Today is Star Wars Day, and Hanmer man Robert Cast is taking his R2-D2 out of his garage to visit people at the Northeast Cancer Centre.
“Hopefully it brings a few smiles to people,” he said, adding that the droid, equipped with all the beeps and boops featured in the movies, is always well-received.
“Everyone loves R2,” he said. “I get bigger reactions from grown men than anyone, because they grew up just like I did, with Star Wars.”
When Sudbury.com met with Cast at his garage yesterday, he was still working to line up an additional visit to the pediatric unit at Health Sciences North.
Star Wars fans have deemed May 4 to be Star Wars Day due to a catchphrase in the movies, “May the force be with you,” sounding like today’s date.
Cast has been a fan of the series since he saw the first movie with his parents at the Lasalle Drive-In, located where East Side Mario’s is today, in 1977, when he was four years old.
“There’s been a love affair with Star Wars ever since,” he said.
“They hit me as a kid with all the Kenner toys,” he said, adding that they had him hooked until he was about 12 years old, when there was a gap in movie releases which ended with the movie The Phantom Menace in 1999.
With a string of Star Wars movies and television series being released in the wake of the 2015 movie, The Force Awakens, he has had plenty of material to itch his Star Wars scratch.
In 2017, he saw an R2-D2 replica at a convention in Kitchener, got a bunch of advice from its owner on how to build one, and set out to create his own version of the Star Wars movies’ true hero.
More than two years later, Cast had his first R2-D2, which he has been gradually improving ever since.
“As droid builders, we always say he’s never done, because I know where all his warts are and where his upgrades need to happen,” he said.
“He’s always 95 per cent done.”
The steel, aluminum, wood, 3D-printed and resin-based creation, with various bits and bobs keeping it running inside, has been with him to various pop culture conventions and public gatherings ever since. Last month, R2-D2 was seen beeping and booping about Nostalgiacon at Cambrian College.
Although Cast’s creation might be a unique sight locally, there’s a much broader global movement of droid fans he has connected with through Astromech.net, an R2 builders group. They have a hand-shake agreement with Disney wherein they create droids but do not profit off of them.
Fellow local builder Patrick Ryan has also attended events with his BB8 - another Star Wars droid, which Cast said is well-loved by kids at events.
The hobby takes a lot of work, but Cast said it has been well worth it.
“He’s my hot rod,” he said of R2-D2. “I’m 49, he’s my Harley Davidson, he’s my convertible; it’s one of those things.”
Cast is currently working on an R7 droid, using old parts from past versions of his R2-D2, with his eldest of two daughters.
Cast’s next public appearance with R2-D2 in Sudbury will be at Graphic-Con, a pop culture convention taking place at the Sudbury Community Arena on June 24.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
