Hello, my friends! I wanted to do a write up on the new Bandai R4I9 Model just released. The Bandai R4I9 Model is a 1:12 scale R4 unit Astromech droid. His basic function is to patrol designated areas of the Death Star and to conduct repairs as needed. He’s basically like my Roomba but he probably doesn’t aggressively launch himself at the bottom of your sofa until he gets stuck and then sends out SOS notices until his battery dies.
Make no mistake, this is an actual model, not an action figure. Fortunately, it’s a snap together. I was able to get him built up in a weekend, just futzing around watching TV.
He fits together well, and there really weren’t any super-frustrating parts for me (unlike the General Grievous model and in particular, his neck area). There were no water slide decals, instead just a sheet of stickers. If you want your R4 to look like the reference pic, you’ll need to whip out the black paint. There aren’t enough stickers to color every panel. No big deal.
The teal around his thick droid neck (I don’t know what you’d call it) seen on the included art is noticeably absent on the model. Rather than paint it, I opted to leave it grey. This may have come up before, but I am super lazy.
Anyway, if you are into collecting 1:12 figures and love Star Wars, pick the Bandai R4I9 Model up. Sure, its some work, but its the only way to get the character in 1:12 scale. Honestly, it’s a rewarding process. You put in some work and for your time, you get a cool character.
Keep in mind, like the Grievous model, it’s not a toy. It has articulation and can be posed around, but as with all models, I’d refrain from handling it a lot once it’s built. Parts will still fall off and get lost, stickers can be rubbed off, etc etc.
He comes with a lot of optional parts that an R4 unit would use to conduct whatever his current objective is at that moment. The optional R2 unit head has no instructions and rather than guess, I just left it alone. He also comes with a drink serving tray for the R2 model. With it, you can recreate the Jabba’ barge’s scene. The model must scale bigger than the Figuarts 1:12 R2 because when I placed it on him, it looked too large.
He has a third leg that ascends inside his body when not being used. All three legs are articulated at what would be his ankles if he were a human.
If you don’t own any sprue cutters, pick yourself up a set. I didn’t and regret it. A few of the parts are so thin that unless you cut them out, you’re going to snap them. I broke four parts, two of which I was able to pop on convincingly. The last one looks like R2-D2’s pop up radar. Since I don’t think it’s even for the R4 unit, I didn’t bother fixing it.
The Bandai R4I9 Model is well worth the investment of both your money and time. Grab him here:
