Star Wars The Black Series Archive C-3PO & ROTJ 40th R2-D2 review

If you don't know who C-3PO and R2-D2 are, what are you even doing here? These two need no introduction, especially if you've seen them with pretty big roles in both Original and Prequel trilogies, combined with the fact that they're hard to imagine co-existing separately unless R2 is involved in any missions with Anakin and later Luke or the time they briefly separated between the end of the Mos Espa Podrace and the moment Anakin and Padme went to Tattooine in Attack of the Clones for a decade. They've had their own spinoff cartoon, were given focus episodes in The Clone Wars, and are guaranteed to stand next to each other in almost every cameo or guest appearance seen in pop culture. So why don't we give these unambiguously gay droids the review they've been waiting for?!

Here we have C-3PO in-hand, and he looks just as I'd expect him to apart from the lack of any gold chrome. The metallic gold paint is at least comparable, and it helps him feel faithful to the character's appearance in at least the Original Trilogy, since he evolved from being incomplete in The Phantom Menace to being gray in Attack of the Clones to being fully gold apart from not having a silver leg yet. The details are sculpted pretty well, what with the pistons and the exposed midriff wires to represent this as a standard protocol droid design. Nailing the aesthetics of a Star Wars character is common with the Black Series.

His head sculpt is also detailed nicely, even having the "pupils" painted in to make him look more complete overall. This is especially appreciative when you consider how pricey these figures can get. His articulation consists of a neck swivel and a hinge below the swivel, shoulders that move front and back (with the pieces that cover the joints moving in unison), in and out, elbows do not bend (though that is accurate to the design), wrist rotation and inward hinging, diaphragm joint is included, somewhat limited hip articulation and thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle hinges as well as pivots.

Here he is running away from Cogman. Probably because the C-3PO joke that Crosshairs said was made just in case audiences wouldn't get the similarities. I'll admit the movie still sucks but the joke was funny.

And here we have R2-D2. The astromech being a huge contrast to C-3PO's human-cyborg relations makes sense, as each droid possesses an in-universe purpose different from one another. After all, the unique shape of this guy makes sense for assisting pilots of X-Wings, Y-Wings, Naboo Starfighters, and Jedi Interceptors. R2's white plastic looks normal in these photos due to the color correction I used, and the paint apps are generally nice and clean (apart from a slight scuff on the wires on the right foot), though in-hand, the white plastic did have a very, very slight yellow tint. It's a strange idea since Hasbro probably hasn't listened to the criticisms that fans had regarding the yellowed plastics on most recent Transformers and instead chose to somewhat repeat them here. We'll see how long this guy will last being white if my SS86 Jazz could hold up alright. Not many paint apps on the back but that is expected from the character design; the spaces on the chrome dome do vary one which arts are left silver, though.

R2's articulation is only a head swivel, two points on the main legs, and his third leg can extend out (though not easily) and give you the option to display him in a more mobile state. To access the accessories, you can pull the head up and reveal six different items for him to use. Most of these don't really stay in place that well, so you'll either have to find the right ones for them to grip on or simply put them somewhere else.

R2 also has some panels that can open, such as a selection of repair arms as well as a control panel interface plug. The other panels on the chest can open as well, but they don't do much on top of being extremely annoying to open without having to use another tool. removing a blue piece on the head can allow you to either display a radar or a viewer as seen in Empire. These are somewhat easier to add than the other accessories. Overall, while Threepio is fine despite having limited articulation that makes sense, Artoo is annoying to work with because of how annoying the accessories are for people to work with. What are you, a kit? Also, the normal price isn't really worth it, I'm sorry.

Final ranking (for each droid): ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