R5-D4 (SW 1978-79)

If you’ve played with the basic R2 figure, you’ve played with R5. Clicking head, two legs (BUT SHOULD HAVE THREE) – yeah, the whole bit. While the figure and name refer to a specific droid - the one that breaks down in the film - you can just use it as a generic astromech droid and put it in your Y-Wing socket.

R5 came on cardbacks for all three movies – the SW and ESB said “R5-D4,” the ROTJ card said “Arfive-Defour (R5-D4).” Some, like the one pictured, featured the mail-away offer for that rocket-shooting figure, Boba Fett. Of course they never made one that fired because he'd shoot your eye out, kid.

Why, oh why, should you own R5? Five reasons:

1. Light him on fire. When your dad asks what’s going on just say it’s a bad motivator.

2. You can still use him in the Y-Wing, just don’t fly it upside down.

3. If you were like me in my youthful ignorance, you could pretend that the figures bottom opening was actually either A) a thruster, or B) a big cannon.

4. You just can’t beat that decal detail.

5. You need a lot of droid figures for your Coming-Out Droid Cotillion.

Backstory:

R5 was built by the Industrial Automaton company. The R5 line was notorious for being low cost and low quality, and R5-D4 was no exception. He went from owner to owner before being sold to the Jawas and turned down by Luke and Uncle Owen because of his bad motivator.

R5 was stolen from the Jawas and sold to a member of the Rebel Alliance. He was refurbished to much better working condition and set in place in Mos Eisley for gathering inteliigence. A humorous short–story posed a different theory: that he could use the Force and foresaw that only R2 going with Luke would save the galaxy. He thus blew his own motivator.

In the movie Luke says, “This R2 unit has a bad motivator.” Whether Mark Hamill the actor, the character Luke, or the scriptwriter was mistaken is under debate.

Want more? His Wookieepedia article

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