Sculpt--4.5/5
When I first saw photos of this figure, I was afraid that Hasbro would use the miss-proportioned astromechs we've been getting for the past couple of years. Thankfully, Hasbro has wisely chosen to use VOTC R2-D2's body as a starting point with its more accurate proportions. On top of that, the sculpt has been improved ever so slightly. The removable panel on VOTC R2 is gone of course, so the obvious seams from that feature are no longer present. There are other little improvements here and there but most people probably won't notice them. Surprisingly, the legs seems to be an improved sculpt with sharper edges and a few little added details. The feet are also slightly revised and are a little smaller in width than VOTC R2's are. The hoses that protrude out of R4's feet are also different from R2's; they are slightly longer and they are molded separately from each other. Finally, the greatest enhancement of all is the third leg which actually extends and retracts from R4's body. This leg is sculpted well and is fully functional, but more on that later.

Is there anything to not like about this sculpt? Well, some details on the dome are a bit soft, especially details that are close to the seam lines. There are also some small details missing on the legs but they're not a huge details so it's not too big of a deal. All in all this is a well sculpted astromech and I hope they use this as the basic sculpt for all future astromech figure...unless they improve it some more!

Articulation--5/5
R4-G9 has seven articulation points: rotating head, legs, all three ankles, and a retractable third leg. Pretty basic for an astromech? Not quite. The head rotates, but rotating it activates the retractable leg. This isn't a bad thing though since after the third leg is fully retracted or deployed, you can continue to rotate the head to what ever position you want. The other points are pretty standard and help make this a great astromech figure.

Features--4/5
R4-G9 features a retractable third leg, light-pipe eye, and rolling wheels. This is the retractable leg we should have gotten on VOTC R2-D2, but then again it probably would have meant disabling some of R2's other features. Anyway, the mechanics of it is similar to VOTC R2-D2's sensorscope: rotate the head clockwise and the third leg lowers. Rotating counter-clockwise raises it back up into R4's body completely. That's right, COMPLETELY. When fully retracted, you can barely tell it's there. This is in stark contrast to past astromech figures which always had a part of the third leg sticking out from the bottom of their bodies, probably so you'd be able to grab it. This is probably the best thing to happen to astromech figures since articulated ankles! It works great, it looks great, and the articulation doesn't really suffer from it.

The light-pipe eye makes its appearance again, but I've grown tired of this feature. Sure it's neat to have the eye light up, but the main eye on any astromech never lights up. The main eye should be black and having it light up makes the figures look slightly off from the real thing, thus hurting the overall appearance of the figure. If Hasbro really wants to keep this feature, they should have it so the circle underneath the main eye lights up.

Accessories--3/5
R4-G9 comes with a holographic planet accessory which attaches to R4's holoprojector. The holographic planet is decently sculpted with continents on the planet and spokes which are supposed to be light flares or something. Just a so-so accessory but it is imaginative and is something that hasn't been done before.

Paint--3/5
A bit disappointed in this department. R4-G9 has a lot of paint detail and Hasbro came really close to getting it perfect. Unfortunately, R4 is missing the bronze-colored accents at the top its legs. The gold color of the dome looks good, but the bronze-ish color of the accents seems a bit off. There is also a bit of sloppiness on my figure, with areas not completely filled in, slightly misaligned paint application, and some strange grey paint glops here and there. However, I do like the slight weathering of R4's white body; it helps bring out the nice details in the sculpt and gives it that used feel to it. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the horribly painted holographic planet accessory. They decided to paint the continents on the planet but paid absolutely no attention to the actual sculpted continents. The result is green blobs that seem to be randomly painted.

Packaging--5/5
I've got to say that I really love this packaging. It makes a bold break from the rectangular packaging we're used to seeing and the imagery and color are eye-catching and engaging. The card front features Vader's helmet looming over a raging pool of lava. Nice. The bubble is rounded and goes to the edge of the card much like the animated Clone Wars line. There's also a nice layered effect with the use of two cardboard inserts within the bubble featuring the Star Wars logo and a photo of the character. The cardbacks are likewise well designed with perhaps the best cardback layout design I've seen in years. There a nice photo of the character from the movie, a short description of the character, a photo of the actual toy, and nice cross-sell imagery to get you excited for the other toys in the line. Considering how much less space there is on these cards makes the design all the more successful. Excellent job on the packaging, Hasbro.

Overall--4/5
R4-G9 has convinced me that someone at Hasbro knows what they're doing. They could have easily just used the old astromech molds that they've been using for the past few years, but they went the extra mile and tweaked VOTC R2-D2's mold and improved it. The retractable leg feature is brilliant, not resorting to buttons or obvious mechanics. The bar on astromech figures has just been raised and here's to hoping they keep raising it.

--Photos and review by Garett Yoshimura
garett@carrotnetwork.com