C-3PO - SW [S - P1] - Deluxe

Ten years after the fight to save Naboo from invasion, the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of a renegade Jedi, thousands of solar systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. A courageous Jedi Knight, his impulsive and headstrong apprentice, and a queen-turned-senator are drawn into the heart of the conflict... and the beginning of war.

Departing Tatooine on his first adventure, C-3PO joins Anakin, Padmé, and his new counterpart R2-D2 on a rescue mission to save Obi-Wan Kenobi. The worrisome droid gets into trouble while helping them investigate a mysterious droid assembly plant.

The Star Wars “Saga” Deluxe line generally left quite a bit to be desired. But if there was any saving grace to this assortment, it would have to be C-3PO. Released in the final case assortment of this sub-line, the C-3PO Deluxe set brings quite a bit to the collecting table and it’s destined to interest both kids and collectors while keeping faithful and relatively screen accurate to what we saw in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Keep in mind that the C-3PO Deluxe set is just a snippet, a screen shot of sort, of the action we saw during the Battle of Geonosis. We would need quite a few of these accurately recreate the Droid Factory on Geonosis. Always “forward-thinking” whenever possible for the toys they create, Hasbro cleverly manufactured the base to the C-3PO Deluxe figure to interact with the huge Geonosis Arena playset that was released earlier in the 2002 product year. The conveyor belt acts like an extrapolation to the large Geonosis Arena playset which just adds more dimension and play value that is beyond measure. It’s interactive toys like this that make the Star Wars toy line such a fun thing to collect. And Hasbro has tooled the pieces to work seamlessly with each other. The detail is fantastic. And the paint operations are more than impressive. Everything is clearly in place here.

You essentially get two complete figures here, that can be configured into two completely different characters. This in and of itself is a value that is just incomparable by measure. C-3PO’s head on a Battle Droid’s body is the first figure. And then on the other side of the packaging is C-3PO’s body with a Battle Droid’s head. These two figures (as is) are meant to recreate the moment when C-3PO stumbles in restricted territory and pays dearly for it. But even better, all of the droid parts are interchangeable with each other, so not only are you give these two versions of C-3PO and/or a battle droid, but you can compete them as they’re meant to be, without any mixed parts. Each head sculpt, C-3PO and the Battle Droid, have magnets embedded into the tops of their heads. And then the you can actually lift the heads off of the droids via the magnetic arm of the crane and replace it with the other. It’s a nifty concept and it will definitely provide hours of enjoyment for Star Wars fans of all ages. What’s more, C-3PO and the Battle Droid can be placed on pegs on the conveyor belt to secure them in place to complete the head swapping action. It’s a brilliant toy concept and honestly it’s a whole lot of fun. Even further, you can replace the limbs of the Battle Droid and place them on the C-3PO torso. The converse of this is also true. You’re able to make a whole bunch of character combinations with these parts.

Both C-3PO and the Battle Droid come with five points of articulation each. These each include a swivel head, swivel shoulders and swivel hips. And the plugs to the limbs that go into the body are the same size which makes the interchangeability seamless. C-3PO an Battle Droid also have very nice paint jobs. We’re quite impressed with C-3PO. It truly looks like he was give the roughest of metal plating. It’s dirty, mismatched, and contain very rough paint applications. Hasbro must have expended a high budget to color C-3PO properly. The Battle Droid looks fantastic too. Sure, it is simply articulated as well, but the sculpting is fantastic and the paint job is even better. While C-3PO doesn’t technically come with any accessories, the same isn’t true of the Battle Droid. It comes with a removable backpack, droid blaster and blast effect. The joints are a bit loose on both figures, so it makes it difficult to pose with the accessories. (It is possible however.) We still think that both figures look great despite whatever shortcomings they have. The C-3PO Deluxe figure set is definitely the highlight of the entire sub-line. We’re confident that collectors are going to want to scoop this set up because of its screen accuracy and faithful portrayal of the characters. It isn’t Hasbro’s finest work, but that doesn’t matter here. This set should have something for everyone.