As we discussed in our review yesterday, the Destroyer Droids were formidable opponents, even for the Jedi.  They could roll into battle at surprisingly high speed, unfold into a powerful droid weapons platform, and even deploy protective shields to neutralize enemy small arms fire.  Just as the B1 battle droids were designed in the rough likeness of their builders on Geonosis, so these droids were designed based on the appearance of their Colicoid builders.  Destroyers appeared in all 3 prequel films, as well as throughout The Clone Wars CGI show.

A few waves after Hasbro released the Destroyer Droid, they made an update to the figure, and issued this Destroyer Droid (Battle Damaged).  At first glance, the figure looks nearly identical to the first release.  But this version has dents and gouges throughout the sculpt to simulate some battle damage.  We didn’t really see any of these get damaged unless perhaps it was immediately before being destroyed.  I suppose the trio of Droidekas that were unfortunate enough to be in the way of Anakin as he started taking off in his Naboo Starfighter had some serious battle damage after their dismembered pieces were scattered on the floor of the hangar.  Speaking of which, it’s interesting to note that Hasbro has chosen to name every release of this character as “Destroyer Droid”, rather than “Droideka.”  If a TVC version is ever released, I think it they should go with “Droideka” in the name pill.

Besides the sculpted blast marks all around the droid, there is no actual paint damage, such as scratches, blast effects, or carbon scoring.  It otherwise looks pristine.  But there’s an action feature that also simulates the effects of battle.  The third (rear) leg is actually a spring-loaded trigger.  When activated, the upper body “blasts apart” from the ball/leg base, simulating a catastrophic hit.  It works pretty well, and the trigger mechanism is completely hidden from view, exactly how such features should be designed.  This does result in one of the differences from the first release, in that the legs do not have articulation at the “ankles.”  Each of the 3 legs is one piece, and therefore do not have any posing options.  This isn’t a particularly bad thing, since that articulation is fairly useless.  The solid legs give the droid better standing support then the slightly floppy legs on the original release.  And one last difference is that the curved “spine” is not flexible.  In the earlier version, it was made of a bendy plastic that allowed for some posing options.  Again, it’s hardly a big deal. 

Putting these figures side by side and show them to be very similar in appearance, until you look a little more closely.  The battle damage is nicely sculpted, and not overly done.  It adds a bit of variety to your droid army, and the action feature is executed well.  I’ll still give this a 6.  Despite various incarnations over the years (mostly centered around action features or accessories), 6 seems to be the general score we’re comfortable for this figure.  It’s good, not great.  It holds up well over time, but has room for improvement (better arm articulation, roll-up capabilities).