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Sculpt--4/5
I'm quite impressed with the sculpting on all the pieces in this set. The factory pieces are nicely complex looking with lots of various lines and shapes. The result is that once the pieces of the assembly line are put together, you get a mold machine that really looks like it could exist in the movie. This mold machine consists of two main parts (duh!), the base and the top section. The top section is held in place by four pilons, while two huge arms on both sides of the molds allow for the actual molding process. I'll be talking more on the molding later.
The Super Battle Droid "exoskeleton" is actually really impressive. And once you give it its body it looks even better. Despite being half play-doh, this is the nicest looking Super Battle Droid yet! Seriously! This Super Battle Droid is taller than the previous SBD's and just looks more like their movie counterparts to me. The first SBD doesn't look quite right because of its exploding action feature. The SBD that came with Deluxe Yoda is decent, but lacks good articulation and a good paint job. This SBD has near perfect articulation, and while it has got a play-doh body, it still looks pretty darn good. The play-doh matches the metallic-blue plastic of the exoskeleton pretty well too!
Articulation--5/5
Perfect? No. Well...maybe it is! The Super Battle Droid features ten points: shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. What surprised me was the ankle articulation. These are great for allowing both great action poses and neutral poses. The only thing that could make the articulation absolutely perfect is some kind of joint which would allow the SBD to shoot his arm-gun correctly. This would be quite hard to do (perhaps impossible) since the droid is so skinny.
Features--4/5
The main feature is, of course, the ability to "create" the Super Battle Droid. Basically you put a clump of the included "Quick-Steel" compound in both parts of the mold, then you put the SBD exoskeleton in and use the handle to press the mold pieces together, thus creating a complete SBD. After you take out the SBD from the machine, there will no doubt be a lot of excess "Quick-Steel" which you will have to remove and clean up. The factory assembly mold machine works well and is suprisingly stable and strong. It's not that strong though so you may have to press down on the mold pieces themselves instead of using the handle connected to the two huge arms connected to the mold machine.
The Super Battle Droid also features removable arms, so you can make-believe you're really putting it together. The removable arms is also necessary for the included cannon-arm. The cannon-arm is pretty much the same thing that came with the original SBD; only the way it is connected to the body is different. The cannon-arm fires a projectile for a Jedi-blastin' good time.
You might also say that this SBD has "battle-damage action" since you can mold the play-doh body to look like it was hit or wrecked. Oh, and since this set is part of the droid factory, the mold machine can connect to the assembly line that comes with Deluxe C-3PO, Factory Chase Padme, and the Geonosian Arena playset.
Accessories--3/5
You get a mini bucket of "Quick-Steel" and the cannon-arm for the SBD. "Quick-Steel" is basically metallic blue-grey Play-Doh. And like Play-Doh, it can get a little messy and you'll no doubt have little bits of the stuff dried up in the mold and the SBD exoskeleton. But also like Play-Doh, the stuff can be fun to play with, so if you are especially fond of Play-Doh, you will love this set.
Paint--1.5/5
This is the only area where this set falls short--waaaaay short. The SBD exoskeleton is great and has all the right paint apps in all the right places. However, the factory assembly mold machine TOTALLY LACKS PAINT. This is a damn shame since it would no doubt look pretty sweet with a decent paint job. Unfortunately, all we're left with is the two plastic colors they've given us: brownish-bronze and grey. They could have at least painted the conveyer belt sections on the base section.
Overall--3.5/5
Despite the almost non-existent paint job, this has been one of my favorite deluxe sets. It's got a great figure, it connects to other sets, and it's actually fun. You also feel like you're getting your money's worth. Once you construct this thing, you'll be surprised it came in that bubble!
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