December 4, 2016 – You won’t find him in any Star Wars movie or animated series, but you will find him attached to a cardback at a Disney theme park or online, begging to go home with you.
R2-H16 is an all-new droid from the Star Wars Droid Factory collection at Disney Parks. We’re guessing the “H16” designation is short for “Holidays 2016”, but we could be wrong.
The 2.5-inch tall astromech droid (6.4 cm) is painted in traditional red-and-green Christmas colors: The body is mainly red and the dome is mainly white. What really catches the eye, however, are the finely detailed gold, green and red trim painted all over the droid – plus the glossy black eye staring back at you.
R2-H16 comes with a shiny green winter hat with white base and a red “pom pom” ball on top. A plastic peg inside the hat easily secures the hat to a discreet peg hole on top the droid’s head. The droid looks sharp and festive with or without his winter hat.
ARTICULATION (5POA): The domed head and both shoulders swivel 360°. The two outer feet swivel slightly forward and back. The middle foot is immobile. All three feet have tiny wheels embedded in them so you can roll R2-H16 across most surfaces.
Underside reveals 3 tiny wheels for the 2.5″ droid.
AVAILABILITY: Retail price is $12.99. R2-H16 was released just last month and is not a Hasbro product, so you will have to track him down at one of the Disney theme parks, Disney Springs (Orlando), the Downtown Disney District (Anaheim), Amazon, or Ebay. Unfortunately, the droid is not yet available at DisneyStore.com.
RECOMMENDATION: If you’re not into non-cannon items or droids or Disney, then you won’t miss anything if you bypass this droid.
But if you’re a droid collector or looking for a stocking stuffer (it’s $12.99) or think a winter droid would bring cheer to your home, then R2-H16 awaits you. But don’t delay too long. He will likely sell out once the Holidays are long gone.
R2-B00, the Halloween droid (left) welcomes his holiday brother, R2-H16 (right) to the family.
FUTURE of STAR WARS 