Q9-0 appeared in The Mandalorian Season 1 in Chapter 6, The Prisoner as part of the crew that is put together to raid the New Republic prison ship. Zero would then, albeit as spare parts, have a role in Chapter 10, Season 2 when his voice unit was appropriated by the Passenger so she could communicate with Mando.
Zero's Black Series release came in Wave 5 of the Galaxy Collection, arriving in November 2021. He is part of the Mandalorian series, number 11 in the collection to date. The box design includes the usual side art panel and the short background text on the back of the box.
"A bug-eyed protocol droid with modified programming, Q9-0 - or "Zero" to his colleagues - operates with precision timing"
Zero is a full new figure cast in a dark grey plastic throughout. The detailing on the chest and midriff is recognisable as a protocol droid with the central circular panel and the wiring under the chest piece which is painted with red and blue wires on the front, even though most of this detail is hidden by the added brown soft plastic harness vest. The wiring on the back of the figure goes unpainted.
There is more wiring detail on each arm crossing the elbow joint. These wires are also painted in yellow and red this time and engineered so they move with the elbow motion whilst disguising the joint at the same time.
The final paint app on the body is a weathering layer on the upper torso which does dirty Zero up nicely as we see in the episode - although oddly, this weathering is not continued onto the legs or around the back of the figure.
The insectoid head sculpt is cast in the same grey as the body with the enlarged 'bug-eyes' painted in metallic silver. There is plenty of detail on the head, particularly the mouth, but no further paint or weathering layer is added to enhance this. The aerial piece is slightly slimmer than we saw on Aurra Sing, and is better in scale for the figure while not being too brittle or at risk of breaking if mishandled.
Zero is armed with an EE-3 carbine rifle, and while this is the same weapon used by Boba Fett the accessory with Zero is a new piece and not a re-use of the Fett weapon. It is cast in grey plastic with painted brown stock.
The weapon fits neatly into the right hand and can be cradled with the left around the barrel with a bit of teasing to open up the fingers a little further.
Zero has 21 points of articulation with the use of the new two joint neck and the shoulder butterfly joints. In keeping with the Droid design, the knee joints are also done to recreate a simple piston joint with an additional rotation added above the knee joint tucked under the thigh panels. These knee joints, as well as the ankles, include a clear plastic central pin, which is unusual. We don't see enough of Zero's legs on the screen to know if these are accurate or not?
Posing Zero is really satisfying as all the joints work as they should. All of them are tight and secure and the engineering on things like the shoulder armour panels that sit above, and move with the joint, is impressive. Zero is easy to pose and holds these poses on display, you can even get him to sit in a chair if those talented enough ever built a Razor Crest pilots seat.
Zero is one of the strongest Black Series releases for some time both in the fact it is not a partial repaint or re-used figure and in the engineering and execution of the sculpt and articulation to give us another excellent Droid in the 6-inch scale.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...