Figure of the Day: Day 1,114: WED Treadwell Droid

WED TREADWELL DROID & Jawa
The Legacy Collection Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. 87535 No. 87837
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #BD33
Includes: Jawa, WED Septoid Treadwell Droid, blaster, bandolier, droid caller
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $7.99
Availability: January 2009
Appearances: Star Wars

Image: On a TV tray.

Bio: The Jawas come to the Lars homestead to offer droids for sale. One of the droids they show Owen Lars is a WED Treadwell droid, a common utility droid with multiple manipulator arms and goggle-like photoreceptors on a telescoping neck. (Taken from the figure's cardback. I wonder if they meant this other configuration.)

Commentary: While Galoob made a micro figure of the WED Treadwell Droid in the 1990s, this multi-armed automaton was basically ignored in larger scales until earlier this year, when Hasbro packed it with yet another Jawa. This one has multiple articulated arms and a swivel base, making it a pretty solid release given that it comes with a fairly well-designed Jawa too. The deco is pretty true to the movie-- it's simple, mostly off-white, with an orange stripe and some silver. It almost looks too nice for a piece of junk some short chirping aliens picked up out of the desert, but hey, it's a toy. It's a whole mess of moving parts, so it seems like a terrible toy but a great collectible figure. It's not a ton of fun to play with, but if you already own a Sandcrawler, a dozen Jawas, and a few moisture vaporators, you should probably consider this the must-buy figure of 2009. Or whatever year it is when you stumbled on this.

Collector's Notes: It's a pretty distinctive figure and well worth picking up simply because it's the first time it's ever been made. A new version may be made some day, but for now, this is it.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 1,114: September 21, 2009