Original review by Chris, 9/6/2014

Do you remember when Hasbro used to be cool and would give us 2-packs?  Now we get an un-articulated tiny Yoda in a giant bubble filled mostly with air. This figure serves as a Rosetta stone for unlocking the action figure conversion chart.  It firmly establishes that two accessories equals one basic figure because the two included items were action figure sidekicks in a previous life.  The GNK Power Droid is a retool of an accessory in 1999’s COMMTech Jawa figure.  The Treadwell droid is a repaint of an accessory in 1999’s Aunt Beru with Service Droid figure.  Both received updates and were packaged together in this Saga Collection Power Droid figure.  Oddly the Treadwell droid is unheralded on the packaging name plate.  In hindsight “Echo Base Droids” might have been a better name for this set.

If you display you BMF (Big Millennium Falcon) you need this 2-pack.  Hasbro was prescient in releasing these Falcon companion pieces two years before the Falcon.  Your Vintage Collection Echo Base Han Solo serves one display purpose.  He sits on top of your BMF mandible furiously welding away.  This Treadwell droid was his assistant in that task and needs to be placed nearby.  The paint applications have been updated since the 1999 release with additional accents to the base and some basic silver and black highlights to indicate wear.  It gives it a more used universe look than its predecessor.  Unfortunately, it’s still a largely un-articulated piece. The arms are frozen perpendicular to the body and the head cannot be moved.  I doubt Hasbro will update this figure, so in order to complete this Echo Base hangar scene, you need the little guy.

This GNK Power Droid with the festive chapeau is also seen in the vicinity of the Falcon while it sits in the Echo Base hangar.  It can been seen on-screen walking past in the foreground as part of a procession of two power droids as shown on the upper right of the card back.  Click here to see a picture of the droid on set. The fact that Hasbro took the time to sculpt the unique sensor array on top of the droid is pretty neat says this hardened observer.  That array can be removed as can the other protrusion that plugs in directly behind it.  Truthfully I don’t think the Gonk with the sensor array had that second bauble.  Admittedly I have no idea what this accessory is, but it appears to belong to the power droid at the front of the procession.  Hasbro seems to have given us one figure that can be configured to represent both power droids in the hangar although the first droid also sports a metal exhaust port which is not included.

If you own either the 1999 or 2006 Power Droids, you know it has one annoying feature.  There is a button on the side that can be pressed to activate a walking action of the legs.  This is neat, but one of the spring loaded legs is constantly in the forward position as a result.  This makes makes standing the figure unassisted a bit of a negotiation with gravity.  Even when achieved, it places the figure in a wonky leaning pose.  The pose of the legs is really only practical for a power droid frantically kicking at the business end of 8D8’s branding device.  Your best bet for posing the figure is to use the included stand or bind the legs together with one of the clear bands that Hasbro frequently uses to secure items in the packaging.

To punch up your Echo Base hangar display, these are needed figures and I’m quite happy Hasbro tackled them.  They are, however, fairly limited in their use.  I feel that under-articulated display pieces that successfully serve their role of filling out a diorama deserve a 5 out of 10, but the the issue of the legs on the GNK and the highly static Treadwell force me to knock this set down a smidgen to a 4.  But again, it’s not something I would pass on.

Updated review by Bret, 3/9/2020

Hasbro does weird stuff sometimes. As Chris pointed out in the original review, this figure 2-pack goes by the name “Power Droid”, which completely ignores the Treadwell Droid included in the package.  The figure stand, however, remedies this, while simultaneously changing the Power Droid’s name to GNK.  That was the sound of millions of OCD collectors crying out in terror. 

This droid can seemingly be spotted in the scene mentioned by Chris above, as it waddles alongside another similar droid in Echo Base.  I’m not certain it’s the same droid, but I believe it can also be spotted meandering in the hangar as the snowspeeder pilots run to Princess Leia’s evacuation briefing.  The Treadwell, meanwhile can also be spotted on top of the Falcon discussing repairs with Han when Luke stops by to stay goodbye (after he playfully scratches Chewie under his neck in one of the more demeaning gestures made in any of the Star Wars films).

The GNK is a nice little figure, but suffers from the leg action feature that has both legs in a “running” position while at rest, making it nearly impossible to pose without some kind of assistance.  In my case, a little electrical tape sticks the feet together for these photos.  It’s otherwise nicely sculpted, and the extra doodads differentiate it as the Echo Base droid, vs. the standard GNK droid included with the POTF2 Commtech Jawa on which it was based.

While very few reveals came out of the recent NY Toy Fair, one of them was a new Power Droid coming this year in The Vintage Collection.  That version is supposed to check off one of the original Kenner figures, while also providing an accurate representation of the droid that was at the Lars Homestead.  Based on the images, the sculpt and paint operations will be superior to those of this 2006 GNK Droid.  But since it represents a different specific character, it will not render this one obsolete.  This figure is still a must-have for your Echo Base dioramas.

The Treadwell is a repaint of the one that came with the Aunt Beru POTF2 Flashback figure.  Nothing was done to the sculpt.  It’s nearly static, except that the entire stalk can swivel.  As with the GNK, it’s a must-have for your Echo Base diorama, even if the figure itself is rather uninspiring.

Now the question of the grade.  With our standard grade of 4 for a 5POA basic figure, this two-pack of half-sized and under articulated figures should roughly equal that score.  However, there isn’t that much to articulate, although we know Hasbro could do better today, and presumably will with the VC167 Power Droid.  Given that you get two backgrounders to help flesh out an important act in the best Star Wars movie ever made, I’ll push up the score to a rather subjective 5 out of 10.