a complete modern astromech checklist

This was originally just a post from back in ‘08, but it kept getting so many hits I decided to convert it to a page and keep it up to date for you fellow droid collectors.

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Preface: After The Phantom Menace came out Hasbro really got on the ball so far as action figures are concerned. The designs and paint schemes became more accurate to the characters, and they figured out they can take the same droid sculpt and sell it to fans over and over without batting an eye by simply changing the colors and maybe a gimmick here or there. It worked fine, because that’s essentially how the droids of Star Wars were made… and it unleashed a flood of new bots in recent years. Disregarding R2D2 completely, as well as the handful of droids released before 2000 that have since been remade to the new standard, here is a comprehensive list of all the astromech droid variations out there for the obsessive collectors like myself:

• Power of the Jedi (2000-2002)
  • R4-M9 (single carded figure)
    dark green vertical stripes on white lampshade
    
  • R2-Q5 (single carded figure)
    copper on black dome
    
  • R3-T7 (single carded figure – Attack of the Clones Preview)
    lime green on clear dome over white
• Disney Star Tours Exclusive
  • R3-D3 (single carded figure)
    red and blue on clear dome over blue on white
  • R4-M9*  (single carded figure – *different from PotJ R4-M9)
    turquoise on white lapshade
  • R5-D2 (single carded figure)
    red on white bucket
• Star Wars “Saga” (2002-2004)
  • R1-G4 (single carded figure)
    yellow stripes on dark green giant
  • R3-A2 (pack in – Hoth figure multipack)
    orange on clear dome over white
  • R4-I9 (pack in – Imperial figure multipack / *re-released as Saga Legends Fan Choice single carded figure in 2007)
    silver on black lampshade
• Revenge of the Sith (2005)
  • R4-G9 (single carded figure)
    copper in gold dome over white
  • R4-P17 (single carded figure)
    silver on maroon dome over maroon on white
• The Saga Collection (2006)
  • R5-D4 (single carded figure)
    red on white bucket
  • R5-J2 (single carded figure)
    silver on black bucket over copper on black
  • R4-K5 (single carded figure)
    black on silver dome over gray
  • R4-M6 (single carded figure)
    purple on silver dome over silver on purple
  • R4-A22 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 1)
    white on orange lampshade over orange on white
  • R2-C4 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 1)
    yellow on silver dome over white
  • R3-T2 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 1)
    white and brown stripes dome over blue on white
  • R2-Q2 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 1)
    white and black stripes on gray dome over black and white on gray
  • R3-T6 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 1)
    clear dome over red on white
  • R4-E1 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 2)
    red on white lampshade
  • R2-X2 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 2)
    black stripes on white dome over all black
  • R2-M5 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 2)
    maroon on silver dome over white
  • R2-A5 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 2)
    green on silver dome over white
  • R3-Y2 (Entertainment Earth Exclusive Astromech Droid Pack series 2)
    olive on clear dome over white
• The 30th Anniversary Collection (2006-2008 )
  • R2-B1 (single carded figure)
    yellow on gray dome over blue
  • R2-KT (single carded figure – convention exclusive)
    pink on silver dome over white
  • ???? (pack in – ARC-170 Elite – no known name/number)
    silver on red dome over blue
  • R2-R9 (pack in – Episode 1 Collectible Tin)
    red on silver dome over white on red
• The Legacy Collection (2008-2009)
  • R5-F7 (pack in – Y-wing Starfighter)
    yellow on white bucket
  • R5-M2 (pack in – Hoth figure multipack)
    silver on black bucket over white
  • R5-K6 (pack in – Yavin figure multipack)
    black on red bucket
  • R4-F5 (Droid Factory 2 pack – ‘08 #1 of 6 – Plo Koon)
    silver on teal dome over teal on white
  • R2-T0 (Droid Factory 2 pack- ‘08 #2 of 6 – Watto)
    turquoise on blue splatter dome
  • R4-H5 (Droid Factory 2 pack- ‘08 #4 of 6 – Kit Fisto)
    silver on orange dome over yellow and green on white
  • R7-Z0 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘08 Wave 1)
    lime on black dome over white
  • R4-D6 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘08 Wave 1)
    black on dark blue lampshade over silver on dark blue
  • R7-T1 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘08 Wave 2)
    blue and tan on silver dome over white
  • R4-J1 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘08 Wave 2)
    white on green lampshade over green on white
  • R2-L3 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘08 Wave 5)
    black and white on reddish-orange dome
  • R5-A2 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘08 Wave 5)
    white on orange bucket over orange on white
  • CB-3D (Droid Factory 2 pack- ‘09 #1 of 5 – General Grievous)
    red on silver dome over white
  • R2 Whistler (Droid Factory 2 pack- ‘09 #5 of 5 – Coran Horn)
    green on silver dome over white
  • R5-H6 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘09 Wave 2-5?) *unreleased
    purple on white bucket
  • R3-O1 (Droid Factory Build-a-Droid figure ‘09 Wave 2-3?) *unreleased
    clear dome over white on blue
  • R2-X2 (single carded figure – *same as EE Droid Pack #2 version?) *unreleased
    black on white dome over black
    
• The Clone Wars (2009)
  • R3-S6 (single carded figure)
    black strip on gold dome over gold on black

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Now, a quick explanation of the droids that we have been made into figures: R1 units look …stupid. They’re huge in comparison to the other droids and thankfully only one was made. R2 units are the standard one you’ll see, they typically have a silver dome like R2D2. R3 units are pretty much the same stylistically as R2s, but with a clear dome instead. R4 units usually have what I call a “lampshade” style head – a faceted six or eight sided cone. R5s on the other hand have a smooth truncated cone that looks like an upside down bucket – hence that term. R7s are strictly Expanded Universe droids (ie not seen in the movies). They’ve got R2 style domes, but triangular eyes and different panels on the body. No other R-series droids have been made into action figures yet so we’ll just ignore them until Hasbro throws us a screwball.

That’s all just the “rule of thumb” pattern though- several of the droids listed above don’t fit the naming convention because, simply put, George Lucas doesn’t give a damn about continuity. Don Bies, essentially the man in charge of the droids in the prequels, even confronted him about giving an R2 unit an R4 designation in Attack of the Clones. GLs response was basically “well, you can figure out something to explain it for the fans”. His reason for bucking the trend was as simple as he liked the R4 name better but wanted a round dome for it. It’s his franchise right?

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I’m going to work on photographing all of mine to accompany the list and make it easier to track. If you know of any new ones I haven’t added yet, post a comment below. Happy hunting!