R2-D2/C-3PO - R - Mission Series (MS02)

C-3PO and R2-D2 unknowingly play a part in helping the Rebels intercept a shipment of Imperial weapons.

Yikes. Where is the line being drawn anymore? Isn’t it enough to have to accept that Star Wars action figures are now being made with five points of articulation that we shouldn’t have to worry about likenesses (and paint jobs for that matter)? Honestly, the Rebels line isn’t off to the greatest start. Things were seemingly hopeful, but basic action figures and Mission Series multipacks arrived minimally 30 days late, and many areas have no signs of them even coming. Then rumors abound that the whole line has been delayed until 2015. It’s a mess. But now that some samples have arrived (or accidentally leaked out), we have to say that we need to look at them with a discriminating eye because it appears that Hasbro still needs to perfect things before we become fully satisfied. We think in general paint operations have dramatically improved, but there are still some wonky applications that are completely off. And we’re not so sure how the collective body of collectors are going to feel about these things, especially when it comes to main characters like the R2-D2/C-3PO (MS01) Mission Series two-pack. For starters, C-3PO doesn’t look that much like the Rebels character at all. He is too thin and too lanky and has much too thin of a body. The C-3PO in the Rebels cartoon is actually thicker by comparison. Let’s look at him in greater detail.

C-3PO has been cast in a golden colored plastic. Hasbro ensured that the final figure had a metallic quality to it and it appears that this was executed via a glitter like substance which makes the plastic catch more light and reflect it. Despite these efforts, the overall color of goldenrod is still off, and he doesn’t appear shiny enough for our tastes. And with his too-thin frame, the mix of approaches just doesn’t add up looking like a great interpretation of the character we have grown to love for years now. And it’s our opinion that the action figure doesn’t resemble the cartoon character all that much either. Can you tell it is C-3PO? Of course. But is it faithful to the show? We don’t think it is, but your opinions may vary. Sadly, that’s not the only problem surrounding C-3PO’s appearance. Would you believe that Hasbro only painted two red wires in his belly area? We all know how many varying colors C-3PO possesses in his midriff (multiple colored wires), so this comes across as a Hasbro being cheap in our eyes. (They did the same thing for the realistically styled C-3PO in 2014’s SW [DV/ROTS] R2-D2 And C-3PO (Tantive IV) (MS05) set.) Obviously action figures are stylistic interpretations of the characters we see on screen: big or small. But it seems that a little too much leeway has been taken with C-3PO. And with the wonky paint operations (especially in the eyes – yikes again), we’re just not sure how many will be able to overlook these major issues.

R2-D2 is the better figure in the set, but that isn’t saying all that much. To our slight surprise, Hasbro tooled a completely different figure for the Rebels Mission Series set. We appreciate the effort to tool as accurate of a character for the set based on the Rebels television show, but there are so few differences between the already tooled sculpt and this one that we think new paint operations on the old could have sufficed. A few different paint operations would have made the older R2-D2 sculpt specific to Rebels. That being said, the new R2-D2 has some excellent tooling (by comparison to the realistically styled version), especially the dome, that gives the new version an edge over the previous release. But again, it’s not enough to warrant a new sculpt. R2-D2 has relatively nice paint operations. But it still seems that a mere three points of articulation are just not something to easily overlook either. Our sample also has a deformed left leg (for lack of a better word) and we tried our best to return the leg to a normal shape but were unsuccessful. It appears that the blue panels on the legs were glued incorrectly and made the leg bow out a bit. (That’s just a guess.) Although not a great start, R2-D2/C-3PO Mission Series may be the perfect two-pack for youngsters looking to get into the Star Wars line via Rebels. However, longtime fans and discriminating collectors may wish to see a little more effort be put forth by Hasbro before they commit to this line.