Probe Droid - POTF2 [R/G] - Deluxe

MODEL: Imperial Probe Droid
AFFILIATION: Galactic Empire
WEAPONS: Three Blaster Cannons, One Proton Torpedo
FUNCTION: Reconnaisance, Tracking, Hunting

An Imperial Probe Droid. It’s a good bet that Star Wars collectors are going to nuts once they find out this is figure is going to be made. And that’s how we responded. Anything from The Empire Strikes Back is pure gold for Kenner, and revisiting a character that during the vintage era we only received as a pack-in to a playset (that couldn’t stand up on its own too well really) was a breath of fresh air for the later nineties. The figure itself is done quite well. It has some chunky features which may prevent it from aging flawlessly, but it will definitely hold its own for a while. You can count on it. Too big for the basic figure line, Kenner has added this long-awaited to droid to their new “Deluxe” assortment which really just gives more space in the packaging for larger scaled action figures as well as larger accessories (like the dreadful backpacks included with many of the other figures in this assortment). The Probe Droid is a screen accurate character (even if its features aren’t) and based on the most popular chapter of the Star Wars saga. So, this action figure release will indeed be a hit.

Sadly, Kenner felt that including action features would be necessary for this release. So instead of a completely faithful representation of the character, we get play features which really interrupt the aesthetics of the character. The glaring orange projectile (which also serves as one of the Probe Droid’s photoreceptors ) just looks out of place because the tail of the projectile pokes through the other side of the figure’s head. Also, a spring-loaded “exploding” feature has been included, and this prevents the head from laying flatly again the base of the body. These issues are disappointing, but not deal breakers. When all is said and done, the Probe Droid does look pretty neat and will flesh out any Hoth diorama beautifully. While we feel the color is too dark, Kenner did manage to decorate the figure with decals to help make the character as screen accurate as possible. As far as its size, we think that the figure may be the right width, but may be too high. But a great deal of this figure’s height is dependent on how you articulated its legs. The figure can gain significant height or shortness just by positioning its legs.

The Probe Droid comes with five ball-socket legs. They all attach on the underside of the Probe Droid’s body, have significant enough resistance to maintain their positions and can be situated in a variety of ways. We feel that more articulation should have been granted to these limbs. There are some pretty cool gripping a claw appendages here and it would have been fantastic to see them in action. You’re not given a wealth of options, but with a little patience and time you can get the Probe Droid to stand perfectly perpendicular to any flat surface by positioning the legs in the right manner. But there are perhaps more options to so this than you may first believe. The engineers really designed this figure very cleverly and you can make the droid’s positions unique thanks to this, just keep in mind your options aren’t endless. When posed next to other Hoth specific Star Wars action figures, the Probe Droid looks right at home in the line. We hope that Kenner will revise this by perhaps removing the play features so we can have as screen accurate a model of this character as possible. But in the meantime, the Probe Droid will undoubtedly provide many hours of entertainment for your collection.