Saturday, February 15, 2020

Action Figure Review: Heavy Battle Droid from Star Wars: The Black Series Phase III by Hasbro

    GameStop has recently done two things that have got collectors of Star Wars: The Black Series talking: Released two new video game based figures under the "Gaming Greats" banner and raised the price on all of their Star Wars figures to either $24.99 or $29.99. The Gaming Greats thing is good news, as there is a really cool Jedi Knight Revan and the Heavy Battle Droid, who I'm checking out today. The price jump, however, is not. GameStop actually went and repriced all of the Star Wars figures they had at $24.99 unless they're exclusives; those get the $29.99 price tag. Of course, if you preordered these you got the $24.99 price, and preordering them seems to be the only reliable way to have gotten them as most stores and online are currently sold out. I preordered mine and was told by my store that I got the only set that came in. Factor the preorder with the current 20% off bag sale GameStop had and my $5 February membership coupon and I ended up getting the two for between $35 and $40 bucks. That's not too bad at all! Anyways, let's talk about the Heavy Battle Droid from Star Wars: Battlefront II. These guys first appeared in 2001's RTS game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds but later showed up in Star Wars: Battlefront II which is the label appearing on the box. Hasbro didn't release a Battle Droid in the Black Series until last year, so this is only the first repaint of this sculpt we've released. Is it a worthy variant? Let's find out after the break...



 The Facts:

Height: 6 3/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, "boot" swivels, hinged knees, balljointed hips, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, swivel/hinge neck, balljointed head, and hinged movement processors.

Accessories: E-5 blaster rifle, DLT-19 heavy blaster, Sonn-Blass FWMB-10 blaster, backpack, and command officer antenna.

Non-Scalper Price: $25-$30 dollars

 Comparison:

* On the left is the new Heavy Battle Droid while the standard Battle Droid is on the right. These two droids are exactly the same except for the paint applications and the inclusion of two additional blasters with the Heavy Battle Droid. Figure wise, this guy has all of the same great features as the original figure, although he does have the same limited hips as well. This is one of those reviews where it's mostly reused text with new pictures, just FYI.
 The Packaging:


* I don't usually show packaging from The Black Series but this one's a but unique as you've for the Gaming Greats sticker to the right of the window and the figure's name and background colors are reddish brown, just like the figure's paintjob. Jedi Knight Revan also has a uniquely colored box (his is purple).
 The Positives:


* The Battle Droid was an excellent figure and the Heavy Battle Droid is the same, just with a different paintjob. The slightly metallic reddish-brown color scheme looks fantastic! The sculpt is still  excellent and does a great job of looking like the film design while also feeling like a sturdy, well made toy. The Heavy Battle Droid is a specialty unit from Battlefront II but, like the original, is covered with lots of paint scrapes and scuffs.


 * The Battle Droid has a pretty recognizable head and Hasbro has done a great job with it here. Just staring at it, you can just imagine the distinctive voice of these guys. "Roger, roger!" Also fun: The movement processor on the back (the little tendril looking thing hanging off the back of the head) is hinged as well.

 *  Looking at the figure, all of the joints you would expect to work do work. Also, there are probably a few joints here you might not expect. Perhaps the best thing that can be said is that the Battle Droid can be folded up into it's storage mode/ shutdown mode quite easily. It looks great and while we'll (probably) never get an MTT in the Black Series, this is still a very fun pose for the Battle Droid.


*  The Battle Droid features a removable backpack. Like the droid itself the backpack is slightly dinged and damaged with believable paint applications.

* Guess what? The antennae on the backpack can actually slide down into the backpack for storage.


* Also like the original release, the Heavy Battle Droid also comes with an interchangeable Command Officer's antenna array. Remove the backpack and plug this piece in to give your Battle Droid a little variation. I'm sure Hasbro will continue to repaint this sculpt and I wouldn't turn down OOM-9, a red Geonosis Battle droid, or a Security Droid. I love the Security Droids!

 * The Heavy Battle Droid comes armed with three blasters, the first of which is the E-5 Blaster Rifle, also known as the Battle Droid blaster. This is an excellent sculpt that matches up nearly perfectly with the film prop. The hands are preposed so that the Battle Droid can hold it accurately, too.


 * Second up is the DLT-19 heavy blaster, a rifle we've seen many times in this line. It's an Original trilogy era blaster but since Battlefront II breaks trilogy barriers, this makes sense to include.

* Last up is the megablaster, also know as the Sonn-Blas FWMB-10. It's a massive rifle. with a a lever of some sort on the body that is articulated as well. Kind of cool. I will admit that it's quite difficult for the figure to hold though, but sadly the rifle doesn't come with the stand which the First Order Trooper that it originally came with included.






 The Negatives:



* The Heavy Battle Droids are supposed to use E-5C heavy blaster rifles, a prequel era heavy blaster. I'm guessing Hasbro included the megablaster hoping that we wouldn't notice. Oh, we noticed. We noticed indeed.


   The Heavy Battle Droid might be a more expensive figure but it's still a very good figure. A Great and a 1/2 figure, even. The figure looks great with it's new paint scheme and the addition of multiple extra blasters does make this quite fun to play with. Hopefully these show up a bit more readily in GameStops so that folks wanting to army build them can. I don't like the new higher price on these, though. It seems like Hasbro is planning to raise the MSRP a bit (it hasn't changed since the line first came out in 2013) but they're definitely not raising it by $10 bucks.


So far the only other Battle Droid I've reviewed is the Black Series Battle Droid.

