Jarek Yeager & Bucket (R1-J5)
Review by JoshB
Jarek Yeager & Bucket (R1-J5) come from the 2018 show Start Wars: Resistance on Disney XD. It was an animated show with a new cast, meant to intro into The Force Awakens, and then later occuring during the sequels. The animation was OK, the character designs were fine, but the overall premise, plus the sequel-era setting, led to low ratings and was cancelled after 2 seasons. It's a shame, because the show held a lot of premise, and had the chance to bring some much needed depth to the sequels, but it's focus was very much on a younger audience and the idea of racing.
The toy line was sad, consisting of only a few figures and no vehicles. The single coolest thing about the show was the racing ships, and to not make even one of those? The line was doomed from the start.
Among the line though was this gem - an astromech named Bucket. Bucket is basically what a stripped down R2-D2 would look like, with only his bare essential components. In the show, Bucket was the droid of Jarek Yeager, a former rebel commander and now Captain of the racing team Fireball. Bucket is a skilled mechanic, and is honestly the best part of the show. Bucket's droid name is R1-J5, which makes no sense, because an R1 droid looks nothing like this. Whatever.
Jarek Yeager & Bucket were sold as a two pack. Lets look at Bucket first.
This is an incredible design. The head and side legs are on ball joints, each foot has a swivel joint, and the center leg can rotate AND retract into the body.
The sculpt has a lot of intentional wear, showing the age of the droid. The foot pads have corrosion on them, the metal frame is bent, even the plate around the eye has chips and dents. This droid has seen some shit.
The ball joints add a layer of expression not seen on other Astromech droids. What other droid can do this?
The Yeager figure is no slouch either. Sculpted in a style true to the animation, the figure fits right in with Retro Collection or the other 5 POA figures by Hasbro.
His gun feels like it came right out of Kenner in 1984. I love it.
As a bonus, Yeager comes with a helmet. His head needs to be removed to attach the helmet. Creepily, there is no face behind the visor.
Overall these figures are actually pretty great. I can only imagine how great the vehicles would have been if they were ever made. One can only dream...
