Battle Droid - TCW [SOTDS] - Basic (CW19)

Battle droids are the perfect soldiers: programmed to fight without hesitation and deployed in overwhelming numbers. Individually, though, their limited cognitive ability makes them vulnerable when up against the daring recklessness of Anakin Skywalker and the agile Ahsoka. The two Jedi can easily outwit and outmaneuver these mechanized fighters.

Collectors knew that the very first wave of figures based on The Clone Wars line that began in 2008 was going to include main characters in addition to some obvious army builders. The Battle Droid is one of the latter and to be quite honest, many of us were very concerned how well an animated version of a droid of the most basic type would translate into action figure form. Well, the figure impressed some and was dismissed by others. For the most part, the Battle Droid has turned out pleasantly well. It can stand unassisted and certainly resembles the animated character from the television show. Its biggest issue is that it is misshapen when taken out of the package. This has to do with the quality of plastic used to create the figure. This issue is only compromises the aesthetics of the figure further because the Battle Droid has limited articulation in the legs. It can be problematic on so many levels. Believe it or not, the Battle Droid regains its shape rather quickly after the passing of some time out of the plastic bubble. But why do Hasbro have to situate these figures like pretzels in the bubbles? Despite these initial problems, we’re happy to report that the Battle Droid, now released as part of The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] lineup is as welcomed in 2010 as it was in 2008. There is no denying that the Battle Droid is a pretty sweet design. (Let’s face it. Not all action figures are perfect. But it’s fair to say that sometimes problems with action figures supersede the good points they may possess, don't they?)

Where the Battle Droid figure does shine is in its paint job. Weathered beautifully and strewn with lots of battle-damage markings, the Battle Droid certainly impresses us. Hopefully it will impress you too. For us, paint jobs make or break figures…. period. And Hasbro probably could have gotten away by putting a clean version of the Battle Droid and perhaps many of us wouldn't notice. They instead went beyond our expectations and gave the droid a marvelous paint job that is simple but beautiful instead. It doesn’t distract or overtake the figure’s sculpt. But the deco on this figure is nice enough to be noticed and complement the figure perfectly. Equipped with eight points of articulation, the Battle Droid could have definitely used knee joints. It has a nice swivel waist joint which does more for it thank you may realize. Thankfully, the Battle Droid’s legs have been pre-posed in a very straight manner and this allows the collector to pose the droid without any issue, relatively speaking. All that is needed is a little tweaking in the hips and the Battle Droid can stand up straight very well on its own. There is also nice articulation in the arms which allows the droid to hold the gun in a very authentic, yet not necessarily screen accurate, pose. The Battle Droid has a removable backpack and the fine design includes lands and grooves and great circular textures. The backpack has a long and thin antenna and it is proportion with the rest of the droid. In short, it looks fantastic.

It’s interesting to see The Clone Wars toy line repeat history. In July of 2008, the very first wave of The Clone Wars figures gave everyone a nice encapsulated first look at what we were going to expect to see in The Clone Wars film as well as the television series that would start in the Fall of that year. It was a great little introduction indeed, especially since Hasbro had a very short notice to get out eight great characters for the launch of the line. Now here we are again almost two years to the day after the fact and the Battle Droid is once again part of the inaugural wave for The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] lineup. Hasbro promises that this phase of The Clone Wars line will be rich and perhaps their best. So it’s great to see some of the “classics” take up some space to remember where what was produced in the past, and how well the hold up next to the new figures. We need Battle Droid action figures. After all, who else is going to battle the various Clone Trooper action figures released into the line as well? Even so, the Battle Droid is a great extra addition to The Clone Wars line to help pad it and make it feel full again. We should expect to see this version of similar versions of it in the future as well. The Battle Droid should be looked at as a bare necessity action figure. They are the ground or foundation of the Separatists, fighting on the front lines for their cause and are about the only thing the Clone Troopers can fight with relative ease. A great figure to army build, we expect that many of you have multiple versions of this droid soldier already in your collections.