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Week 20: R5-D4

R5-D4:  It appears this guy gets over looked quite a bit as carded images and info regarding this figure were not easy to find for this feature.  Also, in the modern day this figure has only been redone once and that is the dreadful POTF2 R5-D4 which is one of the worst figures from that line in my opinion.  I remember getting the figure as a kid and playing with it quite a bit since it went with some of my favorite toys like the Sandcrawler, Droid Factory and Land of the Jawas playsets, but I don’t have any specific stories about this figure from my youth.  I’m sure much like the R2-D2 figure, I probably used it as a cannon at one point or another.  Which is kind of funny considering the POTF2 version “transforms” into a rocket launcher. 

During my hunt for info for this figure, I came across an interesting picture and article here:  http://www.toysrgus.com/images-speci/concept/index.html

 

This is a photo from a German catalog.  These are very early mock-ups or models of the 2nd wave of figures kit bashed from other lines etc.  As you can see the earlier released cantina figures were further along and do not vary as much from the production toys as the later released figures (Luke X-wing, Power Droid, Death Star Droid, and of course R5-D4). To date, the only one of these known to be in a collection is the Death Star Droid.  The rest are unaccounted for.  Read the article linked above.  It is very interesting and has many other neat pictures of early prototypes.

 Again, we are still working through the 2nd series Star Wars figures.  R5-D4 like the rest was first released on a 20 back card and ran through the ROTJ series.

 

Here are the known card back releases according to Kellerman's book Star Wars Vintage Action Figures: A Guide for Collectors:

 

SW 20-Back E w/Fett offer

SW 21-Back A

SW 21-Back B

ESB 21-Back G w/”Secret Figure” offer

ESB 31-Back C

ESB 41-Back A w/Survival Kit offer

ESB 45-Back A

ESB 47-Back A w/4-LOM offer

ROTJ 48-Back D w/Nien Nunb offer

ROTJ 65-Back B

ROTJ 77-Back A

 

Like many others from the early lines he did not make it onto the Power Of The Force card yet POTF proofs exist:

 

I found very few foreign moc pictures for your viewing pleasures.  (all carded images from www.12back.com, www.toysrgus.com, www.brianstoys.com) as well as a few Google searches and some are not the best quality either:

Canadian ESB R5-D4:

 

Harbert (Italy) 20 Back R5-D4:

 

Palitoy (UK) SW 20 Back and Palitoy ESB R5-D4:

 

Tri-Logo (Europe) R5-D4:

 

Popy (Japan) Boxed R5-D4:

 

Star Wars Droid Set 3-Pack: Although, not a foreign release but still very cool, very desirable, and of course very rare and expensive.  Thus, any of the 16 3-Packs are probably “foreign” to most collectors.  A complete set is near impossible but there is a picture of such here:  http://www.toysrgus.com/images-toys/three-pack-set.html

 

Loose Variations:  Not surprisingly, there are no major or exciting variations for R5-D4.  The only variant I am aware of or could find any info on is the Tri-Logo R5-D4 with 1977 date stamp.  All other R5-D4 have a 1978.  The Tri also has slightly darker red paint on the head.  Both have a Hong Kong coo.  I don’t know of any with a Taiwan coo.  I only have one R5-D4 figure.  It is a standard Kenner with 1978 date stamp.

 

 

R5-D4 Prices:  Doing some completed Ebay auction searches, it appears that a 21 back moc R5-D4 costs around the $125 - $150.  I assume that the premiere card (SW 20-Back E w/Fett offer) may be a slightly higher.  All this dependent on condition, grade, rarity, time of day, etc, etc.  Loose R5’s go for under $10 with a few really nice mint examples going slightly higher.  Just like R2, the R5 figure can be found many times with the sticker worn, ripped or completely gone.

 

Next up:  Death Star Droid

  

Note:  Originally, I had planned to mix in vehicle and playset features with the figure features.  Since my collection focus is action figures and I don’t collect vehicles anymore, I have decided to first do the figures and then backtrack with the vehicles and playsets or other misc. items later.  I may even do a feature or two in the future covering some of the foreign lines of loose figures I collect such as Top Toys, Glasslite, and Lili Ledy.

 

 Thanks for reading!