Recommended music: Kraftwerk – The Robots
It’s #FunkoFriday, so let’s have some fun! Today, instead of talking about articulation or paint, we’re focusing on the Funko Pop! Vinyl Star Wars – A New Hope Death Star Droid Black #189!
The RA-7 protocol droid, better known as the Death Star Droid, was designed for Imperial subversion. It might look like a regular protocol droid, but its purpose goes beyond simple translation. With its shiny chrome finish and big, empty insect-like eyes, the RA-7 also really lacks the friendly look of the 3PO series of droids. The Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) handed these droids out to Imperial officers, not to help with paperwork, but to secretly watch them and report any signs of disloyalty.
Even though the Death Star Droid only appears for a few seconds in A New Hope, it quickly became a part of early Star Wars merchandise with a Kenner action figure release in 1978. Interestingly, the figure called ‘Death Star Droid’ has a silver-and-chrome color scheme based on an RA-7 droid briefly seen on the Jawa sandcrawler on Tatooine. The all-black version that actually appeared on the Death Star did not get its own action figure until several decades later.
Funko released the black version of the Death Star Droid in 2017. That same fall, they also offered a white version with a Rogue One label as an exclusive to New York Comic Con and other fall conventions.
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