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George Lucas knows his Star Wars movies are made for kids, and he knows that kids love slapstick. That's why bad things are perpetually happening to C-3PO.
The unfortunate C-3PO is constantly faced with indignities that rattle the worry-prone droid. He is horrified when Luke "gives" him to Jabba the Hutt, not realizing it is part of Luke's plan to rescue Han. In the palace, C-3PO is tormented mercilessly by Salacious Crumb and slathered with revolting slime by Jabba.
Which do you think bothered C-3PO more, the abuse or the slime? He is kind of a priss. Heck, even the back of the card describes him as "constantly nervous and chronically fussy." Think of the most fastidious guy you know getting a stain on his shirt - he acts like it's the end of the world. So just imagine what kind of torture it must have been for 3PO to be covered in Jabba's slime; that's worse than finding out where Slurm comes from.
There have been plenty of C-3PO figures over the years, so it's a bit surprising that this one brings something new to the table. But first, the old: everything below the neck comes from the mold introduced in 2005's Revenge of the Sith line.
The sculpt is detailed with lots of tiny goodness, including all the proper seams, pistons and hinges, and of course all the wires in his belly.
Articulation is mildly disappointing. After seeing the impressive joints on C-3PX and some of the other humanoid droids, 3PO just seems lacking. We're looking at swivel hips, swivel shoulders, a baljointed torso and a balljointed neck. Technically. The head is attached by a ball-and-socket joint, but it sits so deeply in the torso that it barely functions any better than a peg with some wiggle room. The arms are easily removable, and the head can be yanked out with some force.
Okay, so the new.
If everything below the neck is taken from an old figure, that only leaves the head to be new.
To simulate what happened to poor C-3PO on Jabba's sail barge, his eye pops out. The eye is on a clear plastic stalk which runs all the way through the head and connects to the central plug on the back of his dome. It's actually a fairly smart bit of design: after all, without that, how would you ever pull the eye out after you pushed it all the way in?
To assist you
with all your "injury to the eye" playtime fun, C-3PO shares blister space with his tormentor, Salacious Crumb. Salacious is a Kowakian monkey-lizard, which sounds like something that came from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In case the name means nothing to you, he's the little thing that sits on Jabba the Hutt's rolling slab and laughs like an idiot.
There have been Salacious Crumb figures before, but they've all been solid pieces with no joints. In that regard, this Crumb is super-articulated:
he has a balljointed head, swivel shoulders, and balljointed hips. His tail is a separate, removable piece. The right hand is molded in a curled position, perfect for clutching at C-3PO's eye, and the articulation allows Crumb to perch on the droid's shoulders.
Both figures are painted well, though C-3PO is unfortunately vac-metallized - why can't Hasbro just paint him a nice flat gold? His right leg is silver, and the green goop spots are crisp and solid.
By himself, C-3PO isn't really different enough to warrant your purchase. But with the addition of the neat little Salacious Crumb, his value rises. If you can find a good sale, and you're in need of a new 3PO, then this one will serve you fairly well. Yes, the eye is decidedly non-standard and the articulation is sub-par, but the figure isn't terrible, and Salacious Crumb is neat.
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