I bought one of these when it first came out. It was fun. I had to sell it with all of my other sci-fi memorabilia when I downsized my living arrangements. The one thing I wish it had that was left out was a way to record a voice message. Small inexpensive audio recorders were available at the time for making short reminder messages. It seemed like it would not have been too hard to include one in the R2D2 unit. It would have been fun to be able to leave a message for a family member.

I remember wanting this little guy so badly when I was younger. Eventually our local hastings got them in stock, I believe it was the last release before being discontinued. Funnily enough, I bought a second one off of ebay, (It was an original release from 2002, and you can tell based on the type of sonar sensor used. Newer releases have a sort of mesh on the outer side of the sonar sensors, which are the two large holes under his main eye, while original releases have a metal plate with holes. All use the same mold and are dated 2002, so knowing this could be helpful to tell when yours came out!) It turns out, my original unit had the microphones wired in backwards. See, it actually has 3 microphones internally, one in the front that is used to process your voice, and then two secondary microphones in the sides of the head that are used to tell where the voice came from. This meant my R2 would usually turn away from me whenever I spoke to it, so I never realized it was supposed to face you! I thought it just randomly would turn its head on hearing its name, it's kind of funny. If you've seen the newer "Hero Droid BB-8" from Spin Master, it very much feels like a predecessor to Hasbro's interactive R2. It has less voice commands, but utilizes similar technology to make it move towards you and face you when you speak to it. I wish companies still made robots like these, they were a blast. It's such a shame that companies opt for non-replaceable batteries nowadays, especially when they drop support for them after a short while. Most of those modern robots last a few years, while the older ones are over 20 years old and most are still kicking! Thanks for covering this little guy, he's a nostalgic piece and a lot of fun.

I wish they would make these again in this size

I think this is the one that projects a small dim video of princess Leah when she speaks.

Hi do you remember an interactive toy made by sharper image , it was able to find out what word you had had in mind just asking simple questions that you were answering : yes, no, I don’t know ( or I am not sure) Do you happen to have an old ( before 20o8 catalog of sharper image ?) I will appreciate your help 😊