Super Battle Droid - TAC - Basic (30 08)

After the introduction of the massive clone army, the Trade Federation revisits the design of its battle droids and decides that a slightly smarter, more independent and more heavily armed droid is needed. The result is the much more powerful and deadly super battle droid.

The Super Battle Droid changed as we knew it with the release of the new and improved version in the 30 (77-07) line. Hasbro made significant leaps to enhance the body design of a Separatist droid we have seen in the basic figure line since 2002. And after five years of hard work, the Super Battle Droid is (almost) perfected. Hasbro also decided to breathe life into the interaction of multiple basic figures, a concept we typically don’t see that often. Super Battle Droid (30 08) can be displayed with R2-D2 (30 04) to recreate the scene of R2-D2 versus Super Battle Droids in the beginning of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. The final product offers and exciting new scale for the Super Battle Droid and the towers over all previous versions. The droid also has significant upgrades to the articulation as it now has articulated knees. There is a lot to be excited about with this figure. It is a significant update to the older Super Battle Droid figures and Hasbro has also included some exciting versatility that allows this figure to be it’s own diorama should you decide to purchase R2-D2 along with it. (Hasbro even advertises this on the packaging.)

But versatility doesn’t come without some sort of small price. If you decide to display your Super Battle Droid without the fire attachments it comes with, you’ll be left with two holes in its chest. It’s not a terrible distraction, but it may be more than enough to bother more than few collectors. We love the fire attachments, but perhaps Hasbro can come up with less intrusive conventions like wrap around functionality so that our figures can be free of holes. Moving along, the Super Battle Droid is a triumph and we couldn’t be more excited with how the authenticity of the battle droid flavor has been so significantly improved. The droid has less of a curve where the belly meets the chest and proportions are now nearly perfect in scale. The midsection “Vs” inward as it meets the hips and as a result a wider but more natural looking stance is created because of it. We are thoroughly impressed with how well all of this turned out. There aren’t too many differences in the structure of the arms but Hasbro has ensured that no projectiles shoot from the arms as they first did in the Revenge Of The Sith line. That trend continues here.

We love great paint jobs. Many disagree, but a good paint job for us will make or break a figure. We aren’t adventurous customizers who will correct a bad paint job by Hasbro, even if it’s an easy fix. But no one should have any reason to be unhappy with the paint job they gave the Super Battle Droid. It appears that every droid has a unique wash (obviously due to the way it dried) so this makes army building a dream come true for most people. The “dirt” clings in all the right places on this droid and if we were betting people, we would bet that the “dirt” we’re seeing on these droids is the actual grease R2-D2 sprayed them with to escape their clutches. If you look at some stills in the film after they are drenched in oil, they look an awful lot like these action figures. But the nice thing is that this “dirt” can based for everyday battle-damage and will work in any setting you choose to display them. Hasbro also corrected the placement of the red “power” dot on the droid’s left “shoulder”. This may not be the biggest deal in the world, but we are thankful for their attention to detail. The Super Battle Droid is another great figure in the 30 (77-07) and it will do wonders for your collection if you decide to army build it!