R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (TM32)

As Luke Skywalker ushers Grogu into his Jedi training, he's accompanied by R2-D2, who is particularly enthused to encounter the foundling.

Hasbro produced an all-new correctly scaled R2-D2 figure for The Black Series line. Its inaugural release was part of The Black Series [Return Of The Jedi 40] lineup, and then they quickly wedged it into the general marketplace lineup, known as The Black Series [Phase IV]. It’s almost an Expanded Universe take on the famous astromech droid. Unlike anything we’ve seen, it has features and functionality, definitely “off-screen” at the very best and Hasbro concept at the worst. The figure looks great, but too many The Black Series line collectors have lost interest in Hasbro updating R2-D2. Sometimes, it’s possible to wait too long for something, and Hasbro egregiously took the collecting community for granted to bring us a new and fresh interpretation of R2-D2. Thankfully, there are no more removable side panels on the legs. These blue sections are bolder and more prominent, and it does the tooling a world of good by reducing the number of removable parts. Likewise, two dome panels are removable to insert the periscope or sensorscope attachment accessories. It helps maintain the integrity of the figure, which we greatly appreciate. The basic articulation system of the original R2-D2 figure is intact here. We get a swivel dome, two swivel main legs, three hinge-jointed feet, and a slide-out third leg. Coincidentally, no rolling wheels are on the bottom of any feet. We prefer this approach more as the wheels were accurate but a nuisance when displaying the droid on a shelf or display. But a new feature here is the slide-up dome, which houses a display area for R2’s attachments. This storage area is a new feature for this version of R2-D2. Another simple detail that we also appreciate here is the color of the body. As mentioned, the first version of R2-D2 came with a ghastly bright white body. Hasbro smartly used a “bone” or “eggshell” off-white color here, and it captures the aesthetics of the on-screen character. Also, the dome is bright but maintains a brushed nickel aesthetic, another screen-accurate detail. R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) comes with two opening vertical front panels. Each side has three holes to insert the four arm attachments on the figure’s body at various heights. Hasbro included a grasping arm, a pinching arm, a datalink tool, and a spray gun arm. Each plug into one of the body’s six holes as you prefer, and the functionality is excellent. We get a lot of interchangeability here, and we love how Hasbro captured most of the droid’s tools from the Star Wars saga. There are still some glaring omissions, like the Prequel Trilogy-specific rockets. Hasbro may need to retool this figure to incorporate those rockets, as we only see a place to attach them to the figure if Hasbro has plans to snap them into place on the legs. Hasbro also incorporated two articulated front arms (the ones horizontally in blue). Somehow, this version of R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) is based on the character from The Mandalorian, but we don’t know how you’d be able to tell outside of the packaging.