Sculpt--4.5/5
Woohoo! R5-D4 is finally made into a proper action figure. I sold my old POTF2 R5-D4 long ago, and have been eagerly awaiting a good replacement. Well it's here and it's great. I'm glad they waited now that we have the more accurate astromech bodies. R5-D4 uses VOTC R2-D2's body, so if you that figure (or the Early Bird R2...or The Saga Collection #016 R2) then you'll know what to expect in terms of detail. The panel that was removable on VOTC R2-D2 is glued down on this figure. This body has slightly less detail than the bodies used with R4-G9, but it's still very good.

The only thing truly new is R5's head. Hasbro did a great job and the proportions look pretty good to me. There's nice detail in the recesses in the sides and back of the head, and the "eyes" look good to me. Even the pop-up motivator has some detail in it. If there's anything I could nitpick here it's that the panels on the top of the head are too recessed; they should really be flush with the surface of the head and not indented as much as they are on this figure.

Articulation--4.5/5
R5-D4 has five points of articulation: rotating head, hips, and ankles. The third leg, of course, does not retract since this is the VOTC R2-D2 body. I don't mind that it doesn't retract, but displaying R5 in two-legged mode means that I have to keep the third leg off to the side in case I want to use it later. I now have three of these legs on my desk at this very moment.

The rotating head can be another issue since it activates the "bad motivator". Much like VOTC R2-D2's pop up sensorscope, R5-D4's motivator pops up when you rotate his head in either direction. That means that if you want R5 to look slightly to his left or right, you will also have his motivator popping out slightly. I don't mind this though, as I would rather have this as opposed to a button-activated motivator.

Features--4/5
As I've just mentioned, R5 features the pop-up motivator. Rotate the head, and out comes the motivator. It works and works well, so I have no complaints about the mechanics. R5 also has rolling wheels on the bottom of his feet.

Accessories--1/5
You don't really get anything with R5-D4 other than the standard figure stand and hologram figure. I'm not exactly sure what they could've included, so I'm not complaining. I suppose you could count the removable third leg as an accessory, but that's sort of like saying a removable arm is an accessory. Some figures need accessories to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth, but in terms of this figure, I'm perfectly happy just getting R5-D4. This isn't a rehashed figure like Saga Collection Darth Vader where I need some new accessories to justify opening it.

Paint--4.5/5
The paint job on R5-D4 is one of my favorite things about this figure. Hasbro went all out on this figure by painting all the little details at the ankles and on the boxes on the feet, and by giving him a nice paint wash to make him look dirty. If you look at the photo that has R5-D4 and R2-D2, you can see that the extra paint apps on the legs make quite a difference. Hasbro even painted the third leg, which they haven't done on any of the VOTC R2-D2's. The paint wash on my figure is pretty good, but I kind of wish they cleaned up the eye area a bit better. The red lines on the head look excellent, with nice definition and no crookedness (is that a word?). After watching the movie, I can only spot two inaccuracies. The biggest is the fact that Hasbro didn't paint the three large, vertical panels on the back of R5's body; they should be red like the other painted panels. The second is a smaller detail on the head--the read lines that surround the recess at the back of the head shouldn't be there. Other than that, I can honestly say that this is one of the best astromech paint jobs Hasbro has done.

Packaging--4.5/5
The Saga Collection goes back to a more rectangular cardback and retains the edge-to-edge blister that Hasbro has been using since the ROTS and animated Clone Wars figures. Thankfully, the tape holding the edges of the blister has been reduced, so it is now possible to get the figure out without even dealing with the tape. The blister itself is more rectangular this time, but is still rounded on it's surface. This makes it a bit harder to stack the packages on top of each other, but if you store your MIB figures in boxes then this won't trouble you too much.

As for the actual card, it tapers off a little at the bottom so that it is not truly rectangular. The front of the card continues the retro feel of the Original Trilogy Collection, but this time the silver lettered "Star Wars" goes straight off to the sides instead of creating a frame around the figure. This packaging also continues the use of a background image that compliments the scene or movie the figure is from. I've always liked this as you can potentially cut them out and use them as a background for displaying your figures. Plus, it just helps make the packaging feel all that more special and individualized. Another nice touch is the color-coded upper left corner of the card front which tells you which episode the figure is from. This helps make it easier to find new figures at the store and it has come in very handy.

The back of the card has a bevy of information. An image of the character from the movie is in the upper right corner while below it is a full body shot of the action figure. To the left is information about the character, plus little bits of data relating to the character such as "Mission: Rescue Han Solo". It's a nice addition and they're kind of fun to read. Below that are cross-sell images of other figures in the line. In the bottom right corner is a window displaying the included hologram figure, which adds to the cool factor of the overall look of the card. What can I say? I like this packaging, and I think it's some of the best I've seen since the Freeze Frame series.

Overall--4.5/5
Was R5-D4 worth the wait? Yes!! Excellent use of the VOTC R2-D2 body to incorporate the bad motivator and an awesome paint job make this the R5-D4 figure I've been waiting for. Fans of the Original Trilogy will no doubt love using this figure in Tatooine dioramas or even as Jek Portkin's astromech. And now that Hasbro has made an R5 head compatible with the new astromech bodies, expect to see more R5 units in the figure. Black Imperial R5 unit, anyone? Recommended!

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