Battle Droid - TCW [B] - Basic (No. 7)

Battle droids are the perfect soldiers in battle – programmed to fight without hesitation and deployed in vast numbers that overwhelm opponents. Individually, though, their limited cognitive ability makes them vulnerable when up against the daring recklessness of Anakin Skywalker and the agile Ahsoka Tano; the two skilled Jedi can easily outwit and outmaneuver these mechanized fighters.

Collectors knew that the first wave of figures based on The Clone Wars was going to include some very main characters in addition to 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. Its biggest issue is that it is misshapen when taken out of the package. That coupled with limited articulation in the legs made for a bit of a frustrating figure. But believe it or not, it regains reasonable form back after the passing of some time out of the plastic bubble. For those of you with little to no patience, this may be an unacceptable option because the Battle Droid doesn't regain his original shape 100%. And because he is molded in a medium soft plastic, his pliability doesn't help things out much either. But if you can overlook this issue, there is no denying that the Battle Droid is a pretty sweet design. (But sometimes problems with action figures supersede the good points, don't they?)

Where the figure does shine is in his paint job. Weathered beautifully and strewn with lots of battle-damage markings, the Battle Droid will impress you. 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. But they instead went beyond expectations and gave the droid a marvelous paint job instead. Equipped with eight points of articulation, the Battle Droid could have used knee joints. It has a nice swivel waist joint which does more for it thank you may realize. Thankfully, his legs have been pre-posed in a very straight manner and this allows the collector to pose the droid without any issue. 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 pose. The Battle Droid has a removable backpack and the fine design includes lands and grooves and a great texture. The backpack has a long and thin antenna and it is proportion with the rest of the droid.

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 2008. 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. The Battle Droid was an obligatory figure for the wave. After all, you needed someone to battle the Clone Trooper from the same wave, right? Even so, the Battle Droid is a great addition to The Clone Wars line and we expect it to see repaint after repaint. In fact, we would love to see a red/maroon version of this animated figure too. We think that would be real swell. A figure that won't make you rave about it, 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.