R5-M4 - Droid Factory

All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Living on the small planet of Mustafar in the Outer Rim Territories, this little Astromech helps with the local mining operations. Join R5-M4 on his adventure throughout the galaxy.

May the Force be with you... and your Droids!

The yellow and black attack is back! For those of you who have no idea what that references, we defer you to Google where you can learn all about it. Another year and another exclusive seems to be the pattern with Disney’s newly tweaked Droid Factory line. They’ve taken Hasbro’s brilliant and terribly overlooked/ignored concept, and have run full throttle with it. If you recall, Disney revised the line beginning with the 2015 collection by making new bodies and legs which both helped and hurt the aesthetics of the droids, something that has been the textbook definition of bittersweet for Star Wars collectors. Now Disney is taking these sculpts and creating one Disney Parks exclusive after another, with each commemorating a special event or “holiday” within the Star Wars universe. R5-M4 is a black R5-series astromech droid with yellow and silver highlights. Looking like a droid we perhaps could see somewhere within the Death Star, the dark colors and light trim make this a standout action figure and one likely most collectors will want to add to their collections.

We do have to wonder however if R5-M4, this exciting latest release from Disney’s popular Droid Factory line, was really meant to be a “Revenge Of The 5th” exclusive instead of a May The 4th Be With You exclusive. That realization is only derived from reading R5-M4 by reading its bio. It references Mustafar and because Episode III was the only place we saw Mustafar, we took a logical step forward. Obviously none of this matters. All that matters instead is that a new and cool action figure has been released in 3.75” scale, and despite the droid’s shortcomings, R5-M4 looks sharp and eye catching. As you know, all modern Disney Build A Droid figures have universal outer legs. This means they’re interchangeable with each other and contain no separately molded foot wires. (Yeah, we know that’s a big bummer.) But this is a detail we’re even surprised we have been able to overlook. Yes, we’d prefer to see the leg wires return, but in the midst of so much garbage being produced by Hasbro, it’s a bit jarring to exclaim that the Droid Factory releases are some of the most exciting things on the market today.

Samples will undoubtedly vary, but paint operations are going to be an issue with R5-M4. From afar, this astromech droid looks great. And maybe that’s all any of us should care about when displaying it. But upon closer inspection you’ll find ore than just one instance of poor operations. The yellow paint in quite a few spots is splotchy and even incomplete. The silver details aren’t evenly applied everywhere. But the issues aren’t consistent throughout the figure. We have seen some samples that look good, while others struggle with a quality paint job. Just remember that these aren’t going to be flawless and perfection maybe isn’t a key driver for Disney who is making these in high production numbers for.... wait for it.... kids. Despite whatever issues our sample has, we’re nonetheless fond of R5-M4 and we loved how Disney surprised us all with it, even though it leaked out 24 hours sooner than intended. Rumors abound this figure was only meant to be on sale May 4th and May 5th, but like so many other Disney Parks exclusives, they usually sell them until they are sold out. Don’t expect this figure to be rare right away in other words.