R2-L3 - TLC - Build A Droid

Per Wookieepedia, "R2-L3 was an astromech droid present in Mos Espa during the time that Anakin Skywalker went to ask Watto about Shmi Skywalker's whereabouts." And this is certainly true because he comes and goes in and out of frame in a matter of seconds (in the very distant background, no less). In other words, not that much is known about this droid at all. And while we will wait for an Expanded Universe to develop its background story a bit more, we can certainly enjoy the small masterpiece Hasbro has made in the Droid Factory pack-in subset of action figures. This Build A Droid has quickly become one of our favorites in The Legacy Collection and we have good reason to feel this way. The droid does appear very quickly in the same seen as R4-J1 (another Build A Droid), R2-D2, and what looks to be R5-D4 (although we could be wrong about R5-D4). And while you need to keep your eyes open just to catch a glance of them, they are noteworthy droids because of their bright coloring and unique details. And actually, it doesn't matter how well you see or don't see them in Episode II, because R2-L3 is an excellent astromech to add to your Attack Of The Clones sub-collection of figures. R2-L3 is cobbled together from the required figures found in wave 5 (the A New Hope wave) of The Legacy Collection. And since we recommend all of the figures that include this droid's parts, you should have no issue assembling it. R2-L3 is very brightly painted and if you compare it to the other Build A Droid figures, you will easily see just how colorful it indeed is. Most of his body is a very rich red with plenty of blue, silver and white highlights aptly placed across the figure's frame. He is striking to say the very least and looks like no other astromech we have received thus far. There are so many fine details and we are thoroughly impressed with how well Hasbro captured them on the action figure. Apparently, Hasbro has many more sources to refer to when creating figures than the casual collector does. And this is quite understandable.

For trivia buffs, you’ll be interested in knowing that in early Hasbro production photos and presentations, this figure was originally called R2-N6. And while we may never know the reason the name was changed (it seems multiple Build A Droid figures have gone through the name game), we can tell you that this was a move initiated by Lucasfilm, Ltd. It seems like a lot of work for them to say "no Hasbro, please name this droid R2-X0," but apparently they do and we are sure it makes unnecessary work for Hasbro. R2-L3 has all the necessary articulation we have now come to accept as the standard for astromechs, so the droid doesn't offer any surprises or anything new to collectors. But, the articulation is excellent and it is an arrangement of movement that suits the astromechs perfectly. And if you're familiar with the Build A Droid group of figures, you know most of these parts already! If you are an adventurous droid builder, you probably have already mixed and matched parts to make a whole bunch more droids too! (We admit we have also.) The different colors look great together. And Hasbro has done a great deal to get these droids just perfect. R2-L3 is a fine example of a very strategic and exact paint application. Ultra-thin blue hair-like patterns on the figure's body create such an amazing look on this droid. And it helps significantly to stand out from the others. R2-L3 is a very special astromech simply because of his beautiful coloring. And with a few rare exceptions, how often do we get a solid red droid? It is definitely not that often at all. And while some of the dirty wash is missing from the final product (as seen in early Hasbro pre-production photos), it seems that Hasbro did indeed do their best to create a dirty film covering on top of the color paint applications themselves instead of using an expensive final wash over the figure. In short, the style they used to decorate this figure works very well!

If you collected wave 5 of The Legacy Collection, then you have R2-L3 whether it was your intention or not to collect the parts. We do however recommend taking your time to put him together and take in all of artwork that went into the figure. This little droid is such a triumph and we would like to encourage you not to overlook it by having it get lost in your growing collections. R2-L3 is absolutely a standout droid in The Legacy Collection and we know our declared status of it will transcend into your collections and allow you to feel the same way too. It is simply amazing how a little extra careful planning on a figure can make from so-so to jaw-dropping. If Hasbro continues to deliver top notch figures like R2-L3, we can expect the Droid Factory gimmick to deliver some stunning future droids. And while we are on that topic, we hope there won't be any end in sight for this pack-in premium. When all is said and done with the "blue phase" of The Legacy Collection, a fair share of the basic figures will have been based on Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. All we can say is that R2-L3 is indeed one of the best characters based from this Star Wars source so far in this collection and this droid will round out your Episode II sub-collections very nicely. We acknowledge the worthiness of this droid in this exclamation just because oh how awesome its paint job is. Droids are easy favorites, but this droid is absolutely a small masterpiece. We hope you don't take our raves too lightly. R2-L3 is worth your attention and we know it will be one of the standout centerpieces for your Attack Of The Clones action figures. Directly or indirectly, pick it up today! It is that good! Trust us on this one! R2-L3 is proof positive that the Build A Droid pack-in premium should never go away. But that is very unlikely unfortunately.