TANTIVE IV'S ASTROMECHS
R4-M9 & R2-Q2
Often identified as Imperial droids by Hasbro and other Lucasfilm licensees, it seems more likely that these two astromechs served alongside R2-D2 aboard Princess Leia's ship, the Tantive IV. R2-Q2, who shares a dome with the R2 unit used by rebel pilot Biggs Darklighter, is on the left, and R4-M9, who shares a dome with the astrodroid used by rebel pilot John D. Branon, is on the right.
If these are Imperial droids, they were brought aboard the blockade runner to search its databanks for the stolen Death Star plans. Why they would have needed two droids for this is unknown. The fact that they are being led back to the Star Destroyer with a group of rebel crew members under gun point is just coincidence.
Read about the possible rebel affiliation of these droids here!
These are the astrodroids that you can find on the Death Star. This first photo is a close up of the droid line up during the Emperor's arrival scene. If you look closely, you can see 2 "R5" units, and 4 "R2" units.
Death Star Droids
Here are all the shots I can find of the classic black Imperial astrodroids. All of these shots are from Darth Vader's arrival sequence at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
R2 UNITS
The first droids pictured are R2 units. The first one has been referred to as R2-A1 and was featured in a famous publicity shot. The bottom one appears to be the one released by Hasbro as R2-Q5. (Also notice the elusive "Giant Mousedroid" in one of the shots.)
New!
Keith K. found these great new pics of Roger Nichols posing with some ROTJ droids, including R2-Q5. What's really neat about it is it shows Q5 sporting the asymetrical front panel painting, with one in the pinkish-mauve, and the other straight black.
UPDATE! NEW DELETED SCENE R2 FROM RETURN OF THE JEDI!!!!
Check out this cool image straight from the Blue Ray Return of the Jedi DVD that came out in 2011! Thanks to Sean L. for sending that in!
R5 UNITS
Thanks to Ricardo from Spain for the big version of this image!
All the R5 units I've been able to identify are pictured below. I've tried to match up screenshots I've made on the same row with published pictures of the individual droids. I can't conclusively identify any of them as being R5-J2, the droid Hasbro released in 2007. It seems to be based on the last R5 droid pictured below, as the body markings match, and it has a similar silver pinstriping on the dome, but R5-J2 has the standard "3-eye" dome, while the movie droid has the "binocular" eyepiece.
Notice that the last Imperial R5 unit above does not have the traditional "3 eye" dome, but instead has a 2 eye "binocular" dome. This is the same one that the R5 unit at Disneyland has and was made into a Star Tours exclusive action figure named R5-D2. Hasbro could reuse the Disneyland R5 unit mold to make this droid!
R3-M3
You can see this blue R3 unit with white markings in the hall behind Obi-Wan as he prepares to meet his fate with Darth Vader on the first Death Star. He has been previously referred to as "R3-O1," but Hasbro is releasing him as R3-M3.
The other R3 unit seen on the Death Star is R3-T6, which was made as an action figure and released in the Entertainment Earth set. See a pic at the bottom of the page. Here is a frontal and back view of that droid.
R5-K6 on the Death Star?
Take a look at the b&w images above. Is this Red Leader's R5-K6 on the Death Star? It certainly appears to match the droid Hasbro produced as part of its 2008 Scramble on Yavin battlepack. You can see images of Red Leader's astromech on myRebel Droids page, and see for yourself how these droids are different!
CONFIRMED!
In a great pic I first saw posted by greedo737 on the rebelscum.com astromech collectors thread, and then sent in by droid sleuth Keith K., we finally get to see R5-K6 in his true setting in glorious color! It appears in the 2013 book Death Star Technical Manual.
R4-I9 on the Death Star?
Droid fan Keith K. tipped me off to a great fan-made documentary on Star Wars that is up on youtube. Check it out. He spotted this cool outtake that shows no less than R4-I9 on the Death Star!
Of course, you all know that Hasbro famously made an R4-I9 action figure and stated that he was on the Death Star, but due to him not making the final cut in that sequence, coupled with his famous cameo in the rebel hangar on Yavin, I thought Hasbro was all full of hooey. Guess I was (partially) wrong! Great info, thanks for turning this up, Keith!
These are the Imperial droids Hasbro has already produced.
On to the animated droids of The Clone Wars!
Back to Main Page: Star Wars Astromechs
- R5-J2 has a paint scheme based on that of the "binocular" R5 seen above. Click on the image to visit Rebelscum's excellent photo gallery on this droid, or go here
to read a review by Adam Pawlus that was originally posted on Galactichunter.com
- R2-Q5 is seen in Darth Vader's arrival scene. Click the image to navigate to the fabulous Rebelscum.com Photo Archive page on the figure.
- R3-T6 Click the image to see more photos of the figure at Rebelscum.com.
