R3-M2 [40268] review

R3-M2 [40268]

The free LEGO R3-M2 [40268] minifigure will definitely make any rebel wannabe go rogue!

R3-M2 is the latest droid minifigure LEGO is giving away to brick fans from a galaxy far, far away. It is an astromech droid part of the Alliance to Restore the Republic from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. 

The promotion runs in the UK from 7 to 31 May with any LEGO Star Wars purchase. The offer is valid online at shop.LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores. Limited to one per household, and of course, while supplies last.

R3-M2

I don't know the reason behind this but the set is weirdly packaged in a softer polybag. If I haven't received it from a LEGO Store, I think I would doubt it as a knockoff or something. Other than that, everything else is perfect!

The R3-M2 minifigure comes with a cool transparent head, which at first glance looks chrome silver. As pictured above, the printed details, however, are kind of hard to see (sorry). The body's printing is somewhat similar to that of R2-D2's but with a brown theme instead of blue. 

Backdrop & Stand

The set also comes with a decorative backdrop, a sticker label, and a brick-built stand. The stand can be attached to another stand via a Technic connector peg piece. Could this mean there will be more minifigures, or at least droids to come? The film featured a lot of characters so this can be an exciting product line. Or it can go beyond the anthology film and pluck characters from the original and prequel trilogies. After all, Star Wars is celebrating a whopping 40 years!

Overall, I am very happy with the R3-M2 polybag, and the possible direction this line may go. But I still need to re-watch Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (already available on Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray) and play Where's R3-M2?.

R3-M2 on Display

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UPDATE: Confirmed! R3-M2 [40268] is just the first set in this line! A Scarif Stormtrooper [40176] set with a similar display setup has been found in the wild! The minifigure is slightly different from the Scarif Stormtrooper and Shore Trooper in the sets Battle on Scarif [75171] and TIE Striker [75154], respectively. Maybe it outranked them because of the two gray sleeves, or maybe not. There's no word yet on how to obtain this polybag but I'm sure it won't be long. My bet is on Force Friday (or Rogue Friday or however they would want to call it this year).

Scarif Stormtrooper [40176]
(Photo grabbed from: https://brickset.com/sets/40176-1/Scarif-Stormtrooper)