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Week 21: Death Star Droid
Death Star Droid: Kind of a misleading name when you think about it since the character this figure is based on was seen aboard the Jawa Sandcrawler in Star Wars. However, as a 6 year old, I don’t think I cared too much. I remember this figure as a kid and I remember that it was a mainstay in my RC Jawa Sandcrawler and Droid Factory more so than my Death Star Playstation. Of course he could have been a spy as well in a few adventures I had as a child. Also, like my C-3PO figure, it’s joints got loose pretty fast after a few bath tub adventures as well. My original figure was lost in a sandbox.
Again, we are still working through the 2nd series Star Wars figures. The Death Star Droid 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 D w/Fett offer
SW 20-Back E w/Fett offer
SW 21-Back A
SW 21-Back B
SW 21-Back C w/”Secret Figure” offer
ESB 21-Back G w/”Secret Figure” offer
ESB 31-Back B
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:
Once again, 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:
Palitoy (UK) SW 20-back Death Star Droid:
Palitoy (UK) ESB Death Star Droid: (no Kenner or Palitoy logo)
Tri-Logo (Europe) ROTJ Death Star Droid:
Popy (Japan) boxed Death Star Droid:
UZAY Turkish Bootleg Death Star Droid:
Star Wars Droid Set 3-Pack: Although, not a foreign release but still very cool
Sears Mail Order 4 pack w/DSD, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO
During the TOTW for R5-D4 I showed this picture featuring some early mock up models:
Here is a picture of the only one of these known to exist…the Death Star Droid:
As you can see the body is a repainted C-3PO body and the head is something strange kinda like a bug or something.
Loose Variations: Not surprisingly, there are no major or exciting variations for the Death Star Droid. There are at least two coo variations: Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mine pictured below has the Hong Kong coo.
As you can see this figure has most of his black areas intact. This can be somewhat difficult to find on loose figures and even on some mocs I have seen including the 20 back I use to have (pictured above) that had wear to his eyes, shoulders and even had a few scratches on the figure’s arms and legs. I even sent it off the AFA to have it graded to be sure that it wasn’t a resealed figure. It was not. Loose Death Star Droid figures are also prone to have loose joints.
Death Star Droid Prices: Doing some Ebay searching it appears that Death Star Droids moc run between $100 to $150 for 20 and 21 backs ungraded with prices being even less for ESB and ROTJ cards in most cases. Loose figures run typically under $10 and some even under $5 in lesser condition. There are some better condition figures in the $15 price range. My loose example cost $18.50 about 3 years ago. I remember this because at one time it was the most I had ever paid for a loose figure back when I only had about 20 figures or so. (Those were the days!!!).
Next time: Power Droid (not Gonk!!)