TC-14 - Real Action Heroes

A silver-colored protocol droid. Programmed to work for the Trade Federation. Mainly works as a servant or interpreter by utilizing her broad knowledge of alien languages.

Why is it that when a Star Wars licensee attempts to reuse a template first designed for C-3PO that the next obvious choice is always TC-14 from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace? Wouldn’t better choices include E-3PO, K-3PO, R-3PO and/or U-3PO? We really can’t criticize the TC-14 Real Action Heroes figure too much however because it’s one glorious collectible. Besides, with a little imagination, you could make her become E-3PO or U-3PO quite easily. It’s a fact. The Medicom Toy C-3PO Real Action Heroes one-sixth scale figure is a triumph. It may not have endless articulation, but no one can deny how impressive the final product turned out at all. With an extremely proportionate body frame with the tiniest of details flawlessly procured, C-3PO brought the most accurate and “life like” interpretation of C-3PO to the market and still no one else has come close to capturing the magic. Although slightly scaled down when compared to other 1:6 scale figure lines, C-3PO looks fantastic to other figure not part of the Real Action Heroes line as well as anything from Medicom Toy. With 18+ points of articulation, C-3PO moved about freely and was able to achieve movements and postures that mimicked the onscreen character brilliantly. And then the thin gold plating with rusted and dirty details only accentuated the glorious sculpt and design. So it made complete sense for Medicom Toy to produce another character so quickly in the line that utilized the blueprints of C-3PO. So now we can usher TC-14 into this line now as well.

Unlike the rustic gold C-3PO, the silver plated TC-14 is sterling, shiny and completely bright. Try as hard as you want to, but you won’t find any signs of aging on her. This perfectly captures her appearance from Episode I, where she portrayed the role of hostess to the Jedi attempting to resolve the trade disputes on Naboo. Her body features what Medicom Toy describes as a thinly-coated chrome effect. You may refer to this as vac-metallization, but we can tell you that her outer coat of silver is gorgeous. This body type is so movie accurate that it is quite overwhelming how realistic TC-14 looks to the human eye. As if the glorious finish of her panels wasn’t enough, Medicom Toy added the same electronic light-up eye effect to her just as they did for C-3PO. They illuminate beautifully where they provide piercing yellowish-white light while you can still make out the three separate light sources in each photoreceptor. Oh, and you can still make out TC-14’s pupils as well. Also like C-3PO, TC-14 has unique colorful wiring in her abdomen (different from C-3PO’s) which also gives that finishing touch to a nearly perfect one-sixth scale figure. TC-14 has wonderful upper body movement but lacks in legs quite a bit. But because the articulation perfectly mimics what the protocol droids could perform in the film, we’re not so quick to dismiss what maybe is the intentional reduction of leg articulation in these figures. (TC-14 didn’t sprint in Episode I. Neither can this Real Action Heroes figure.)

We do think however that Medicom Toy made one glaring error with this release. This may be nitpicking, but TC-14 should have come with her serving tray and glasses. Those are her iconic accessories and because Hasbro gave them to her in the 3.75” line, we feel that Medicom Toy could have expended a little bit more money into her budget to include these details. And because the tray and glasses have the same finish as the plating of her panels, it would have made complete sense to tool them. We understand that most protocol droids don’t carry around anything in the Star Wars films because they are interpreters. But if they do have accessories, we hope that licensees would show grace to collectors and include them. Hey, we still feel that C-3PO should come with a comlink as well. What’s more is that TC-14 comes with one of the highest MSRPs we have seen in the standard Real Action Heroes line. She retails for a whopping $244.99, almost $50 more than the C-3PO MSRP and just a couple of years separate them. Price is a very controversial topic. How can anyone judge what is affordable with these high dollar amounts on nonessential items like this? It perplexes the mind. But if there is a way for you to overlook a this high price tag, we can assure you that you’re getting a figure of the utmost and highest quality. We would give anything to see K-3PO attempted utilizing this body type. But Medicom Toy hasn’t announced new figures for this line in quite a while. Who knows what the future holds?