Death Star Droids
Here are all the shots I can find of the classic black Imperial astrodroids. All of these shots are from Darth Vader's arrival sequence at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
The first droids pictured are R2 units. The first one has been referred to as R2-A1 and was featured in a famous publicity shot. The bottom one appears to be the one released by Hasbro as R2-Q5. (Also notice the elusive "Giant Mousedroid" in one of the shots.)
All the R5 units I've been able to identify are pictured below. I've tried to match up screenshots I've made on the same row with published pictures of the individual droids. I can't conclusively identify any of them as being R5-J2, the droid Hasbro released in 2007. It seems to be based on the last R5 droid pictured below, as the body markings match, and it has a similar silver pinstriping on the dome, but R5-J2 has the standard "3-eye" dome, while the movie droid has the "binocular" eyepiece.
Notice that the last Imperial R5 unit above does not have the traditional "3 eye" dome, but instead has a 2 eye "binocular" dome. This is the same one that the R5 unit at Disneyland has and was made into a Star Tours exclusive action figure named R5-D2. Hasbro could reuse the Disneyland R5 unit mold to make this droid!
R3-M3
You can see this blue R3 unit with white markings in the hall behind Obi-Wan as he prepares to meet his fate with Darth Vader on the first Death Star. He has been previously referred to as "R3-O1," but Hasbro is releasing him as R3-M3.
The other R3 unit seen on the Death Star is R3-T6, which was made as an action figure and released in the Entertainment Earth set. See a pic at the bottom of the page. Here is a frontal and back view of that droid. Below those, you can see an image of 2 R3 units that are at the Disneyland Star Tours ride. One looks very similar to R3-T6, except that it has translucent red markings on the dome, which are absent on the droid on the Death Star. So this droid needs to be made as an action figure. Next to it you see R3-D3, which was produced by Hasbro and sold at Disneyland as a Star Tours exclusive. It is an older molding, however, and should be remade with a retractable middle leg.
The two droid pictured below are currently at Disneyland in California. When the Disneyland Star Wars themed ride "Star Tours" was designed, George Lucas gave Disney a number of astromech droid props to use as decoration. These two "R3" type units can be seen there, along with an "R4" type droid, and the famous "binocular" R5 unit that is pictured further up above.
R5-K6 on the Death Star?
Take a look at the b&w images above. Is this Red Leader's R5-K6 on the Death Star? It certainly appears to match the droid Hasbro produced as part of its 2008 Scramble on Yavin battlepack. You can see images of Red Leader's astromech on myRebel Droids page, and see for yourself how these droids are different!
These are the Imperial droids Hasbro has already produced.
On to the animated droids of The Clone Wars!
Back to Main Page: Star Wars Astromechs
- R5-J2 has a paint scheme based on that of the "binocular" R5 seen above. Click on the image to visit Rebelscum's excellent photo gallery on this droid, or go here
to read a review by Adam Pawlus that was originally posted on Galactichunter.com
- R2-Q5 is seen in Darth Vader's arrival scene. Click the image to navigate to the fabulous Rebelscum.com Photo Archive page on the figure.
- R3-T6 Click the image to see more photos of the figure at Rebelscum.com.