After a couple of months of seeing this set at various Far East Trade Shows, the official images and details of Bandai's Battle Droid kit have now been unveiled and pre-orders are being taken for shipping of the item as early as this month (August 2016).
The kit looks great with the parts to assemble a full Battle Droid (Episode 1 colouring) with stand, E5 Blaster, backpack and Macro Binoculars. There is also an image of the droid with C-3PO's head, and conversely C-3PO with a Battledroid head. The Japanese translated description indicates both heads are included, but I am not so sure and would hazard a guess that there are parts that will convert the matching head to the alternative set - so a variant neck piece that will accept the C-3PO head and vce versa.
Of course also included with every box is the STAP vehicle and a flight stand is also included. There will be some degree of frustration of getting the STAP in every box, with fans perhaps wanting a single release or perhaps even two droids per box to allow for army building. Perhaps Bandai will look at that as a future option?
The RRP in Japan is 4200 Yen. This works out about £31 in the UK / $41 in the US.
Of course as many of our readers will know, Bandai are actually not permitted to sell their 1/12 kits outside of Japan. So if you want this kit you will have to seek out a 3rd party who is willing to import to territories outside of Japan. This will of course increase the price, although as a direct comparison the similarly sized Scout Troup and Speeder Bike was selling for around £35 to UK customers via Amazon.
