[Review] 30611 R2-D2 Polybag

[kaelthas]

Hi today I'm reviewing the very nice and exclusive version of the famous Astromech Droid, R2-D2 in polybag 30611. 

Overview

Name: 30611 R2-D2

Theme:  Star Wars
Year: 2017
Pieces: 70
Minifigures: One Brick Built Figure
Price: Free from shop.LEGO.com and LEGO Brand Stores with qualifying LEGO Star Wars purchases, May 2017.

This is the front and back for the polybag. You can see R2 is standing on the sand scene, maybe going different direction from C3PO after a little fight. At the back of the pack, you can peek through the translucent part and see the head of R2 hiding inside.

 

Open the polybag and bring out my beloved R2-D2! I liked the design of the polybag art where you can feel the heat of the desert already. 
*C3PO and Jawa are not included in this set. They will be in pictures below for illustration purpose.

The plastic bag material is quite fragile, so you need to be very gentle or else the whole thing will be thorn apart and you'll need to pick up the pieces scattered on the floor. The first thing I took out was the big head of R2.

Inside you'll get a small bag of smaller parts, an instruction booklet, and other parts listed in the picture below.
*C3PO and Jawa and small R2D2 are not included in this set. They will be in pictures below for illustration purpose.

These are the parts included in the set. Quite a few technic pins and parts for articulation and curved top bricks for the body of R2-D2.

Wake up R2, the Jawas are going to sell us or melt us! I prefer selling, at least we got a new master.

Lets start building. The first step will have something like a post box as the main frame of the body.

Then you will build the outer curve of the body fixed to the post box.

Oh now you get a photocopy machine as the body. The jumpers are for the vents to be attached later on. C3PO is holding the bottom part of R2 that will hold its center leg.

Now you'll build both R2's right and left legs and attached to the body via the technic pin. See how C3PO is so impatient that he asked me to put R2D2 together faster.

These two are the printed parts in this set and I really love the dome shaped head! So nicely printed and it has a slight metallic feel of the silver colour.

Here is the comparison between the brick built R2 head and the minifigure R2 head. The difference is that there is a stud on top of the smaller R2 and all other printings are quite the same.

Tadaaa! Now we are completed the build of R2D2! The Jawas are taking them in their sandcrawler to seek for new buyers.

These are the extra parts for this set. Just in case you lose one of these.

As you can see in the picture, the brick built R2 will lean forward at a gradient as the center leg is longer than both right and left. Unlike the minifigures, this R2 cannot stand straight unless you remove the center part of the leg and the clip. However, I liked the fact that its head can be rotated 360 degrees, just like in the movies!
*Light blue R2D2(10225) and dark blue R2D2(75136) are not included in this set. They will be in pictures below for illustration purpose.

Now I've removed the center leg and you can pose it like others with any degree of inclination you want. I like it so much that he is so flexible!

Oh no! The Jawas are catching us! Run faster R2!

Haha, now who's laughing?

Summary review
Playability: 8/10 You can rotate the head and make those beeping sound to make him alive. This is something that minifigure R2D2 can't do. This is the main reason to get this polybag.
Design: 9/10 The printing of the dome shaped head is top notch and very nicely done. But I think the torso part can have more printing for more details. 
Price: 10/10 Its a free promotional item! 
Overall: 9/10 I love this polybag rather than having a minifig inside only. Astromech collectors must not miss this set as it is a great addition to those cute little droids parade. 


Conclusion
This polybag is very nice to be collected if you are a Star Wars fan. The built is very accurate instead of bulky feel. It has a very sleek design and very detailed in this size. Now I hope there is a brick built C3PO to be his partner. Thanks for reading!

[makoy]

The words to parts ratio of this review is very high. Great job on covering this im great detail. 

Also, just to add -- there is another big droid  from set 10215 for R4 astromech, but it is just the top dome.

I also have this polybag but it's on my stash of sealed polybags I struggle to open. LOL

[kaelthas]

Thanks @makoy! You have to open it for that big droid.