Figures That Make Me Happy:  R1-G4

If you recall the first entry in this series from last week, most of the figures highlighted will be rooted in my childhood. According to my father, we didn't see Star Wars until 1978. I would have still been five at the time. At that age, things such as special effects were incomprehensible. I think I understood that movies were make believe at that point (despite thinking there were real world stakes unfolding as I watched the trench run). So I knew the story was fake, but I presume I thought the things being filmed were real, given my age and naiveté. What I know for sure is that much of that first viewing was spent mesmerized in slack jawed awe.

As we know now, there is a massive amount to take in with the Star Wars movies. Some things go missed for years. It wasn't until last year that I noticed Pote Snitkin is actually seen in the palace before the Sarlacc skirmish. Other things we manage to latch onto immediately. Those "other things" are the inspiration for the articles in this series. During the "Droid Sale at the Lars Homestead", my focus was immediately drawn to the beefy R1-series astromech with what I assumed was a laser cannon for a face. We see him lowered down from the Sandcrawler to anchor the left side of the lineup. I don't know about you, but R1-G4 commands my attention whenever he appears on screen.

Aside from his size and overall presence, I think there's a secondary reason why I latched onto this particular droid in 1978. Up until that point in my life, the number of robots I was familiar with was very limited. It was basically two. The first was the robot from Lost in Space. The other was Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet:


I think there's some vague similarity between the shapes of Robby the Robot and R1-G4. I suspect that I found some comfort in a familiar face among the crowd of scary Death Star Droids and arachnid Treadwell Droids.

As with every such character from the OT that captured my imagination, I wanted a figure in the vintage Kenner line. Even as a kid I remember wondering if such a big droid could fit on the 6 x 9" Star Wars card. In 2004, Hasbro finally answered that question affirmatively. It will always be one of my favorite figures in the entirety of the modern line despite being barely more than a chess piece. It's largely inert except for a few areas of articulation with the manipulator arms, and a swivel at the base. I don't care. It's also one of the few "Saga" line figures that I've kept on card. Despite being twenty years past the afterglow of finally getting an R1-G4 figures, I still get all warm and fuzzy inside when I see this figure at the left side of my Sandcrawler.

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