Peanut butter and jelly. Bacon and eggs. Oprah and Steadman. Some combinations are just meant to be. And that’s the way it is for those two lovable droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. As a pair they are far better than by themselves, so it makes perfect sense that when Kotobukiya set out to do one of their 1/7th scale vinyl ‘kits’ based on the characters, that they’d put them together.

For those that haven’t picked up the Kotobukiya kits before, a little background. The statues (or Nerd Hummels, as I am so often want to call them) come to your door step in pieces. You pop the arms, legs, etc together, doing your own assembly work. This process takes all of about 5 seconds tops, at least when it comes to these vinyl kits. Hot Toys makes some ‘kits’ that are far more complex, but Kotobukiya tends to stick with simple assembly designs.

I’ve wanted to add this twoferone statue to my collection for quite some time, but with a usual asking price of $90 – $120, it was always above what I was willing to pay. This week though, Things From Another World is running a terrific 50% off retail price sale on a bunch of Kotobukiya Star Wars statues, including this one. That means you can take it home for about $75, and I’ll make a special note of this when I get to my Value section in the review.

Kotobukiya R2-D2 and C-3PO

If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you’d like to see more reviews, including reviews of other Koto Star Wars statues (I just reviewed Commander Bly today!), head over to my website at Michael’s Review of the Week – Captain Toy. Now let’s see if these are the droids you’re looking for!

Packaging – ***
The boxes are designed to show off the dismembered figures as best as possible, and they do what they can. They certainly protect the pieces well enough, and they arrange them in the tray so you get a rough idea of what it might look like once they are popped together. The photos on the box show the final kit.

Sculpting – ***
The box always says 1/7th scale, but the Star Wars Kotos tend to be a lot closer to 1/6th scale than you might think. However, and most unfortunately, that’s not the case this time. These really are smaller than usual, and as you can see by the photo later in the review with the Commander Bly statue, these are really too small to use with other sixth scale figures. This is particularly true for C-3PO, but somewhat an issue for R2 as well.

Of course, they aren’t advertised to work with other sixth scale figures, but they don’t really work with the other Kotos either. And that’s pretty annoying to me, since I’d prefer if these fit in better as an overall display.

Ignoring the scale issues, the sculpts are quite good. There’s plenty of detail on both droids, and the small detail work on the various antenna, wiring and pistons on C-3PO is quite impressive. If you’re just looking for a stand alone statue of your favorite characters, you won’t be disappointed with the work here.

Another difference with these two and the usual Kotobukiya’s is that these are not solid vinyl, but hollow plastic. I’m not sure why, except perhaps that the electroplating of C-3PO’s finish doesn’t work with vinyl like it does with this kind of plastic. Still, why do it to R2? While these look good from a distance, as soon as you pick them up you get that nasty cheap feel from them, something that always bothers me.

Paint – ***1/2
While there were a few issues around the sculpt that disappointed me, the paint helped make up for some of that. The gold and silver plating on C-3PO looks terrific, with a very even, consisten, and clean appearance. There’s no seams, no sprues, nothing to break the clean surface.

The work on R2 isn’t quite as complex, but it’s also extremely high quality. I searched for slop, and found none. And I’m pretty good at finding it.

Articulation – *
At first, you might think such a low score in any category would seriously hurt the Overall score of the product. However, you have to keep in mind that this is intended to be basically a statue. And this category is ‘articulation’, something that normal statues do not have. Therefore, ANY score above a Bupkis is actually a positive thing, and will effect the Overall score in a positive way.

Now, it’s only one star, because the only articulation is the dome on R2. It can turn, allowing you to position his ‘face’ in different positions. Sure, it’s not a big thing, but it’s something.

Design – ***
Neither R2 or C-3PO are exactly dynamic characters. That left Kotobukiya with a struggle – how to make them look interesting?

They’ve done a reasonable job here, and putting C-3PO’s hand on R2’s dome (that does NOT sound right) was a good move, implying the deep friendship between the two. But otherwise, they’re just standing there. I don’t have any brilliant suggestions for how to improve on that, but that’s not my job. My job is to merely whine about it.

Value – usually **; with TFAW’s sale **1/2
Normally, you’ll spend $90 – $120 on this set, with a SRP of $150. At $100, I’d rate the pair a below average value, particularly with the hollow plastic bodies. However, if you pick up the set at the $75 TFAW price, you can bump this score up, as that is a much more reasonable value and appropriate sticker price.

Things to Watch Out For –
Take some care with C-3PO, as the smaller pieces of his body can be broken off, particularly around the neck. As you’re pushing the parts together, take care what you’re squeezing or pushing back on. Other than that, there really isn’t anything to take extra care with.

Overall – ***
This set isn’t quite as good as I’d originally hoped, being a bit small and feeling a bit cheaper than the normal Koto SW statue. It still looks fairly good on the shelf though, and I have to say that they did a wonderful job with the electro-plating on C-3PO. The R2 is also pretty well scaled to fit with the Medicom and even Sideshow Star Wars figures if you squint just right, although you can also just go with the old Hasbro version. If I were spending the $100 on it, the Overall score would have dropped another half star, but at the TFAW sale price, it’s a solid B.

Where to Buy –
There are plenty of options, but Things from Another World is having a huge 50% off retail sale right now, including this kit. Go to THIS LINK and you’ll be on the landing page showing which Kotobukiya Star Wars statues are on sale, and the coupon code will automatically be added to your cart!

Related Links –
I’ve covered a fair number of Kotobukiya statues:

– today, I have my review of the Commader Bly going up at my other site.

– there’s also the TIE Fighter Pilot, the Snowtrooper, and the Boba Fett in the Star Wars line.

– in their Indiana Jones line, there is Indy
and his pops.

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