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4A-7 Spy Droid (Clone Wars)

June 13, 2010 | By Errex More

Other than superarticulated Clone Troopers featuring removable helmets, I don’t really collect much from Hasbro’s Clone Wars line. The main reason that prevents me from getting heavily into Clone Wars collecting is that for the money, I don’t feel I’m getting enough toy. This derives mostly from the competition posed by the other Hasbro Star Wars sub-line, the Legacy Collection, which offers not only the figure and one or two accessories, but also the ubiquitous Build-A-Droid part.

Even if you don’t have any interest in the BAD pieces, there is no denying that the plastic to money ratio works clearly against the Clone Wars offerings in most cases, which is why I normally go after them only if there is a sale going on. However, I do allow a couple for exceptions when it comes to unusual figures I happen to like the design of.

One such figure is this 4A-7 Spy Droid. Seen only in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie from 2008 and released by Hasbro in the third wave of figures from their Clone Wars line, 4A-7 appears to be an Arakyd Industries RA7 series droid, although from the neck down the basic structure is that of a Cybot Galactica’s 3PO series protocol droid.

The amalgamation of designs, adapted to the stylized look from the CGI Clone Wars animation, is quite striking and proves quite superior to either the RA7 droids supplied as the Legacy Collection Build-A-Droid offerings and the Clone Wars own C-3PO figures.

In a nutshell, what we get out of 4A-7 is the same body from the CW C-3PO and a completely new head sculpt loosely based on the Death Star Droid design. The most striking feature in 4A-7’s head is a removable visor that shows a silvery sphere underneath it. The visor itself is made from clear rubbery plastic, but in the inner surface it has a hive-like texture further enhanced by a gunmetal paint application.

The rest of the droid is molded from a tarnished silver colored plastic, which actually improves the look of the 3PO body by making it brighter and showing off better the sculpted lines and panels. I am not sure if it is an actual paint operation or an effect of the plastic, but 4A-7 does display a very slight patina that works wonderfully to simulate slight wear on the plate alloy. The mid-torso area is painted in flat black and given only a light silver drybrushing to enhance the sculpted texture there.

4A-7 has excellent balance and articulation:

• Ball jointed neck. Instead of the usual configuration, the base of the neck has the sphere joint, which connects to the port in the torso. It still allows for free swivel and tilt in any direction, but looks much better integrated into the figure’s design.

• Peg & hinge shoulders. Excellent motion range, although the shoulder pieces kind of keep the arms a little away from the body in resting poses. Not an uncommon trait for protocol droid designs.

•Peg & hinge elbows. These can bend up to 90° and have free 360° sideways rotation on both arms.

• Swivel wrists. Free swiveling range for both hands.

• Ball mounted torso. Free 360° swivel with a pretty good back and forth range of motion.

• Swivel hips. These don’t bend all the way up to 90° going forward, but still allow for adequate sitting poses. Backwards movement is similar, so in total we get a <180° arc from these joints.

• Peg & hinge knees. Good near 90° bending range, with a little extra at the front for a roughly 120° arc going back and forth. Sideways swivel is heavily restricted due to the knee design but possible.

• Peg & hinge ankles. Decent range going back and forth and free 360° swivel.

One of the reasons I got 4A-7 is that it is one of the few figures in the CW line that can actually blend in with the realistic-styled figures in my collection. Unlike the Clone Wars Threepio, whose cartoony face was a dead give-away as to the origin of the figure, 4A-7 can actually pass a one of the myriad droids roaming a galaxy far, far away.

Another high point for me was that 4A-7 came with a fair number of accessories (for a clone Wars figure, that is). The first is a standard CIS blaster which can be held by 4A-7 in either hand, and the second is a translucent blue hologram of Asohka, Anakin and Rota the Huttlet. This piece is fairly small, but is nicely detailed.

Bottom line, this is a very neat-looking, well-articulated droid. I’d say it’s worth getting at full retail price, but it’s clearly best if you can find it for less.