R3-H17 - Droid Factory

Many different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This festive Astromech is optimized to serve the Royal Advisory Council at the palace on Naboo. Join R3-H17 on his adventure throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your Droids!

Disney has been spent three consecutive years providing astromech droid fans with a unique holiday/Christmas-themed droid for the end of the year celebrations. Some aren’t crazy about these figures, but for the most part, collectors find them to be as joyful as the holiday season itself. This year we are treated to R3-H17, which also seems to be continuing a theme of R3-focused droids. Remember the totally awesome R3-BOO17 released for Halloween? Now we have an R2 unit in Christmas colors. R3-H17 follows in the footsteps of Christmases past but also brings something new and fresh to the table: a holiday tradition. Capitalizing on the “BAR2-D2” theme of a drink-dispensing astromech droid, Disney has switched from the droid dispensing spirits to delivering holiday cheer in the form of a hanging mistletoe. Admittedly, R3-H17 works beautifully and quickly become one of our most favorite holiday-inspired droids to date. But hang onto that mistletoe accessory for dear life. It’s tiny and doesn’t stay in the dispenser that well.

As you know, Disney Parks’ Droid Factory line is adored and revered by Star Wars collectors. The figures aren’t perfect, but it’s more difficult to hate them than love them. Collectors are still angered at the removal of the foot wires, and sometimes the paint operations aren’t as perfect as they need to be. But overall Disney has been able to produce a line of figures that are clever, thoughtful and appreciated by droid fans all over the world. Since 2015, Disney has been releasing a series of holiday-themed astromech droids in the spirit of the Christmas season. They remain their strongest sellers and sell out the fastest. Based on the R3-series astromech droid sculpt, Disney has once again made a truly unique figure here. It fits in with the other Christmas astromech droids, but also can stand on its own. Disney Parks has decorated this primarily white droid beautifully with red, gold and green coloring and they bring the droid to life. These different colors enhance the action figure and give it much needed depth and distinction. We’re thrilled with how it has turned out.

The names of the astromechs in this line have been straightforward to ridiculous. R3-BOO17 obviously was given a ridiculous name, and now R3-H17 has been given a straightforward name just like its predecessors. While you don’t associate sentimentality and glad tidings with an astromech droid necessarily, we feel that Disney Parks has done a wonderful job at tying everything together brilliantly. Just think about it some. We get a droid that breaks down into multiple parts and can be interchanged with other droids comes with a Christmas-themed color palette, and is as kid -friendly as it is collector-friendly. R3-H17 is a total win on every level. Instead of giving R3-H17 another silly hat, it comes with a well-articulated bar arm that ultimately holds the mistletoe. It looks fantastic. Typically, we don’t display any of our astromech droids with those silly hats anyway. We’re glad for the change of pace here. We hope that Disney keeps pumping out these cool Droid Factory astromech droids for the holidays. They bring us holiday cheer. We hope they do for you also! Merry Christmas!