'Star Wars' Toys and Collectibles Review: 'Battle Droid: Arena Battle' by Hasbro
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| Photo Credit: www.toysandposters.com. (C) 2002 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) |
Star Wars - Saga Collection
Battle Droid - Arena Battle action figure
Pros: Comes already posed, better detailing than 1999 Episode I Battle Droid.
Cons: Okay, I know Hasbro needs to attract figure collectors, but blaster effects? Yuck.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....
Ten years after the defeat of the Trade Federation at Naboo and the election of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the Galactic Republic is in decline. As the Galactic Congress becomes more unable to assert its authority and political debates become more acrimonious, thousands of star systems have declared their intention to secede from the Republic.
Led by the mysterious Count Dooku, the Confederacy of Independent Systems has set up a secret manufacturing facility on the remote planet of Geonosis. Allying itself with the greedy bureaucrats of the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guild, and other ultra-capitalist groups, the Confederacy is creating a huge army of battle droids to challenge the weakening authority of Palpatine's democracy.
When completed and supplemented by other, more powerful weapons systems, this gigantic army of battle droids will allow the secessionist movement to achieve its goals and even overwhelm the dwindling and overextended Order of Jedi Knights....
In George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith), the battle droid is the ever-present counterpart to the Classic Trilogy's Imperial stormtrooper. Deployed by the thousands in a galaxy where standing armies are rare and conflicts are resolved by the 10,000-strong Jedi Order, battle droids are the Trade Federation's ultimate ace-in-the-hole; remorseless, soulless, and programmed to be ruthlessly efficient, entire invasion armies can be landed and controlled from Federation "freighters" that are really heavily armed battleships.
Designed to resemble the skeletal form of the Neimoidians (the aliens that created and run the greedy Trade Federation), battle droids follow the edict "form follows function." Their thin bodies and limbs present hard-to-hit targets, and their ghostly appearance is designed to instill terror in their victims. Programmed to obey a central computer and lacking independent decision-making abilities, battle droids function best against worlds with no tradition of fighting or with only meager defenses.
From the storytelling point of view, the battle droid's dependence on central control is its greatest flaw, and it was the command-and-control failure during the Naboo Crisis (as seen in Episode I: The Phantom Menace) that forces Darth Sidious to consider replacing fully automated battle droids with more battle-efficient troops that are both ruthless and obedient, yet immune from being cut off from a central computer and rendered totally useless. (The clone army is one of the alternatives; it will later evolve into the more familiar stormtrooper corps once the Republic morphs into the Empire.)
Because the Trade Federation still relies on battle droids in Attack of the Clones, it isn't surprising that thousands appeared in the climactic battle sequence of the prequel trilogy's second chapter. Thus Hasbro released Battle Droid -- Arena Battle, the 11th figure of its 2002 "Collection 2" wave.
Essentially, this variant of the Battle Droid action figure is a slightly more elaborate edition of the toy introduced in 1999's Episode I. The basic design is unchanged, although the color of the "paint job" is more toward a ghostly beige rather than the dirty yellow of the '99 original. The details, however, have been improved somewhat; instead of having a pristine "new droid" look, Battle Droid -- Arena Battle sports what appear to be blaster scorch marks on the right upper torso, left shoulder, and "thigh," as well as a removable "simulated blast effect" that looks like two translucent blue plastic "snakes" that are wrapped around the droid's left leg and right arm. There is another "effect" add-on, a red blaster bolt attached to the tip of the droid's laser rifle; it can be removed and pressed onto the "gash" in the upper torso to simulate a fatal blaster hit. Finally, Battle Droid -- Arena Battle comes with a removable signal augment and power boost backpack.
Because posing battle droid figures without supporting stands (which Hasbro rarely supplies) is a pain, my Battle Droid -- Arena Battle is, like most of my figures, still in its bubblepack card. (I have opened a few of my Episode I figures and can attest to the non-posability of the battle droid figure; it has a hard-to-find center of balance and often topples over when I have to dust it and the shelf it's on.) Like most of Hasbro's newer figures, it is already posed holding its blaster rifle in a firing stance, the blue worm-like "electricity effect" things wrapped around its leg and arm, with only the backpack set to one side. It is a bit distracting, but since most of the new "extras" are packed this way at the factory, I have gotten used to it and don't worry about it; at least the figure and all the loose pieces are safe in the bubblepack and not floating around my room, as some of my other figures are now missing a blaster or two because I foolishly listened to pleas from friends to "open up a few figures, dude!"
This figure is nice for serious collectors, even though I don't really care for either the "electricity effect" snakes or that red blaster effect. Kids, on the other hand, might like the snazzy look and even like making the Battle Droid -- Arena Battle look "dead" with the blaster effect embedded in its "wound." It's this feature about which I caution moms and dads who may be tempted to give this to their young Star Wars fans. The parts are indeed small -- I ought to know, since I have had to crawl on my floor looking for blasters the size of a large army ant -- and can be a choking hazard.
