Action Figure Overview: Death Star Droid / RA-7 (Kenner 1978)
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| RA-7 aka Death Star Droid (Kenner, 1978) |
As I've mentioned before in other posts, Star Wars dominated
my world in 1978. I loved Star Wars
figures and played with them every day in the late 70s and early 80s. I had all 12 figures from the first wave and
I thought they were all awesome. When
the second wave of figures came out in 1978, I was thrilled to have some new
characters!
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| Death Star Droid and R5-D4 (Kenner, 1978) |
Wave two included 8 new figures. The Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing flight suit was my favorite of
the second batch of figure. The aliens
were obviously awesome as well (I had the cardboard cantina set, so I was lucky
enough to have the Blue Snaggletooth! click here for my review) I wasn't crazy about Power Droid (click here for my review), but I did like R5-D4 and the Death Star Droid. Even as a very young kid, there was
something weird about them. I wouldn't
have been able to articulate it at the time, but they felt like dime store
knock-offs of R2-D2 and C-3PO. In my
mind, R5-D4 was a harmless, less awesome version of R2-D2, but the Death Star
Droid seemed much more sinister. Yeah, these weren't the droids I was looking for, but they found their way into the action nonetheless!
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| Vintage Kenner R2-D2, C-3PO, Death Star Droid, & R5-D4 |
Death Star Droid's personality and character was probably
different each time he took part in one of my adventures. I honestly never had a very good idea of his
character as a kid, but I suspect that he was usually hanging out with the bad
guys. As you can see from my childhood
action figure, he saw a lot of action and is very worn!
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| The Death Star Droid in these photos is the one from my childhood. |
As a kid, I didn't know much about the Death Star Droid
beyond what I saw when I looked at the figure (which was basically a mean-looking, silver C-3PO). Plus, I
guess having the word "Death" in their name was a bit ominous. However, there is more to the Death Star Droid
than a silver finish. The proper name
for a Death Star Droid is RA-7. RA-7s
are examples of Protocol Droids: droids
that were originally designed to help with language translations and cultural
customs between scientists from different cultures. Interestingly, the personality of the RA-7 is very distasteful, which
is uncommon for protocol droids. Most
RA-7s were used as spies. Because they
were manufactured for The Empire and were used on the Death Star, the RA-7s are
often referred to as "Death Star Droids" even though percentage wise,
a relatively small number of them actually worked on the Death Star. RA-7s don't like being called "Death
Star Droids" and take offence when the name is used...although since
they're still protocol droids, I'm not sure they can really do anything about
it.
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| Death Star Droid contemplates being a total dick. |
Did you have a Death Star Droid action figure as a kid? If so, how did he fit into you
adventures? Do you remember what you
thought of him at the time? Has your
opinion of him changed over time? Tell
me in the comments!
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