In 2003, Hasbro launched a subset of the Saga line that was dedicated to the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series, but also encompassed other media that depicted the conflict.  Hasbro also used this opportunity to treat us to some toys that represented “just off screen” stuff.  Besides giving us a bunch of figures and vehicles that were first seen in Attack of the Clones during the Battle of Geonosis, we got things like this Destroyer Droid Battle Launcher.

This set was part of a series of “3 packs” that gave collectors the opportunity to flesh out the various factions that fought on Geonosis (and the later battles, if you preferred).  There were the 5 variants of the Clone Troopers, the Jedi Knights, the Separatist Droids, and this set.  If you got them all, you managed to 15 clones, 3 Jedi, and a bunch of CIS droids, including a battle droid, super battle droid, 2 deployed destroyers, one roller, and a launcher.  While underarticulated and simply painted, you could, at a decent savings, expand your armies nicely.

As far as I know, this launcher is a complete Hasbro construct.  I’ve certainly never been wrong before, so there’s that.  The launcher itself harkens back to the Kenner mini-rigs.  It is designed to be a tracked vehicle, with a pair of (non-working) treads on each side of the device. It is also crafted to look somewhat similar to a Droideka, as the curved “roof” of the launcher is sculpted and painted just like the head of the droid. 

The launcher houses the included rolling Droideka.  This is the second time such a “figure” has appeared in the line.  The first one was included as a pack-in with an Episode I R2-D2 / Trade Federation carry case / playset…thing.  It actually isn’t terrible, but it seemed to try to be too many things at once.  But that’s for another day.  The rolled droid, for whatever reason, is a completely new sculpt, rather than just repainting the Episode I release.  Either way, it has no articulation, and cannot “deploy.”  It’s just an opportunity to have a version of the Droideka as it rolls into battle. This fits into the launcher, where there is a nylon strip that can be pulled to…launch it…in a…launch-like manner.  I’m not actually sure of the “real world” military purpose of this.  The Droidekas seem to be able to roll into battle quite effectively on their own, so I don’t know the reasoning behind a transport that holds a single unit, enters the battle, and then releases its cargo, just so it can roll some more.  But as a toy, you can shoot the rolling droid into your clone armies and knock them down like bowling pins.  It’s kinda neat.

Finally, you get a full Destroyer Droid.  Other than the head, which is a separate piece, there is essentially no articulation here.  It’s also not painted particularly nicely, so it’s just simple fodder. 

The whole thing is good enough to add to your vast Clone Wars battlefield setups.  It’s a nice oddity.  Still, it reminds us that we are lacking an actual 3.75” scale transforming Droideka, and I will not rest until we get one!