Ten years after the defeat of the Trade Federation at Naboo and the election of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the Galactic Republic is in decline. As the Galactic Congress becomes more unable to assert its authority and political debates become more acrimonious, thousands of star systems have declared their intention to secede from the Republic.
Led by the mysterious Count Dooku, the Confederacy of Independent Systems has set up a secret manufacturing facility on the remote planet of Geonosis. Allying itself with the greedy bureaucrats of the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guild, and other ultra-capitalist groups, the Confederacy is creating a huge army of battle droids to challenge the weakening authority of Palpatine's democracy.
When completed and supplemented by other, more powerful weapons systems, this gigantic army of battle droids will allow the secessionist movement to achieve its goals and even overwhelm the dwindling and overextended Order of Jedi Knights....
In George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith), the battle droid is the ever-present counterpart to the Classic Trilogy's Imperial stormtrooper. Deployed by the thousands in a galaxy where standing armies are rare and conflicts are resolved by the 10,000-strong Jedi Order, battle droids are the Trade Federation's ultimate ace-in-the-hole; remorseless, soulless, and programmed to be ruthlessly efficient, entire invasion armies can be landed and controlled from Federation "freighters" that are really heavily armed battleships.
Designed to resemble the skeletal form of the Neimoidians (the aliens that created and run the greedy Trade Federation), battle droids follow the edict "form follows function." Their thin bodies and limbs present hard-to-hit targets, and their ghostly appearance is designed to instill terror in their victims. Programmed to obey a central computer and lacking independent decision-making abilities, battle droids function best against worlds with no tradition of fighting or with only meager defenses.
From the storytelling point of view, the battle droid's dependence on central control is its greatest flaw, and it was the command-and-control failure during the Naboo Crisis (as seen in Episode I: The Phantom Menace) that forces Darth Sidious to consider replacing fully automated battle droids with more battle-efficient troops that are both ruthless and obedient, yet immune from being cut off from a central computer and rendered totally useless. (The clone army is one of the alternatives; it will later evolve into the more familiar stormtrooper corps once the Republic morphs into the Empire.)
Because the Trade Federation still relies on battle droids in Attack of the Clones, it isn't surprising that thousands appeared in the climactic battle sequence of the prequel trilogy's second chapter. Thus Hasbro released Battle Droid -- Arena Battle, the 11th figure of its 2002 "Collection 2" wave.
Essentially, this variant of the Battle Droid action figure is a slightly more elaborate edition of the toy introduced in 1999's Episode I. The basic design is unchanged, although the color of the "paint job" is more toward a ghostly beige rather than the dirty yellow of the '99 original. The details, however, have been improved somewhat; instead of having a pristine "new droid" look, Battle Droid -- Arena Battle sports what appear to be blaster scorch marks on the right upper torso, left shoulder, and "thigh," as well as a removable "simulated blast effect" that looks like two translucent blue plastic "snakes" that are wrapped around the droid's left leg and right arm. There is another "effect" add-on, a red blaster bolt attached to the tip of the droid's laser rifle; it can be removed and pressed onto the "gash" in the upper torso to simulate a fatal blaster hit. Finally, Battle Droid -- Arena Battle comes with a removable signal augment and power boost backpack.
Because posing battle droid figures without supporting stands (which Hasbro rarely supplies) is a pain, my Battle Droid -- Arena Battle is, like most of my figures, still in its bubblepack card. (I have opened a few of my Episode I figures and can attest to the non-posability of the battle droid figure; it has a hard-to-find center of balance and often topples over when I have to dust it and the shelf it's on.) Like most of Hasbro's newer figures, it is already posed holding its blaster rifle in a firing stance, the blue worm-like "electricity effect" things wrapped around its leg and arm, with only the backpack set to one side. It is a bit distracting, but since most of the new "extras" are packed this way at the factory, I have gotten used to it and don't worry about it; at least the figure and all the loose pieces are safe in the bubblepack and not floating around my room, as some of my other figures are now missing a blaster or two because I foolishly listened to pleas from friends to "open up a few figures, dude!"
This figure is nice for serious collectors, even though I don't really care for either the "electricity effect" snakes or that red blaster effect. Kids, on the other hand, might like the snazzy look and even like making the Battle Droid -- Arena Battle look "dead" with the blaster effect embedded in its "wound." It's this feature about which I caution moms and dads who may be tempted to give this to their young Star Wars fans. The parts are indeed small -- I ought to know, since I have had to crawl on my floor looking for blasters the size of a large army ant -- and can be a choking hazard.
Battle droid
Hasbro
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