Sculpt--3/5
The sculpting on the super battle droid is adequate but not accurate. Comparing the figure to the AOTC Visual Dictionary, the differences are pretty apparent. For one thing, the figure is too skinny in the torso area. the body should be wider; this droid should be a hulking menace. There should also be no gap between the head and the shoulders. These differences must have been pretty noticeable to Hasbro as well; instead of using a photo of an actual super battle droid on the front of the package, they've used a photo of their own figure! In an unrelated note, I don't like the way they've bent the left ankle; it limits the poseability...

Articulation--3.5/5
The super battle droid is articulated in eight places: shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. Many people, including me, wish Hasbro had the insight to include an articulated right wrist. That way, the s.b.d. would be able to fire his wrist-mounted blasters like they did in the movies. The articulation is still pretty good though and there's enough variation to make several poses. However, I think even more poses would have been possible if Hasbro had not bent the left ankle as much as they did. This forces you to bend both knees or else the droid will be leaning to his left big-time.

Features--4/5
The super battle droid has an exploding feature and a projectile-shooting "super arm". The exploding feature is pretty fun to play with and gives good play value to the figure. There is a button on the "butt" of the super battle droid and once pressed, the upper torso splits and shoots upward and the arms go flying. If you want the super battle droid to do some damage of its own, then you can opt to replace the right arm with the "super arm". The super arm is basically a large cannon that shoots a long, clear, red projectile. Meh. The super arm isn't that cool to me, but I like the exploding feature.

Accessories--4/5
You get a blast-damaged chestplate, a laser burst effect, and the super arm with projectile. The super arm is a decent accessory, but what I really like is the blast-damaged chestplate. I think it's very cool that you can choose between an undamaged and damaged super battle droid. This was just an excellent idea, and hopefully Hasbro can find a way to implement the idea with some other figures. The burst effect isn't too convincing to me, but I'd rather have it than not have it.

Paint--3.5/5
Good job on the paint. It would have been neat if they could have made the super battle droid look more metallic, but he is decent the way he is. The droid has appropriate spray ops on certain parts of its body that help make it look more realistic. The only thing wrong is the position of the red dot found on its chestplate. In the Visual Dictionary, the dot is on the shoulder area, above the curved line, while the figure has it below the curved line.

Overall--3.5/5
The super battle droid turned out to be a fun figure and should be bought by everyone who actually plays with their Star Wars toys. The fact that you can choose between a normal and damaged version is great for army-builders and diorama-makers, and completists will be buying this figure anyway. I guess the only people who shouldn't buy this fig are those who hate battle droids...but who hates battle droids?

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