R2-D2

R2-D2 was one of the first Black Series figures to be released back in 2013, and has no significant changes since then. In 2023, Hasbro created a new version of the figure that is more accurately scaled and has more features and accessories.

Based on his appearance in The Mandalorian, R2-D2 is now bigger and better than ever before. Lets take a look!

Prices for Black Series figures have gone up about $5 over the last 10 years. Thankfully Hasbro’s designers included a bit more in the figure to make up for the cost. The first thing you notice is the size – R2 is now bigger and better scaled against humanoid Black Series figures.

The mold is crisp and tight all around. The only mold issue I see is one of the legs is just slightly bent – not enough to be an issue, but enough for me to notice. When you get up close, the paint has a few issues, but keep in mind this is basically under a maginfying glass. Some of the fine details around the head mechanics get a little blurred, but again, not a big deal at this scale.

2 panels on the head are removable to attach accessories to.

The center leg can retract manually – it’s no longer tied to the rotation of the head. In addition, Hasbro has added a swivel joint to the leg.

The small blue arns actually move, but the bottom one does not open as far as the top one.

You can see some of the smudgy blue paint above the blue arms.

The side panels open to reveal six spots for tools. Just plug in the ones you want.

The sensorscope and camera can be plugged into either port on the dome.

The biggest change here is the fact that R2’s head pulls up to reveal storage for all the accessories. I’m not sure how I feel about this, having never seen this ability in an astromech before. I think maybe the idea is that this is what happens to an astromech when loaded into a fighter, but I can’t see anything to confirm this. It’s a neat idea anyway.

So how does it compare to other R2 units? Well, this one is noticably off-white compared to the bright-white of the 2013 version. However, its surprisingly in scale with the Bandai model kit from 2015.

there are a few things I don’t like. For one, now all of my other Black Series Astromech droids are now out of scale. I also don’t like that they kept out a bunch of features, probably for future editions. No lightsaber storage, no swappable leg jets, no tow cable. The paint issues could be better, and that warped leg is a bit of a bummer. But for a mass-market $25 toy, it’s pretty good.