Why R2?

Excellent question. One that deserves some introspection, and a good answer.

Frankly, I blame Tom Eisman. Who is Tom? Probably nobody you know. He's not famous. At least, not to my knowledge. But Tom Eisman is single handedly responsible for introducing me to Star Wars, and more particularly, R2-D2. I was five years old. Maybe six. My family had just moved to America. (I'm from New Zealand). I was in a new town, a new country, and a new school. Back in those days, when a kid had a birthday, he'd have a party and invite other kids from school. I guess I was cool enough to get invited to Tom Eismans birthday party. I remember there was a magician there. I also remember Tom getting a stack of presents that involved something called "Star Wars". I didn't really think much of it, but I remember thinking they were neat. When we left the party, each kid was given a goodie bag. In each goodie bag was a Star Wars action figure. The figure I got was R2-D2. I had no idea what it was, what Star Wars was, or what he did... but I thought it was the coolest robot I had ever seen. I was hooked. I think I saw Star Wars in the theater for the first time that week. I loved it. I went nuts, and it's been downhill ever since. From that very day, I always wanted my own, full sized R2.

A few years later, a friend of mine named Jared Galazian and his dad hatched a plan to build me one for my birthday. It was going to be made out of a steel drum. It never happened, but I remember being really excited at the prospect of it. Years and years went by, and as an adult, I became a fan of collecting movie props and prop replicas. There began to build a movement in the community for R2 building. Though in it's infancy, I was fascinated by it. But at the time, I felt I had neither the skills, the tools, the time, money, or patience to build my own. Though I always looked upon my fellow collectors droids with envy.

Years rolled by. R2's started to become more accessible. People were offering kits. I scraped together a few bucks and some trade fodder and got ahold of one of these kits. It was mostly resin, with PVC skins, and a misshapen aluminum dome. It was state of the art for the time, but still not quite what I was hoping for. I wanted perfection. I sold the kit, and gave up on the dream once again. Time marched on. Better parts and more accurate blueprints were developed. I traded someone for a dome, and was pumped. But then I learned of the treachery involved in putting together your own R2. Years of time spent waiting for parts runs, thousands of dollars. Oy. Too much for this boy. Not patient enough for that. The dream died again.

Time marched on. I caught wind of a rumor that Master Replicas might offer a full sized droid. Remote control, with tool arms and everything. Five thousand bucks. Sounded good to me. I waited. Then the rumor sunk. Later, Sideshow said they were going to offer one. They rolled out a fiberglass prototype at toy fair, which I found disappointing.

Then, in mid 2006, the collection of parts that I had been waiting a lifetime for came up for sale. As fast as I could get to the bank to get a cashiers check, the kit was mine. Forces around the world (literally, as I was living it Italy at the time) conspired to not only provide me with a great kit, but also a place to build him. Not only that, but I would have a full sized droid for reference, and the knowledge of people who were familiar with R2 available to me. It was all coming together. Shortly thereafter, I found myself in a shop with every tool I could ever hope for at my disposal. Even better, my work schedule is such that I have as much time as I need to work on R2. So for me, it's not really a waste of time, or money. It's the fullfillment of a childhood dream.

I personally think that one of the greatest tragedies in this world is when people live their entire lives without following or answering their dreams. We spend so much time telling ourselves that our silly "childhood fantasies" are a waste of time, and not worth pursuing. Well, I think that's nuts. I think if we all spent a little time trying to do the equivalent of building our own R2, we'd all be a lot happier.