Battle Droids (Infantry) - Militaries Of Star Wars - 1:6 Scale Figures

While critics would be quick to point out a battle droid's mindlessness as a fault, the proponents of the mechanized soldiers would counter that it is instead a virtue. A mindless soldier is a loyal soldier, unquestioning of orders, easily controlled, and absolutely fearless. Battle droids are tall, gaunt humanoids with exposed joints and bone-white metal finishes that gives them an eerie resemblance to animated skeletons.

Battle droid infantry is frightening in its uniformity -- only a numerical marking on the back of a comlink booster pack serves to distinguish one droid from another. Droids with specialized functions have distinct colored markings on their armor. Blue denotes pilot droids. Red denotes security droids. Yellow denotes command droids, which function with increased autonomy compared to the standard infantry. For the Trade Federation, the battle droid infantry piloted STAPs, MTTs, and AATs as well as their colossal battleships. For ease of storage and transportation, battle droids could compress into less than half their size.

Following the Naboo debacle, the Galactic Republic enacted strict legislation that prohibited the use of battle droid armies. The Trade Federation has shown its disrespect for Republic law in the past, and for years, many feared that the numerous foundries scattered throughout the galaxy were still churning out assembly lines of tireless soldiers.

We tried to think of the best way to open this review with constraint, refinement and professionalism, but it unfortunately doesn’t look like that is going to be possible. We are out of control with our elation for the incredible effort Sideshow Collectibles has put forth in their awesome interpretation of the Episode I Battle Droid two-pack, and it’s a character we’re quite ambivalent about because they just aren’t the most engaging characters in the Prequel Trilogy. Just forget about any of the effort previous licensees have put into this Star Wars character. Hasbro, Gentle Giant Ltd and the like haven’t come close to capturing the authenticity of the B-1 Series Battle Droid like Sideshow Collectibles has. This two-pack gives collectors of duo of frontline infantry battle droids. The amount of articulation Sideshow has added to these figures is mind-blowing. They’ve incorporate the tiniest and thinnest pins for smooth (and very tight) swivel articulation. And they didn’t stop there. The Battle Droids (Infantry) set also includes premium hinge-jointed articulation as well as some impressive use of ball-socket and ball-jointed articulation as well. These droids are very functional. So many times the figures Sideshow Collectibles make are literally articulated statues and pretty much are items that you really shouldn’t play with for fear that you might damage them. While the Battle Droids definitely have some fragility to them, they have been designed with the intention to be posed and played with by the collector. And that’s something you’re definitely going to want to do with them. The Battle Droids (Infantry) set has a few issues, but you need to know up front that these are incredibly designed figures.

The plastic used to sculpt these masterpieces is lightweight, but has some pliability worked into it so that they don’t feel entirely brittle when attempting to pose them into some really cool action stances. Multiple joints in the arms allow for a full array of various poses and the ball-socket thumb is very useful for keeping the included droid blaster in his hand. The Battle Droids can be posed with wide stances thanks to superbly designed ball-jointed hips and feet. And the hinge-jointed knees and swivel ankles just help that aggressive pose become a reality for you. From what we can tell, the Battle Droids are an exact replica of the three-dimensional images seen in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (and subsequent films as well). And all of the movements captured in the film can pretty much be imitated with the 1:6 Scale Figures as well. The Battle Droids come in the packaging all folded up like how they made their entrance in the Battle of Naboo. Their droid blasters cannot be secured to their backpacks in this mode which we think is terribly unfortunate, but they can fold up very compactly. This alone is quite a feat and we are so impressed with Sideshow Collectibles for making this look as good as it does. The neck stem needs some arduous tugging by you to get it fully extended, but Sideshow has added a "hidden" neck joint here which gives the head even more movement. This design works very well and the head can be tucked very closely to the body because of its amazing design. Just like the recently released The Vintage Collection Battle Droid (VC78) figure, the photoreceptors have been “engraved” so you can feel the texture of their shape. But let’s be honest, if Hasbro can do it on their figure, then of course this should be included on larger scaled figures.

The Battle Droids have gorgeous paint jobs. An inspection from “head to toe” will reveal scratches, dirt, dents and other wonderful like details that help bring these pieces to life. The figures are such a sign of relief for us and what’s more is that the final production figures look significantly better than the prototypes Sideshow Collectibles use to advertise them to the buying audience. Every last detail on these figures has been mastered and we’re quite impressed with that. The floodgates have been widely opened for droids in the 1:6 Scale Figure line that to this two-pack. We have great confidence in what Sideshow will be able to produce for stringent collectors like ourselves. While it may be “easier” to produce a Separatist droid than say a clone commander, there is no doubt that these Battle Droids are ultimately definitive as is. They don’t seem to appear to need to go through a learning curve to be perfected. They have tight joints (but some were "frozen" on our samples), excellent paint jobs, beautifully perfect designs and incredible functionality, all things we have previously mentioned. And the very modest accessories including their backpacks and droid blasters add the perfect amount of accessorizing. (Unfortunately the backpacks don't stay on well and the droids really can't hold their blasters either.) Exclusive collectors can look forward to the “1138” Sideshow exclusive backpack and an interchangeable option. We cannot wait to see what they will be able to do with other droids from the films, up to and including popular characters like R2-D2 and C-3PO. Sideshow Collectibles has knocked out the introductory set of droids out of the park. There isn’t much “mass” to this Star Wars character design and maybe that’s why Sideshow has been able to include two here for less than the price of a clone commander, but we think this is a very fair price for such incredible workmanship.