Bonus Pit Droids

[JediMAC]

Begun, my Bonus Pit Droid collection has...

I've finally picked up my first couple Episode 1 Bonus Pit Droids via a recent trade, including carded versions of Anakin Pilot with Pit Droid and Obi-Wan with Pit Droid.  Since these are foreign exclusives (to the U.S.), they're obviously a little pricey, so I've held off on going after them for quite a while.  I also was trying to not consider them as part of the standard line, since they weren't released here in the States, but when it gets down to it, these are DIFFERENT figures than anything else released to date, unlike their counterpart Bonus Battle Droids, which were released in one of those Naboo Playsets here, I believe.

I still haven't decided whether I need both a carded and loose set of these, as usual, but I'm leaning towards just a loose set, since that's technically where the difference in the Pit Droids really lies.  I can just write off the different packaging as being "foreign", which I don't really collect.  But any distinctly different loose figures are a must for a "complete" loose collection as far as I'm concerned, which is what these Bonus Pit Droids are.  There seem to be 6 different loose versions, segregated into two distinct poses (3 of each).  No idea how many different carded versions there are, which is where I need some help to determine if I want to collect those as well...

I still haven't completely brushed up on all the intricacies of this Bonus Pit Droid line, which I'll have to do soon.  I know Adam May over at GH put together a nice feature on them (in their loose state only) not too long ago, so if you're interested in learning more about them like I am, take a gander.  Here's a couple pix from his article...

Wave 1, with Pilot Anakin, Obi-Wan & Sith Lord Maul:


Wave 2, with Naboo Royal Guard and Holo Sidious:


So who else has some/all of these Bonus Pit Droids?  If not, are they still on your "to do" list, or are you just brushing them off as "foreign"?  I know Tom (Darth Kenobi) was going to start working on a set of them, since he recently finished off his Bonus Battle Droid collection.  Anyone else?  If so, where'd you find them, and for about how much?  Got my first two for about $17 each in trade value...

[JediMAC]

(back from my eBay research...)

Geeezz...  Now that I've refreshed my memory on these, it looks like there were 5 total figures these came carded with: Pilot Anakin, Obi-Wan, Sith Lord Maul, Naboo Royal Guard, and Holo Sidious.  Ani, Obi & Maul came in the "1st wave", followed by the NRG and Holo Sid in the second wave.  There were also 3 different Bonus Pit Droids in each wave (6 in total), as seen in my post above.

The crappy thing is that all 3 Pit Droids were apparently available with each figure in their respective wave, which means there's 9 carded variations in Wave 1 between Ani, Obi & Maul, and 6 more carded variations in Wave 2 between the NRG and Holo Sid.  That's 15 total carded figures a Carded Completist would have to track down, versus only 6 different loose variants in total between the various Bonus Pit Droids...

It looks like any of the carded specimens from the 1st wave will run you about $20 each.  But to make matters worse, the second wave with the NRG and Holo Sid run WAY higher at around $70 - $90.  So to put a complete carded set of these together, you're looking at dropping around $660.  

All six Bonus Pit Droid loose will probably cost you about $300, unless you can find them already loose (and not have to open them off a card), in which case they'd probably be a bit less.

Looks like I'll be sticking to just trying to pick up the 6 of them loose, and laying off these "foreign" cards as being any part of my complete carded collection, which was my original plan all along.  Or perhaps I'll just keep one carded specimen from each wave, and that'll suffice for my carded needs...

So, with that said - 2 down, and 4 to go!  Thank God the two I received in this trade were actually different Pit Droids from Wave 1, since I never bothered to ask the fella I traded with about that, and they could've very easily been the same Pit Droid with both Ani and Obi...  

Phew...  Consider my dumb ass informed now!  

[dustrho]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing as you Matt, since I had recently finished up my single-pack carded EP1 collection.  But, as you also mentioned it's going to be pretty pricey so i'm just holding off for now.

[Jesse James]

I'd love these things loose, but I just cannot justify hunting t hem down and paying the high prices for them right  now.  A loose set would rock though.  Kind of like  how the novelty of a loose FF set is...  They're not common, and look neat all together.

I'll just have to be happy with my small set of extra's I have, and no Euro Bonus droids for now.

[Nicklab]

I've got a few of these.  I have two colors of Pit Droids from the first set (with Obi-Wan and Maul), and the third color with the Naboo Royal Guard.  I really like these, and I wish they'd seem some sort of widde release in the US.  The toolboxes alone are pretty cool accessories.

[Darth Kenobi]

So who else has some/all of these Bonus Pit Droids?  If not, are they still on your "to do" list, or are you just brushing them off as "foreign"?  I know Tom (Darth Kenobi) was going to start working on a set of them, since he recently finished off his Bonus Battle Droid collection.  Anyone else?  If so, where'd you find them, and for about how much?  Got my first two for about $17 each in trade value...

