FX-6 - TLC - Basic (BD 28)

FX-6 is one of the medical droids that assist in the reconstruction of Darth Vader after the Sith Lord’s devastating duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. The droid has multiple arms equipped with a variety of medical and diagnostic tools.

Ever since Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back hit theaters in 1980, many collectors became fixated and develolped an affinity for medical droids. Whether it was morbid curiosity or just something that piqued our interests, the medical droids have become a popular mainstay in the action figure lines across the years. For back in the vintage era, we got two. Both Too-Onebee (2-1B) and FX-7 allowed us to pretend that they were supervising the recuperation of Luke (in his underwear) in the Bacta tank. (But of course we wouldn’t get the Bacta Tank until 2001, but that was the joy of the vintage era, we could pretend with glasses filled with water, etc.) This theme was sort of revisited in Episode III when Darth Vader needed a little medical assistance of his own. And while it took three and a half years to finally get the three main medical droids of the unforgettable "FrankenVader" scene, it has well been worth the wait. The first figure was of course the Vader's Medical Droid (Chopper Droid) figure from the 2005 Revenge Of The Sith line. And while it's not a perfect figure by any means, it's decent enough to add to your collection. Its biggest issues were is very bendable legs. But in early 2008, we got the properly scaled and Episode III-specific 2008 TAC 2-1B (Surgical Droid) (08 06) figure. The most noticeable differences between this and the Episode V FX-7 (released as 2001's POTJ FX-7 (Medical Droid) figure) are the arms and legs. Ever since the Episode III 2-1B (Surgical Droid) (08 06) figure got released, rumors abounded that FX-6 was right around the corner. The rumors were true and that corner was December of 2008. FX-6 is a remarkable figure and holds its weight in the most excellent The Legacy Collection. Hasbro completely impressed collectors with an awesomely sculpted new medical droid. FX-6 is an all-new sculpt (it had to be) that has been cast in a very dark gray color. There are very colorful pumps and tubing that accent this figure in red, sky blue and lime green and they all contrast nicely with solid colored figure. The details and buttons around its “head” are also nicely painted and FX-6 certainly has its fair share of photoreceptors and eye ports all around it.

The middle section of the body is loaded (and oh boy do we mean loaded) with arms whose ends are medical attachments that could make someone who fears the doctor’s office a little queasy. FX-6 has a mind-blowing amount of articulation. We like to think that even more points could be added since this is a very complicated droid, but Hasbro did a marvelous job on this figure and it would almost be ungrateful to appreciate this droid as is. There are certainly enough joints to satiate super-articulation lovers. But we pointed this out because some of the appendages are a bit difficult to move back and forth and extra joints would have been ideal. Once again however, the amount of articulation included here is nothing to sneeze at because the figure is loaded from head to foot. There are 13 arms in the lower section of the droid. Every single one can be articulated up and down but each only has one hinge-joint. You will be interested in knowing that the end of each arm is different. This is a very nice touch. These appendages lack any center joints. The next level of limbs above these has seven individual arms and these are much more detailed and moveable than the arms in the lower level. In fact, once you open up your FX-6 figure from the packaging, you will need to spend some time putting together the fairly complex and attachment-specific limbs (and be careful not to lose any of the small parts). It takes a small bit of time to get it right, but Hasbro has graciously made each attachment a different size like a puzzle, do you will be putting the arms in the right sockets. The final result is well worth the time. The arms on the upper layer of the figure all have middle joint and this is the only place the upper level arms will articulate. (They do not move at the point where they attach to the body.) In total, there are 13 arms and 13 points of articulation on the bottom, and seven arms and seven points of articulation on the top. There is also articulation at the “head” and "waist" of this droid too which shows that Hasbro had every intention of loading this figure with articulation!

As awesome as this droid is, it does have one unfortunate (and major) flaw. Its center of gravity is terribly off. Underneath of its body, the droid has three knobs used for 'feet' at the very bottom of the figure. But the placement of the knobs is not equidistant from each other so it throws the balance off very badly. Gravity itself has been responsible for making our sample fall to the side countless times and we are very irritated by this. Had one more “knob” been added to the bottom of the figure (or NONE at all), this figure would be nearly flawless. It’s unreal that something as simple as a puff of wind can be responsible for sending FX-6 into a tilt. We think this is a very frustrating flaw and better engineering should have been taken into consideration. Obviously, this is a figure that required some intense engineering to include so many wonderful and different parts, so we don't understand why Hasbro didn’t go the extra few steps and ensure that the figure could stand without issues. When such a beautiful action figure like FX-6 is finally created by Hasbro only to be hindered by something that doesn't even really need to be there in the first place (these said knobs), it really causes some chagrin with the purchase. If this figure does ever see rerelease, we hope that this annoying issue will be fixed. Despite this setback, FX-6 is really quite a magnificent action figure. Try posing it with Surgical Droid 2-1B and Vader’s Medical Droid. You will be thoroughly impressed. Oh, and check this droid out next to the ROTS Deluxe "Rebuild Darth Vader" figure from 2005. It looks even better next to Darth Vader! We highly recommend this figure to be added to your collections! (Editor's Note: In March 2010 Hasbro released the Legacy Collection Birth Of Darth Vader Battle Packs set. It is a great set and we recommend displaying FX-6 with it because it makes for a very intriguing diorama.)