Thursday, December 15, 2011

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 1,697: Jawa

JAWA & Security Droid
The Legacy Collection Basic Figures
Item No.:
Asst. 87535 No. 93139
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #BD29
Includes: Security Droid, blaster
Action Feature: Can sit
Retail: $7.99
Availability: October 2009
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: KPR security droids are used to monitor perimeters and maintain security devices. During their scavenging for lost and abandoned equipment, the Jawas find one of these droids and offer it for sale at moisture farms on Tatooine. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam's former back yard.

Commentary: For the time being, this is the most recent Jawa available today-- Hasbro cranked out four of the buggers in 2009, with two animated versions and two movie versions. This one is based loosely on the previous two movie version, which is to say, it has super-articulated arms, no light-up eye features, and a nice look. This one is upgraded slightly, with new cloth lower robes and two individually articulated legs unrestricted by a hard plastic cloak. Believe it or not, this is a first for a Jawa since the original in 1978. (The first three in the modern line were single-leg figures.)

As of right now, I would give this figure the crown as the replacement for the original cloth-caped Vintage figure. (The 2007 release feels similar to the vinyl version.) Anyway, this new version has about 10 points of articulation, which is basically as good as any Jawa gets. The darker color matches that original Kenner cloak nicely, with yellow eyes set inside his black face. The smaller blaster resembles the early POTF2 version (1996), and the sculpt is... well, it's as good as any Jawa gets with a few sculpted bits and a few cloth bits. Actually, this is the only Jawa in the modern line with cloth so far, until/unless Hasbro does a vintage one, which I'm somehow doubting they will in the coming year.

Collector's Notes: I really dig this set, when I got it I decided to grab my sandcrawler, run outside, and take some nice photos-- that's inspiration! It can be had as low as $9, but it also seems to go for more now. I'd say that it's a decent value for $9, but the companion droid is much smaller than previous 2-packs. I mean, the LIN droid and Treadwell droids were pretty meaty.

--Adam Pawlus


Day 1,697: December 15, 2011

2 comments:

lowtek_ketwol said...

I thought the Jawa w/ Gonk droid from 1999 had articulated legs under his cloak. So he wouldn't be the first w/ articulated legs, but the first w/ a cloth cloak. Let me know if I'm miss-remembering!

Adam16bit said...

Legs yes, meaningfully articulated.... no. I think the waist was and the cloak would hinder any movement.