The Imperial probe droid made it's debut in the film The Empire Strikes Back. Subsequent fluff designated the machine as the Arakyd Viper.
According to rumor, the design was inspired by art that Mœbius created for the short comic The Long Tomorrow.
I think that many people found the looks of the droid to be both sinister and elegant, though functionally it was rather over-sensitive, and likely to self-destruct at the slightest insult.
In any event, I recently picked up the Galoob MicroMachines version of the probe droid. I'm not sure if it originally came with a stand (there is a hole underneath that looks like it is for a flight stand), but it stands okay without one.
I had been hesitant about this particular model in the past because I thought it did not match the 1.6m height specified for the probe droid. Then I saw a picture of the 1:1 scale model used in the film, and decided that the toy probably was fairly close to being 1/72 scale.
 |
| Bill Hargreaves and probe droid |
A 1/72 resin kit for the probe droid is also made by RetrokiT, but it's roughly triple the cost of the Galoob version, and likely unsuitable for gaming.