Mustafar Panning Droid

For the sake of doing a decent review, I popped in the DVD of Episode 3.  The screen capture above is one of the clearer ones I was able to get.  Most of the panning droid is seen in very quick cuts.  For the most part, this droid is a good representation of his on screen counterparts.  One thing I picked up on, was there were a bunch of the panning droids running around.  The one above was actually pulled from a scene before the duel even made it down to the lava level.

He has a pretty battered appearance.  Considering he's basically a piece of mining equipment, that's not much of a surprise.  He's got a pattern on top of his head as well as a couple of globs of solidified metal.  I have to say, this is another figure where the paint really sells it.  Well done, Hasbro. 

The bucket is a separate piece.  He can actually hold it two different ways.  (More on that later.)  One thing that impressed me with the Panning Droid was the fact it actually seems pretty close to scale.  Maybe not 100%, but pretty close. 

There two things that takes away from his appearance.  One is a necessary evil, at least if he's going to be a good accessory.  That's the foot pegs on the otherwise flat top surface.  They're just so darn obvious when Anakin isn't standing on top of him.  But, they do their job well.

The second thing that detracted a bit on the panning droid for me was the head seemed a bit askew.   I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.  I know the character is beat like a rented Ford Fiesta, but this is something else.   Even with all the damage I'd still expect top of the head to be close to level.  This one seems a bit twisted.  I've seen some garage kit models over the years where the casting wasn't perfect.  That's what his head reminds me of.  But again, maybe it's intentional. 

For all that, I like the little guy.  He reminds me a little of the two pack of Jedi Temple droids that came out with Episode 2.  He also, probably because of the head shape and damage, reminds me of Old Bob from "The Black Hole." 

Now, the reason I really bought this figure was the platform.  And I have to say it's a neat looking little piece.  There's a lava base to hold it up.  Small globs of metal have solidified on it's surface.  It's even got an impressive metallic paint job. 

I was blissfully happy with all of this until I watched the DVD.    The platform in the film is about twice the size of this one I would guess.  It also has some other appendages that aren't shown here.  There are wings underneath and little pieces all around the bottom of the platform.  Also, there is a small post on one corner, with what I'm assuming are controls on it.  Keep in mind while the Lava Miner looks good on it, the platform in the film could hold two of the miners.  This version holds one.   

The platform does have the same basic form as the one from the film.  It's just the details and scale that don't match.   The scale issue becomes more apparent when you put Obi-Wan and Anakin on the platform together (See the bottom picture.)  In the film, they actually have room to duel on the platform after Anakin ditches the poor panning droid. 

There's almost enough room to get a single good pose out of the two of them on the platform.   If they were boxers, I'd expect Anakin to bite Obi's ear off being that close.

So, it seems once again, what could have been a really cool accessory, is brought down to mediocrity by scale issues.  I have to say this is where the lack of good playsets really shows.  I'd have paid for a set with a lava river base, accurate platform and  exclusive panning droid figure.  Hasbro obviously recognizes this as key moment in the entire saga, considering the original Mustafar playset and now this figure.  Why not just give us a playset with an accurate representation the scene as it was in the film?  Maybe with a little shore line on it with a flipping panel with toasted Anakin on one side.

There are a number of figures that you can rip out of the packaging and immediately start posing and thinking of cool ways to display.   This isn't one of those figures.  The platform is a big static thing stuck to a piece of lava.  And the droid, just isn't one of those high impact characters.  They're really a couple of display accessories.   To make it a scene they lock together. 

The smaller front paws on two of the four articulated arms fit into two small squares on the lava base.  The picture above is show on the card as the way to fit them together.  The bucket is flipped over and behind the droid.  Which leads to one major problem.  Gravity.  The center of gravity is way to much to one end.   

As seen in one of the pictures above, I was able to get Anakin by himself to obtain a good pose with the droid positioned this way.  It bothers me though, that there's no good way to display the panning droid holding the bucket in front of him.   A clear or lava base of his own would have been a really nice addition to this set.  Shoot, I bet if they had put a foot peg hole in the bottom of the bucket, it would've probably worked.

By putting the bucket in the scooping position, I was able to get the platform and droid to balance out, sort of.  It isn't perfect, especially if you consider that the droid drops the bucket before Ani gets really close to the platform.  It's in the spirit of the film at least.

This let me set up Anakin and Obi Wan to fight with some space at least.  However, the Panning Droid is up way too high this way.  Anakin would have the high ground, and well, we all know that's not how it worked out.   So, we end up with a dramatic, yet not screen accurate display.

Oddly, there are two accessories to this figure.  The "lava" base is one.  Molded in a translucent orange plastic, it reminds me a bit of some of the Human Torch figures.  It could have used some yellow highlights or something.

The second accessory is the standard display stand.  It even includes a foot peg.  Which is odd, because the droid doesn't have feet.