I have all of them but two momc, Holo Sidous and a Obi Wan.  The Sidous one I have but the card was damaged in shipping.  I been picking my stuff up anywhere they have them for sell Star Wars Board sell ads, online stores, scapler shows, and over seas stores.  I'm not sure how much I spent on them but wish I had picked them up when there were first released at around $15 or so but I didn't want to go and bnuy stuff overseas at that time.  I'm still also working on my completing my BBD set as will.  

[Jesse James]

Yeah, these for JMP's would've just been a great offer I think...  One Pit Droid for every so many points (Make it a high # of points just to get rid of the points quickly, ya know?)

Of course, I'd take these any way I could get them...

And I agree, I wish I'd taken the opportunity to get these when they were like $15 a piece through online stores.  

[Matt Carroll]

Yeah, it'd be really nice of Hasbro to offer the Pit Droids in some other manner.

I have one each of the 5 figures carded w/ a Pit Droid, but never felt the desire to get all 15 carded variations.

[evenflow]

I got a couple of those. Nice items, too expensive for me to get them all though.

[Dark_Kanos]

No I should through  

[Jesse James]

I'd love to start a collection of these little guys, but they're pricey.  They were such nice little figures though.  Offering these up as mail-aways would be a nice gesture on Hasbro's part to the U.S. collectors...  

Alas, they seem destined for some rarity anymore.

[ddschneider1972]

Hey guys, first post here, long time poste ron other sites under this and other names...(hear dit was a more mature crowd here) anyways, I've been searching for a loose se tof these SoB's for a couple of years. I have every intentional variation figure loose from 95 to OTC (well what has been found around central Ohio) except these 6 and an Anakin Hanger Duel with the plastic Peg (yeah he's all over for $5 hoping to pick a cheap loose one up) I almost bought all six on card early last year for about $200...I passed...you can sometimes find the first 3 with the various figs for about $15-18...the  3 colors with holoSid and Naboo Trooper well....good luck on ebay. I keep holding off hoping to get a deal on a loose set and know a guy working overseas who's keeping an eye out for me...hopefully come across them over there somewhere reasonably. These are my biggest pains...

For the record Wave 1 was bent legged with a rectangular tool box...they come in white, brown and orangish/red

wave 2 has the hexagonal tool box and are straight legged, and they also come in white, brown and orangish/red

as far as the battle droid bonus figures...there was a slight difference in the paint between the bonus BD and the Theed Power Core Generator playset  Pack in, the playset (US pack in) has black scoring on the joints where the Foreign Bonus figure is pretty clean...

were the pit droid tool boxes released in any other set? were they part of wave 2 of the E1 accesory sets? I don't collect those so I have no idea...

[Jesse James]

That's a good question, as there WAS a tool box in the Wave 2 sets, I can confirm that much, but I can't say I've ever seen the Bonus Droid boxes to compare. 

If yu can supply an image Schneider, I can compare for you at least...

And thanks for dropping in.  Feel free to say hi in the intro portion of the forums... 

I'll try digging those accessories out.  I have them set aside on my E1 shelf (opened).  The wave 2 accessory sets were so astonishingly better than Wave 1.  It's another one of those things where Hasbro kinda tanked the first series then put out decent stuff in the second but they judged the entire line on those 1st sets.  That's disappointing because they really did improve things VASTLY.

[JediMAC]

Welcome to JD, Schneider!  Glad to have you swing on by.

As for the Pit Droids, there's a couple pictures up in the first post here, but I'm pretty certain that neither of those two "box" accessories was available anywhere else.  I have no idea where my Wave 2 Ep. 1 accessory sets are right now, otherwise I'd confirm that for sure.  But I'm 99% sure that's the case.

As for prices, you should head over to Yestertoys.com.  That's where I got some of mine (first wave only).  They've had a fair amount of the first wave of the BPDs in stock for the past year or so, and they're pretty dirt cheap - only about $10 per, if I recall correctly.  Just scroll through their Ep. 1 figure section, and you should find them.

I still haven't tackled the much more expensive wave 2 of these little suckers yet, as they usually run about $75 each from what I've seen on eBay occassionally.  Technically, those are the only modern era figures that I'm missing from my loose collection (and carded) as well.  Thorn in my side for a good five years now!  Someday though...  Someday...

Anyways, good luck with your BPD search Schneider, and welcome again to JD.  Enjoy the site, and give us a holler if you've got any questions about anything!

- Matt

[JediMAC]

OK, dug out my wave 2 accessory sets, and yeah - neither of the BPD "boxes" are in there.  There is a black toolbox looking thing in the Pod Racer Fuel Station set, but it looks like it's different, and is obviously a different color.

And here is the page over at Yestertoys.com that has their Bonus Pit Droid sets for sale.  Looks like there's still a couple sets In Stock, and for even less than I remembered - $8.00!     But if you order them, make sure you specify to the guy which color Pit Droids you're looking for: White, Red, or Orange/White.  I had to be very specific with him to get just what I wanted.

And don't forget to tell him that JediDefender sent ya'!  They are one of our sponsors here, after all...