Infantry Battle Droid - Mini Busts

The B1 Battle droids were perhaps the most numerous – and expendable – soldiers in galactic history, and, unlike most organic soldiers, they were capable of action in hostile environments like underwater or in space. They were designed, for the most part, to defeat their enemies through sheer numbers, not through the ability to think or skill, unlike their clone trooper rivals.

The Battle Droid is probably the only Mini Bust in Gentle Giant Ltd.’s entire line that nearly killed collectors with anticipation. Announced and put up for pre-order way back in 2009, it didn’t see release until February of 2012. The excuses for the delays were many, but it didn’t seem like Gentle Giant had a good grasp on how to approach this piece from the start. Obviously the piece went through a series of changes but it finally metamorphosed itself into an rather excellent piece. That is if you can accept that it’s different in approach to the rest of the Mini Busts in your collection. The Infantry Battle Droid is first and foremost an excellent piece, but Gentle Giant Ltd. could resort to using 100% polystone here because of the added electronics…. and perhaps the delicate structure of the Infantry Battle Droid itself. What we’ve been ultimately given is something that looks great but out of place somewhat next to its peers in the Mini Bust line.

In order to install a speaker for the voice sound effects, Gentle Giant Ltd. had to use a plastic base for the Infantry Battle Droid. Because of this, the base is abnormally glossy that all previous Mini Busts. It definitely looks a bit out of place in that respect. However, that being said, the design and structure of the actual Infantry Battle Droid itself is superb. Despite what we estimate to be a too dark tan color used to decorate the B1 battle droid, the craftsmanship of it is intricately ornate. There is a lot going on with this piece. The gears, the joints, the droid blaster as well as the droid’ head sculpt and backpack are seamlessly tied together here and the final results are just completely satisfying. Again, aside from the coloring, the Infantry Battle Droid looks like it’s been ripped right out of The Phantom Menace it’s that good. It never ceases to amaze us for much accuracy they are able to achieve with this small-scaled, yet high-end collectibles. Perhaps we should hold them to even higher standards, but we just can’t find room to complain that much anymore.

When the button on the side of the base is pressed, the Infantry Battle Droid says “roger, roger”. And that’s all it says. It seems like a lot of wasted effort went into incorporating a talking feature to only have it say one word repeated twice. Not the first Mini Bust to talk, it certainly isn’t something that Mini Busts collectors need to have to make a Mini Bust a worthwhile purchase. The Infantry Battle Droid is especially sturdy despite its seemingly delicate frame. No parts articulate and none are removable, but the material used to cast this piece (which is evidently different than polystone) has give and flexibility and will bounce back when pressure is given to any point. It took a while for Hasbro to really start pumping out characters from The Phantom Menace for the Mini Bust line. More are evidently on tap for release, but at least we have something more than just Darth Maul now (which for a while was the only character from Episode I developed into a Mini Bust). The Infantry Battle Droid is done very well. We highly suggest it.