R2-D2 - SW [S] - 12-Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Luke Skywalker's faithful astromech droid reminaed dormat for years after his master disappeared. Now reactivated, R2-D2 travels with Rey and Chewbacca to a remote island where Skywalker is in exile.

Some collectors have faced the music and accepted the “5POA” format as the new format, while longtime collectors are kicking and screaming and blaming Hasbro for all of their problems. It’s true. Collecting is about one-tenth the fun it was just a few short years ago. And with fewer products on store shelves, there is less of a chance that there are going to be products that are going to appeal to collectors. But one format that has softened our hearts a bit are some of the figures in the 12-Inch Figures line. Now, this line also has some major issues. After all, the Star Wars collecting community has officially dubbed them as shampoo bottles. But the nonhuman characters, especially the droids, have shaped up well and have exceeded our expectations. The extra booster rockets are silly, but hey, this figure needs some play value. That’s where we stand with R2-D2.

Now, it’s certainly hard not to get aggravated about R2-D2’s role in The Last Jedi. We all wanted to see more screen time with him in itNow Hasbro re-released the 12-Inch Figure version of R2-D2 in the Star Wars [Solo] line. The figure is pretty nice, and likely makes a smart choice to release him once a year. The droid is synonymous with Star Wars, and earlier would have been better. Even if they had slotted R2-D2 earlier, he probably would still not make it to shelves in a timely fashion. It goes without saying that Hasbro’s nightmarish distribution issues are at the crux of why none of us can find any new stuff at retail. We wonder if it will ever be fixed at this point. Almost an afterthought, R2-D2 enters Star Wars [Solo] toy line as a Walmart exclusive and without any fanfare sadly. Many Walmart stores never received him, and the figure eventually showed up on clearance at Walmart online.

R2-D2 is absolutely imperfect. It would be silly to classify as a better-than-average collectible. But we still think he looks pretty good, and he is interesting and endearing. The biggest issue collectors are going to have with his is the gray colored dome. That’s a given. We have to agree, but for $9.99, it’s not a deal breaker for us by any means. R2-D2 looks perfectly scale for the 12-Inch Figures line, has excellent detail and a beautiful paint job. He comes with only three points of articulation, and in all honesty, it’s all he needs. Hasbro could have gone pretty cheap and just painted on the foot wires, but they sculpted separate pieces to recreate this detail. We’re impressed.R2-D2 looks pretty fantastic for a shampoo bottle. The paint operations and the details in the sculpt are very nicely executed. But we're not sure it was wise to re-release him as a Walmart exclusive in the Star Wars [Solo] line.