Today in Figure of the Day: R2-Series Astromech Droid Silver and Blue MK II!  It's a lot like the last R2-D2, but not - other than the dome, each piece has slightly different tooling and a lot of deco tweaks.   It's for completists only, but at this point that's a lot of us.  Read on!

Today we look at the Disney R2-Series Astromech Droid Black and Gold (not Goldie R3-S6), which is pretty close to the Separatist droid from the TV show.   It's black, it's gold, and it even has some silver in spots.   It's arguably worth the trip to get this one, or if you're me, it's worth pestering friends to help you out until it shows up in the mail.   Read on!

One of at least a few droids to be redone in the Droid Factory, this R4-Series Astromech Droid Blue (MK II)  is actually fairly different - it's not just a slightly different shade of blue, but the paint masks on the dome are different, too.   Even though at first glance it looks the same, it's not - you can see some pretty striking differences when you click here to read on.

The R3-Series Astromech Droid Silver  is pretty good - I daresay this is the dome to end all domes.  It works with every body configuration I've tried so far, it just matches nicely.  As such, you should get a few - I just have the one, so go get me some more while you're at it.   Read on!

You don't know that you want the R9-Series Astromech Droid Silver, but you do.  The colors work really well here, and the previous brightly colored versions - while nice - aren't quite as cool as this release.  You can get it at Disneyland now, but if you aren't going there to build it you can read on!

Another day, another droid!  Our pal Shannon helped me out so now we're going to look at more robots starting with the R7-Series Astromech Droid Gold.  It's a new Disney droid - notable in that the "Hasbro" name has been scraped off the figure's legs now - and you can get it on your next trip to Anaheim.  More are coming later this year, we hear, but how is this one?  Read on!

Readers Colin (pictures and info), Shannon Cosman (pal/pics/info), and Michael Magdalena (lots of info) have written in to tell all of us about what we can expect from the new Droid Factory line.  This is the next big batch of figures showing up at Disney theme parks as I write this.   We're all still putting together a complete picture of everything (I have an image 9 new figures after the jump) so you know what to expect.  We'll put together a matrix of all the new parts as soon as we have in-hand samples, but until then?  Here are the Top 6 7 8 Things You Must Know about New Disney Astormech Droids.

Yes, it is a good day to be a droid fan - minus the headaches we're all about to get trying to track these down.

Last updated Saturday 10:18 AM.

Shannon came through with two more individually carded action figures.  Holographic R2-D2 is exclusive to Star Wars Weekends in the Florida park, so I'll be relying on you guys to help me out.

For D23 is another Droid with a Sorcerer's cap, and in the interest of speedy coverage we present to you this blurry image so we have something to share immediately.   (How do I get these?)

Another image Shannon Cosman snapped for us: Star Wars Rebel Trainer!  Shannon says that the R2-D2 will project TIE Fighter images on the walls and you are to shoot them!  Keeps score and has levels of difficulty.

This is just one of many items being revealed in Anaheim right now - more as we have it!

UPDATE: Disney has decided they still love you and this will not be a 6,000 piece limited edition.

If you don't like buying a toy without anxiety, we're happy to share this story from Vinylmationworld.com.  R2-D60 celebrates 60 years of Disneyland with a $13 figure made of build-a-droid parts that is limited to 6,000 pieces - a low number but not tiny.

To get it, at least at first, there's a preview event with a $100 cover charge come May.  If you're going, do buy an extra and let us know because otherwise we'll be stalking eBay at 3 AM to get it at the last possible second.  Click here for the full story.

Variety reports that Disney Theme Parks are planning a "far greater Star Wars presence" according to Bob Iger during a conference call with analysts reporting record third quarter results.“When we grow ‘Star Wars” presence, which we will do significantly, you will see better bets being made that will pay off for us than were made in the past,” adding that leveraging the collection of popular franchises and properties that the company owns for rides and experiences will deliver “better returns than we saw in the past.”

The Lucasfilm Pavilion was a plethora of activity as usual at Comic-Con, and while Disney-Lucas is reportedly planning on "thinning the herd" for their licensors, that doesn't appear to be the case yet. The focal point was on Disney XD's soon to be televised Star Wars Rebels series. Traditional exhibitors such as Her Universe, eFX, and Hallmark showed their latest and greatest. The Yoda puppet replica from eFX looks amazingly accurate and Hallmark, as usual, sells out of their convention exclusives, but gave a sneak peek of this year's Keepsake collectibles. New licensors such as Peavey with their awesome new Star Wars  guitars, Vans, and Jakks with their jumbo plastic figures also were present.

For those who follow such things, the great Leland Chee has given us insight regarding Lucasfilm's Expanded Universe archive's levels of official-ness over the years.  But now The Hollywood Reporter is telling us that Disney is going to change it up a bit, making one official level of canon and another that, for all intents and purposes, you can ignore.  Or enjoy.  It's up to you.  Click here to read it.  It doesn't tell us everything.

In a move surprising no one, StarWars.com confirms Marvel will publish Star Wars comics once more in 2015.  As many have speculated, this would keep the comic license within the Disney family four double-plus synergy.  Click here to read the rest.