For more Black Series Phase III reviews check out the following:
0-0-0 (Triple Zero)
442nd Siege Battalion Clone Trooper, 212th Attack Battalion Utapau Trooper, Coruscant Guard ---(Phase II), and 501st Legion Clone Trooper 4 pack
4-LOM
Admiral Ackbar and First Order Officer
Admiral Piett
Ahsoka Tano 
AT-AT Pilot 
Battle Droid
Baze Malbus
BT-1 (Beetee)
C-3PO
C-3PO & Babu Frik
C-3PO (Resistance Base) 
Cal Kestis
Captain Cassian Andor (Eadu) 
Captain Phasma
Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton)
Captain Poe Dameron
Cara Dune
Chewbacca (Target Exclusive)
Chewbacca (The Force Awakens)
Chewbacca & C-3PO
Chirrut Imwe 
Chopper (C1-10P)
Clone Captain Rex (HasCon Exclusive)
Clone Commander Gree
Clone Commander Fox
Clone Commander Obi-Wan Kenobi
Clone Commander Wolffe 
Constable Zuvio
Darth Revan 
Darth Vader (Emperor's Wrath)
Death Star Trooper
Dengar
Dewback/ Sandtrooper
Director Krennic 
DJ (Canto Bight)
Doctor Aphra
Dryden Vos
Elite Praetorian Guard
Elite Praetorian Guard (with Heavy Blade)
Emperor Papatine and Throne
Enfys Nest's Swoop Bike/ Enfys Nest
Ezra Bridger
Finn (First Order Disguise)
Finn (FN-2187)
Finn (Jakku)
First Order Flametrooper
First Order General Hux
First Order Jet Trooper
First Order Snowtrooper
First Order Snowtrooper Officer
First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter
First Order Stormtrooper
First Order Stormtrooper Executioner 
First Order Stormtrooper (with Gear)
First Order TIE Fighter Pilot
Gamorrean Guard
General Grievous
General Leia Organa
General Veers
Grand Admiral Thrawn (SDCC Exclusive)
Grand Moff Tarkin 
Guardians of Evil 4-Pack
Guavian Enforcer
Han Solo (Exogorth Escape)
Han Solo (Mimban)
Han Solo (Solo)
Han Solo (The Force Awakens)
Heavy Infantry Mandalorian
Hera Syndulla
IG-11
Imperial AT-ACT Driver
Imperial Death Trooper
Imperial Death Trooper, Captain Cassian Andor, and Sergeant Jyn Erso (Jedha) 3 pack
Imperial Hovertank Pilot 
Imperial Jumptrooper
Imperial Patrol Trooper
Imperial Shock Trooper 
Imperial Royal Guard 
Inferno Squad Agent
Jaina Solo (Legends)
Jango Fett
Jannah
K-2SO
Kanan Jarrus
Kylo Ren 
Kylo Ren (SDCC 2016)
Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) 
Kylo Ren (Starkiller Base)
Kylo Ren (Throne Room) 
L3-37
Lando Calrissian (Solo)
Lando Calrissian (The Empire Strikes Back)
Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard)
Luke Skywalker 
Luke Skywalker (Death Star Escape)
Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight)
Luke Skywalker (Jedi Master) 
Luke Skywalker (Jedi Master)- Ahch-To Island
Luke Skywalker (Skyalker Strikes)
Luke Skywalker (Yavin Ceremony)
Mace Windu
Maz Kanata 
Moloch
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Force Spirit)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Padawan) 
Obi-Wan Kenobi (SDCC 2016) 
Offworld Jawa
Padme Amidala
Phase 1 Clone Trooper Commander, Phase II Clone Trooper, Imperial Stormtrooper, and First Order ---Stormtrooper Officer four pack
Poe Dameron
Poe Dameron and First Order Riot Control Stormtrooper
Porgs 
Princess Leia (Bespin Escape)
Princess Leia Organa 
Princess Leia Organa (Hoth)
Purge Stormtrooper
Qi'ra (Corellia)
Qui-Gon Jinn
R2-A3, R5-K6, and R2-F2
Range Trooper
Rebel Trooper
Red Squadron (R2-D2, R5-D8, and R2-X2)
Resistance Tech Rose
Resistance Trooper
Rey & D-O
Rey (Island Journey)
Rey (Jakku) & BB-8 
Rey (Jedi Training)
Rey (Jedi Training)- Crait
Rey (Starkiller Base) 
Rey's Speeder (Jakku)
Rio Durant
Sabine Wren
Sandtrooper Sergeant, Crimson Stormtrooper, Lieutenant OXIXO, and R2-Q5
Scarif Stormtrooper
Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader 
Second Sister Inquisitor
Sergeant Jyn Erso (Eadu)
Sergeant Jyn Erso (Jedha)
Sith Trooper
Snowtrooper 
Stormtrooper (Mimban)
Stormtrooper (With Blast Accessories)
Supreme Leader Snoke (Throne Room)
Tobias Beckett
Tusken Raider 
Val (Vandor)
Vice Admiral Holdo
Wedge Antilles
X-34 Landspeeder & Luke Skywalker (SDCC Exclusive) 
X-Wing Pilot Asty 
Yoda (Force Spirit)
Zuckuss

4 comments:

  1. Battle Droid toys drive me crazy. So hard to stand them but how can this not be part of a collection?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use some of the smaller Kaiser doll stands for my Black Series figures, so that helps keep them standing.

      Delete
  2. Big Bad Toy Store has a red Geonosian/Attack of the Clones battle droid listed as coming in May.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've got one preordered! Soon my Battle Droid army will be up to three!

      Delete

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