though that is technically incorrect.) No matter how you look at CZ-4, it is definitely a high point in Hasbro’s career with the Star Wars license. This droid will probably never get the recognition it deserves in the basic figure line due to lower popularity, but we hope that many collectors take a chance on this one because it truly is a marvelous action figure. CZ-4 doesn’t come with any accessories or other bells and whistles, but it is an action figure that can easily hold to the fact that no shortcuts at all were made to it before it was available at retail. CZ-4 is a true winner.