In the droid hierarchy of Star Wars, astromechs are easily the best and way better than annoying protocol robots. If you've ever wanted to build your own set of them, you can do just that with this new Lego Star Wars Droid Builder set that features R2-D2 and several other customizable droids for you to assemble. In addition to R2-D2, you can also construct Chopper from Star Wars Rebels--the real phantom menace of the franchise--QT-KT, and R5-J2. Priced at $100, this set will be available starting August 1 and can be preordered now at multiple retailers.
There are 1,186 pieces in this set, and each droid stands four inches tall when fully assembled. You'll also get a minifigure of young Princess Leia with her droid L0-LA59 AKA Lola from the Obi-Wan TV series. If you feel like accessorizing them, you can add several extras to your droids, including a duck, cowboy hat, baseball cap, hat with flower, mustache, ice cream, balloon, glasses, bow, bow tie, headphones, jet boosters, and stud shooters. You can also swap parts from each droid, there's no wrong way to build them, especially when you want to combine them into an interesting mechanical chimera.
This is a pretty cool set for Star Wars fans, but if you're looking to spend some more cash on a collectible that'll turn some heads, check out the upcoming droids from Hot Toys What if R2-D2 was a homicidal maniac? Well Chopper has those bases covered--the Star Wars Rebels droid has racked up many thousands of kills--and his sixth-scale figure features a lovely weathered finish and LED light-up functions. Not as dangerous--but still pretty dangerous--is BT-1, an astromech commonly seen with Doctor Aphra and armed to the teeth with laser blasters, flamethrowers, and missile launchers.