R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) - SW [S - P3] - Basic (’04 #05)

During a daring mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, R2-D2 and C-3PO were sent into the Hutt's palace on Tatooine, where they became the grisly crime lord's property. Artoo served as a waiter, distributing drinks aboard Jabba's sail barge. Little did any of the criminal dregs suspect that the droid carried in him Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, which he launched to the unarmed Jedi, who went on to rescue himself and his friends.

Let’s be frank. Hasbro definitely has a clever side when it comes to giving us every last version of a main character. Whether it’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” iteration of a character, or an outfit that may be slightly different from the way the character worse it during most of the film, you have to hand it to them for making something relatively “old” new again. Take for instance the astromech droid R2-D2. Aside from some derivations with what utility tool he employs, there aren’t many ways to bring this character in a fresh way to collectors. But for 2004's Star Wars “Saga” line, they finally thought outside of the back and presented the collecting community with a version of R2-D2 exclusive to Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi. Affectionately referred to as BAR2-D2, R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) has been developed for the basic figure line and is sure to please fans of the plucky little astromech droid as well adorers of the final Star Wars film from the Original Trilogy. Complete with drink dispenser and a precariously fitting serving tray, R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) is a truly welcomed addition to the basic figure line. It’s like no other R2-D2 action figure before it.

R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) is an all-new figure. It has a swivel dome, two swivel legs, a slide-out center leg, and three hinge-jointed feet. The combination swivel legs and feet provide enough flexibility to situate R2-D2 in a pose that looks screen accurate as well as authentic. Should you decide to extend the third leg as far as it can go, you’ll find that R2-D2’s body will be at an awkward angle and not be of much use to the Rebel Alliance in this slouched position, let alone for his short tenure as a servant of Jabba the Hutt. With the third leg retracted, you can situate the serving tray on the “shoulder” portion of his legs. We know that doesn’t make much sense, but “hips" sounds just as wrong to use as “arms” so we’re going with that instead. It’s been cast from a rubbery plastic and has not really held its shape well, but with a little patience the serving tray will indeed stay fastened to R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) and provide a screen specific take on the astromech droid. A drink dispenser has also been included as a separate accessory and can spin 360 degrees thank goodness. It’s an excellent design and sits perfectly above the “glasses” in the serving tray as if they can be filled one by one. Hasbro has done very well here.

R2-D2 is aptly very clean. He didn’t sustain much damage in the form of dirt serving drinks to the hive of scum and villainy on the sail barge, so we are happy with Hasbro’s approach here. The paint operations to decorate his dome and panels have been done very nicely here as well. R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) comes with a brushed nickel colored dome, not shiny metallic. The blue colors used to color him look a little bit too light, but it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of this action figure. When fully “assembled”, R2-D2 looks pretty fantastic. Now all Hasbro has to do is design Jabba’s sail barge for us to make this action figure complete. The Star Wars “Saga” line is cleverly reintroducing some of our favorite Star Wars characters in basic figure format. R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) is a perfect example of this and shows that any version of a character is an eligible candidate for the toy line. The sculpt of this figure, while done very well, is not perfect, so hopefully Hasbro will be able to correct its issues with subsequent releases, but for now, we believe you will find worth in this release.