TC-14 - Droid Factory

All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. TC-14 is a protocol droid that was in the employ of the Trade Federation on their Profiteer-class droid control ship, Saak'ak.

May the Force be with you... and your Droids!

On May the Fourth, 2024, Disney decided to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. And they did this by crafting a Build A Droid/Droid Factory TC-14 action figure. Longtime collectors may find nothing too special about this action figure release, but it has some essential parts. In 2009, during The Legacy Collection run, collectors received U-3PO as the Build a Droid figure for the wave based on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The warmly welcomed action figure came in bright silver and champagne silver. And TC-14 looks a bunch like the former. What’s unique about this release is the tray and carafe with the TC-154 figure. It looks nearly identical to the accessories that came with the 2000 Episode I TC-14 (Protocol Droid) action figure, but they are absolutely different tooling. When fully assembled, we report that collectors have the definitive TC-14 action figure for their 3.75-inch action figure collections. While not vacuum-metalized, the paint used is extraordinarily bright and does the job. We’re happy to have this figure in the line. One of the few female-programmed protocol droids in the Star Wars universe, TC-14 is an excellent release. Still, we wish the licensees would show more love for the quarter-century celebration of the first Prequel Trilogy film. Disney’s new Protocol Droid sculpt ranks somewhere between excellent and perfection. The torso seems to be the only area that catches our eye that might be off in some small way. There is too much “air space” right where the wires are, and it seems a little thin there. But it is something we’re willing to let go of because it is so much more critical that Disney took the plunge to release these droids. Indeed, better things are going to come from them in the future. They’ve used the Hasbro template as a start, but quite a few differences exist between Hasbro’s U-3PO (for example) and Disney’s. The takeaway here is that both versions look fantastic. At first, collectors were worried about the articulation, but once again, Disney Parks’ has replicated Hasbro’s approach step by step. TC-14 has an impressive 21 points of articulation and plenty of ball-jointed articulation. We hope a couple more surprises commemorating The Phantom Menace are on tap by the end of the year or early next year. But only time will tell.