For nearly fifty years, toy companies have been a little stymied by one of R2-D2‘s signature design elements: his retractable middle leg, which has been everything from a separate, removable part to a concealed mechanism inside the figure. Kenner’s solution was not to bother, with all of their standard carded R2-D2 action figures coming without a middle leg. While Kenner issued three different standard carded versions of the droid, including scene-specific variants sourced from The Empire Strikes Backand Return of the Jedi, all were strictly bipedal, sporting a hollow body shared with the line’s R5-D4. However, Kenner didgive kids one chance to modify their R2 action figures with this feature: an obscure 1979 playset, only loosely based on anything that appeared on-screen in Star Wars. Kenner’s “Droid Factory” came with dozens of parts to assemble your own droids, and this included a disassembled R2-D2, complete with his retractable center leg.
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Loosely based on the Jawa Sandcrawler sequence, the set is one of the rarest in the classic Kenner Star Warsline, with its dozens of small pieces making a complete sample exceedingly difficult to acquire. Besides R2, the included droids are not based on any that appear in the film, and the set embodies the “anything goes” approach to licensed Star Warsmerchandise that filled the years between Star Warsand The Empire Strikes Back. Licensors quickly ran out of official scenes, designs, and reference materials, and Lucasfilm was far more willing to let them use their imaginations. The result is items like the droid factory, closer to being “inspired by” than “based on” the 1977 film. A still-boxed, sealed sample graded by the AFA (Action Figure Authority) at an 80 Near Mint is selling next week for at least $1k through Hakes. Hakes anticipates a closing price of between $2k-$4k for the set, one of the most difficult 1978-1979 era Kenner Star Warsitems to acquire in box.
How Kenner’s “Droid Factory” Playset Became the Most Unique Item in the Classic Star Wars Line
1979 saw Kenner expand their Star Warsline with a second wave of figures, playsets, and vehicles that helped define Star Warstoy collecting. The second wave of figures included Mos Eisley cantina aliens (Hammerhead, Greedo, Snaggletooth, Walrusman), a variant X-Wing pilot uniform Luke Skywalker, the Death Star Droid, a Gonk Droid, and the aforementioned R5-D4. This was when kids came to realize that, unlike any other toy line before it, anythingthat appeared on screen was fair game for an action figure, no matter little screen-time it got. The playsets and vehicles underscored this, introducing original designs like the Droid Factory and the Imperial Troop Transport alongside iconic movie vehicles like the Millennium Falcon and Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter. The 1979 Kenner offerings captured kids’ imaginations, encouraging them to imagine a world large in scope than even the planet-spanning epic onscreen. Collectors today who were kids then credit these releases as what cemented them as life-long Star Warsaction figure fans.
The Droid Factory playset was fairly simple, consisting a plastic baseplate designed to house the interchangeable droid parts alongside a movable arm with a winch to pick up and move these pieces. The play element didn’t really come from the environment, it came from assembling your own droids. Kenner facilitated this with an included book of blueprints, providing suggested designs and combinations, however, the box espouses that hundreds of variations are possible. All of these pieces were newly sculpted except for the baseline R2-D2, who was compatible with many of them, allowing kids to swap out the droid’s legs for arms, put his head onto a larger body, or attach him to a tread-wheeled base. Several of the smallest, most easily-lost pieces include small pins to keep an assembled droid’s components in place, as well as metal axels for the wheel pieces. Foot pegs on the baseplate let you secure Jawas or other action figures onto the baseplate.
How the Kenner Droid Factory Became the One of the Most Valuable Star WarsPlaysets (Kind Of)
For its Return of the Jedi line, Kenner reused the plastic baseplate from the Droid Factory as a loose recreation of Jabba the Hutt’s dungeon, bereft of its droid parts. The result is an underwhelming set that consists solely of a plastic baseplate and the crane arm, along with empty niches in the sculpt for where the droid parts shouldgo. Three included bonus action figures make up for this somewhat, and turn the later 1984-issue Jabba’s Dungeon into a major Star Warscollectible. Widely regarded as the worst playset in the line, Jabba’s Dungeon is ironically also one of its most valuable. Produced at the tail end of the Star Warsline, it saw limited production and even more limited distribution, turning it into a coveted collector’s item worth hundreds in any condition. Its value eclipses that of the Droid Factory significantly, illustrating that when it comes to vintage toy collecting, rarity is the single most important factor in determining value.
The Droid Factory came from the Star Wars‘ line’s height, and is therefore relatively easy to find. The catch is condition, with the Droid Factory’s myriad small parts making complete samples tough to come by loose. The downside to the set’s inventive gimmick is that an incomplete Droid Factory makes for an underwhelming display piece, literally leaving a hole where the missing pieces should be. This provides further incentive to track down a complete (or mostly complete — most collectors give up short of finding all sixteen of the originally-included plastic pins) playset, driving the value. Few mint-in-box samples survive, the playset was a comparatively weak seller for Kenner, with many put off by the lack of a clear, direct onscreen counterpart to the set. The estimated $2-4k close for the Hakes auction is supported by a similar finish for a graded sample sold as part of the record-breaking Jeff Jacob Collection auction earlier this year.
What’s your favorite Kenner Star Warsplayset? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Kenner’s Grossest Star Wars Toy Lets Kids Recreate The Empire Strikes Back With This Bizarre Action Feature
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