Kit Review

Straight build + Seals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

1/12 Battle Droid & Stap - The Battle Droid connects to the Stap via pegs and holes on the feet, locking in very sec

The Battle Droid connects to the Stap via pegs and holes on the feet, locking in very securely.

The Stap on its own.

Detail on the underside.

Clear display stand for the Stap.

The handlebars and cannon section have a decent range of articulation.

Compared with the same-scale Speeder Bike.

Battle Droid.

Every joint on the Battle Droid uses a one-piece dual-injection joint — quite impressive!!
It's an advanced technique normally reserved for PG and RG frames, where two different plastic materials are injected into a single runner
to produce a fully articulated part — joints and all — in one single piece.
The only downside is that it's all the same molded color, so it's hard to tell at a glance.

1/12 Battle Droid & Stap - The waist section is also dual-injected as a single piece, yet it still separates and mov

The waist section is also dual-injected as a single piece, yet it still separates and moves.

Accessories include a Macrobinocular and an E-5 Blaster.

1/12 Battle Droid & Stap - The blaster can be stored on the backpack, but the connection is pretty flimsy and it fal

The blaster can be stored on the backpack, but the connection is pretty flimsy and it falls off easily..

Thanks to that slim figure, the articulation is great.

Attack ready pose.

Kneeling pose

The backpack can also be configured with just the antenna attached.

Using the Macrobinocular.

1/12 Battle Droid & Stap - Swap in the folded antenna for the backpack and extend then fold down the neck section, a

Swap in the folded antenna for the backpack and extend then fold down the neck section, and...

...you can curl it up into storage mode like this.

1/12 Battle Droid & Stap - And using the two alternate neck parts, you can recreate the scene from Episode II where

And using the two alternate neck parts,
you can recreate the scene where C-3PO and the Battle Droid swap bodies.

You can also add a separate attachment part to have C-3PO hold the blaster.

Together with the 1/12 Clone Trooper.

The Battle Droid — the ultimate cannon fodder (...) of Episodes I–III — has been released in 1/12 scale bundled together with the Stap. These guys were the ones the Stormtroopers could never hope to match when it came to sheer numbers.

First off, this kit will genuinely surprise you with its use of dual-injection molding for the limbs. It's a technique that's normally only used sparingly on PG and RG frames, yet here a good portion of the kit — the arms, legs, neck, and waist joints — all come out as single articulated parts. Probably because the figure is so slender that there was no room to fit separate joint parts inside, but thanks to that, the part count is low while still giving you a surprisingly wide range of movement.

That said, even though the dual-material injection technique is being used, everything is molded in the same color, so there's zero visual effect from it. It's basically one of those "wait, I thought this was one piece, but then I tried pulling it apart and suddenly everything started moving in all sorts of weird ways" moments. On the plus side, the tight tolerances from the one-piece molding mean the joints are very stiff and hold poses well — which is definitely a point in its favor.

The Battle Droid comes with a bunch of options: you can swap in folded antenna parts and fold down the neck to recreate the storage configuration, or swap the backpack for a version with just the antenna. Accessories include an E-5 Blaster and a Macrobinocular. The blaster can be stored on the backpack, but the connection is so flimsy that it's really just resting there rather than actually holding on.

There are also alternate neck parts included to recreate the body-swap scene with C-3PO from Episode II, and you can add a separate part to let C-3PO hold the blaster as well.

As for the Stap, articulation is pretty much limited to a slight movement of the cannon section, but the color separation is solid and the detail is clean and well done. One thing worth praising in particular is how the peg connection on the feet when mounting the Battle Droid is incredibly secure, making for a very stable ride.

All in all, the dual-injection joints combined with the Battle Droid + Stap combo make for a pretty solid package. With all the various options and the feeling of getting two kits in one, this is probably one of the better value-for-money kits in Bandai's Star Wars lineup. :-)

1/12 Battle Droid & Stap | 2016.8 | ¥4,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.