Running changes where Hasbro gives us variants of a figure are always a good thing.  Sometimes a running change is a minor correction, but as is the case here, we get two different figures meant to represent two different on screen characters.  The tan battle droid is, of course, from The Phantom Menace, while the red variant is from Attack of the Clones. 

The figure is fairly weak, especially when compared to more modern releases.  There is no articulation below the hips at all, so right off the bat it limits the posability.  However, the upper body is decent.  There’s the usual double neck, with a ball joint were the stalk meets the head, and a hinge where it meets the shoulders.  It allows for a bit of expressiveness out of the droid.  The shoulders and elbows are swivel (as are the hips).  The hands are positioned in such a way that you can get a THWG, something welcome (so far) out of the Battle Droids since the spindly nature of these figures seems to preclude articulated wrists.

The paint is fairly simple, red or tan, with similar battle damage markings on both versions, notably a diaganal slash across the chest and right hip, while the tan version also has a prominent blast mark on the left shoulder.  The backpack is removable, but also sports the notch where the droid can stow the included blaster.  An additional accessory is the red blast effect, which can either be plugged into the tip of the weapon for a firing look, or it can be attached to a peg on the droid’s chest to represent it getting hit with blaster fire. 

The main reason for this figure’s existence is the included blue electro-blast effects.  There are two of them, which wrap nicely around the right arm and left leg, respectively.  Together with the aforementioned red blast effect attached to the chest, it gives a nice display of the moment this poor droid gets shot.

The design is likely inspired from Episode I, as several droids can be seen “shorting out” when hit with blasters or the blue Gungan energy weaponry.  In fact, I don’t recall that type of effect being in AOTC at all, but there certainly was plenty of opportunity given all the droids shown on screen during the arena battle.  This looks like a TPM-specific snapshot, where Hasbro just took the opportunity to repaint in AOTC colors.  Whatever, it works for me.

The figure isn’t great, and has been surpassed by more modern versions, but it certainly isn’t obsolete.  It works great as fodder for your TPM or AOTC displays.  5/10.