This 5D6-RA7 Death Star Droid was released in wave 3 in 2008's Legacy Collection (which was a series of repacks and repaints) as a build-a-droid (BAD) figure. This figure is a remake of 1998's Power of the Force Freeze frame Death Star Droid. (It came with a mouse droid and was a very faithful reproduction to the movie costume.) So it is the same droid, but a new mold. The same torso was also used to make MB-RA7 in silver. Hasbro often does this method to their madness when releasing a "new" figure, let it be a clone, an astromech, or even a Build A Droid figure. If you've paid close attention, there is a pattern on the chest area. It is on the silver droid too, and also, their limbs are the same. They seem have a process in place that utilizes each mold twice, so each Build A Droid figure (with very few exceptions) has a repaint of 'itself' somewhere else in another wave in the basic figure line. 5D6-RA7 is actually the "first" version of the Death Star Droid Build A Droid figure we received, with MB-RA-7 being the second (in wave 4 of The Legacy Collection). The sculpt was surprisingly excellent and exceeded our expectations and we hope it becomes the template for all future protocol Death Star droids. The original 5D6-RA7 can be seen in a scene of Episode 4 walking not far from Luke, Han and Chewie while they are waiting for the elevator to reach the detention area and the prison cells on the Death Star. The figure has a total of 10 joints, missing articulated wrists and ankles. (swivel head, 2 swivel shoulders, 2 ball-jointed elbows, ball-jointed torso, 2 swivel hips, 2 ball-jointed knees.) The shoulders contain only swivel joints and limit the poses you can put the arms in. But this is evident, since the arm is a BAD part, which can be only attached to the torso, so the arm could move front and back. The Protocol Droid's left leg is a bit shorter than the right, and because of it the figure has balancing problems and will often fall over if you don't use a stand. The paint application looks pretty simple at first, but once you look closer you'll notice the rusty and used look. This 5D6-RA7 figure is a nice addition to the collection if you are a fan of figures from the Classic Star Wars movie. Of course there were no weapons or accessories included with the figure, but that is absolutely OK, since this droid never had a gun, and had an emplty hand in the movie, too. Also, he came in pieces, not in a package, so he was our gift in its simple form.

5D6-RA7 is an all-new figure that can be only built if you buy many of the following figures. The packages come with one extra pieces included in the bottom of the bubble. You can find pieces packed with the following figures:
• Clone Trooper (Coruscant Landing Platform) (includes 5D6-RA7 body)
• Jodo Kast (includes 5D6-RA7 head)
• Yaddle & Even Piell (includes 5D6-RA7 right leg)
• Saleucami Trooper (includes 5D6-RA7 left leg)
• Count Dooku (Holographic Transmission) (includes 5D6-RA7 right arm)
• Imperial Engineer (includes 5D6-RA7 left arm)

In addition, parts can also be found with the following GREATEST HITS figures:
• Darth Vader BD-08 (includes 5D6-RA7 Right Leg)
• Commander Gree (includes 5D6-RA7 Left Leg)
• Kashyyyk Trooper GH-02 (includes 5D6-RA7 Right Arm)
• Imperial EVO Trooper GH-04 (includes 5D6-RA7 Left Arm)

So this figure is not easy to collect and build. A lot of money, and a bunch of time if you choose to collect all the figures listed above, and gain the droid parts from them. However, you'll can check out eBay for other options, but buying the complete figure costs you some extra. But it may worth. And even we got two versions of 5D6-RA7, the black and the silver versions, and they are pretty cool figures. It's not quite super articulated because of the bizarre elbow joints which result in some pretty funky movement. But we used to it since C-3PO, who had the same arm positure. It's more droid-like in that stance, of course. The only real ball joint is in the torso so we can set the droid in many positures. The sculpt is excellent, anyway. The detail on the helmet is pretty good comparing it with the ancestor, but it has not got too much details in the mouth grill. The black paint deco looks a little weathered, but not too much, giving the figure a quasi-metal finish. And while it isn't the first Death Star Droid action figure we have ever received, it is however the first one that has had an acceptable amount of movable joints. 5D6-RA7 is a "right on time" update for a very popular droid that has a quite unintentional confusing and convoluted history. These droids are definitely the enemy and have been used in all forms of espionage in addition to direct combat. A very adversarial protocol droid, its antagonistic behavior has leaked into its action figure form quite well. He is very faithful to his character in the film, he was very well done!  The body is colored beautifully and nearly identical to what was seen in the film. If we were to pick one thing, it would be the photoreceptors, they are great. The action figure's eyes were painted in a bronze color. It is unknown at this point if Hasbro will reuse this Build A Droid sculpt to revisit other Death Star Droids, especially 3B6-RA-7 (the infamous Sandcrawler droid) from which the original vintage Death Star Droid was inspired. (Interestingly, Hasbro decided to pay homage to the actual vintage figure and release it a MB-RA-7 in wave 4 of The Legacy Collection.) Besides these, there are many other Death Star Droids Hasbro could produce as well, but it would be especially great to get the gold 3B6 next, so all three color versions could be available.

The Build A Droid pack-in premium has been very well received by both kids and collectors. They are rare, and expensive, but many people are hunting them. I could not managed to get all part from 5D6-RA7, so I decided to get the missing, but compatible parts from the silver version, painting them black. 5D6-RA7 is a brilliant addition to your Build A Droid collection. And if you're into Death Star dioramas, this one is absolutely required, also can be nice in an imperial scene.

Take a look at my custom 5D6-RA7 figure!