Ironically, there are two main places you can see RA-7 droids in Star Wars Episode 4. The first is the Jawa’s Sandcrawler. The second is the Death Star. The Death Star is where this droid draws his more common “Death Star Droid” name from. The vintage version carried that name instead of a number.

This Legends version comes from the re-issued Sandcrawler that was out a couple of years ago. To that end, he’s bronzy and worn.

Appearance:

If you go by the card back this is the Death Star version of RA-7. I find it hard to believe that anybody in the Imperial forces would let a droid in this condition on board the Empire’s most elite space station. Death Star Droids in the film were shiny and a bit darker in color. They were more like the POTF2 version of this figure (See bottom pic.)

POTF2 version? Yes, before visiting the Sandcrawler re-issue, this guy was vac metalized and single card packed with one of those huge mouse droids. He was pretty hard to find, I had to resort to a comic shop at the time to find mine. The vac metal on that version is an odd color that reminds me of the vintage Silverhawks figures.

That being said, this figure shows all the signs of the POFT2 era. Articulation is the first thing. There are six points. Neck, waist, shoulders and hips. Nothing else.

The overall sculpt has that POTF2 feel as well. Even though this guy is a droid, the way his shoulders and stance are posed he looks ready for a fight.

While the overall detail scheme is close for RA-7, he’s a bit off from the references I looked at. The details should be smaller and finer. The film droid looks thin and very tin can like.

The head seems a bit too small as well. If you think about this as a person in a costume, the mask would have had to be a slight bit bigger to accommodate their melon. The antenna sculpted to the side of his head looks poor by today’s standards as well.

I’m undecided on the paint job. It looks considerably worn in patches and not in others. It’s very hard to pin down even with the figure in your hand. In a Sandcrawler display, he’d probably fit in. The thing that bugs me about it, I think, is that if he had that much wear, there would be dents and other damage.

Fun:

You know, after I got this guy out of the blister, I was underwhelmed. Oh, wait. He has an accessory. One of the generic Saga Legends coins for Episode 4. Yippee!

Really, that’s what make this figure fail. Some small doodad could have really helped. An updated mouse droid would have been awesome. The old one, not so much. But it would have been something that made me feel better for plopping down six bucks on a repaint of a droid I forgot I had.

Overall:

I really wish I hadn’t picked this guy up. If I’d have realized he was a direct repaint of the POTF2 Death
Star Droid, I probably wouldn’t have. If you didn’t manage to score one of those or a Sandcrawler, then maybe pick this guy up.

Overall, just a mediocre figure. Except for his rarity, I don’t see any reason to call this figure a Legend.

If you really want a Death Star Droid, track down the POFT2 one.

Engineernerd Score: 80/100

Discuss in our forums!