RA-7 - TAC - Saga Legends

Like all protocol droids of this series, RA-7 has been deliberately built to look bland, so that it goes unnoticed. This makes the droid perfect for its real job function: spying. RA-7 secretly records information, then sends it to its master. Many of these innocuous-looking droids are stationed on the Death Star.

The 2007 TAC Saga Legends line was developed for collectors. You know the drill. Hasbro needed to create a sub-line to keep core characters and army builders in the line “at all times” without taking up space in the main basic figure line, but they also solicited collector feedback to bring some obscure characters back into the line all thanks to a Fans’ Choice poll. Many of the candidates in this poll where characters that were either part of a multipack, am obscure pack-in figure or just a general basic figure that didn’t get the distribution it needed to meet demand upon its first issue. So the Fans’ Choice poll was ran so that collectors could vote on figures that would actually see rerelease. It was great to have a voice in this. Some choices were excellent. Some other candidates chosen however – not so much! Overall, this second chance (or second opportunity) was appreciated by most, but we still scratch our heads at some of the winners. After all, they really didn’t make that much sense. Take for instance the RA-7 droid from 2004’s OTC Sandcrawler, a Previews exclusive.

When the Sandcrawler was released, Hasbro only had a handful of well-articulated Original Trilogy action figures under their belt, and many argued that they were too far from definitive anyway to be considered worthwhile for rerelease. But by the time the update to the Sandcrawler came to pass, Hasbro needed to reach far back to their earliest figures to include as pack-ins for this iconic vehicle. That’s precisely what they did. They took The Power Of The Force Death Star Droid and repainted it to look as closely as possible to the RA-7 droid held captive in the Sandcrawler as seen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. While the figure has a rather splendid paint job and looked pretty impressive for 2004, the figure doesn’t hold up nearly as well in 2007. The articulation and sculpt are major deal breakers. We understand that not many collectors had an opportunity to purchase a Sandcrawler to get this figure in 2004, but why three years later would they vote so feverishly for it instead of waiting for a more definitive update?

Our impatience has come to a head as the RA-7 droid gets a coveted place in the 2007 TAC Saga Legends line. Despite our questioning on why this figure won, the figure did sell very well overall. Please don’t think we hate the figure because that isn’t the case at all. We appreciate very much the history of the Hasbro Star Wars basic figure line and the evolutions the figures have undergone that make them what they are today. But come on; did we really need this figure when so many other losing candidates in the tournament were infinitely better and much more exciting to own again. For heaven’s sakes, Ephant Mon got the axe – yet we still got this RA-7 droid. Yes, this figure has strong emotional ties to the vintage Kenner line and droid in general are just awesome. But regardless of how high this figure ranks on the emotional scale, it just isn’t a great action figure. It doesn’t even come with any accessories. And its limited six points of articulation are uninteresting at best. Admittedly, the figure looks cool in the 30 (77-07) packaging, but unfortunately that’s where the coolness ends.