The Good: Excellent sculpt and coloring details, Good poseability, Cool accessories
The Bad: Eyes do not glow, I'm not wild about mixing the plastic and cloth parts.
The Basics: Impressive articulation and great coloring make it easy to recommend this Jawa, even if it does not have the ability to make its eyes glow.
It never rains, but it pours, as they say. In my case, I had gone quite a few years without getting any Star Wars action figures. Then, my partner picked up the Leesub Sirln figure and the Jawa and Security Droid Legacy Collection figures as well. I suddenly find myself with real new things to review and in the case of the Jawa, the prevailing wisdom is one can never have too many Jawa action figures. I was surprised to discover that this is the first one I have managed to get around to reviewing.
For those unfamiliar with the Jawas, they were the hooded aliens on Tatooine in A New Hope (please check out my review by clicking here!) who first abduct R2-D2 and then sell R2-D2 and C-3P0 to Owen Lars. The Jawas were seen with several droids around them and one of them was the security droid.
That being the case, the 4" Jawa figure from the Legacy collection is a good figure, but not my favorite and not even my favorite Jawa.
Basics
The Legacy Collection Jawa is latest casting of the Jawa scavenger. It is extraordinarily detailed for a 2 5/8" tall action figure. The Jawa was released in 2009 as part of Hasbro's Legacy Collection with the Droid Factory bonus. The scavenger from A New Hope is cast in fairly hard plastics with a cloth skirt and looks exactly like the character it is supposed to.
This toy is an impressive sculpt, capturing Jawa's flowing robes, crisscrossing belts on its chest loaded with packs and a holster for its blaster pistol. The hood appropriately obscures the character's face, but it does have the two beady yellow eyes that shine out when the light hits them at the right angle. The Jawa's tiny hands are molded to hold the blaster in either hand and even under the robe's skirt, the figure is detailed realistically.
The costuming details look good, with boots that look more like wrapped cloth than solid footwear. The Jawa is outfitted in a brown outfit which obscures the character's gender and form exceptionally well. This Jawa's hood and robes appear to have texturing to them that make it look almost like it has oil spots at points!
Accessories
The Jawas, nomadic scavengers in a desert full of roaming droids, requires few accessories. In fact, all it comes with is its blaster and security droid in addition to the droid part. The Jawa's blaster is a 5/8" long soft plastic gun is in perfect proportion to the rest of the figure, so the barrel is almost as thin as its fingers! The gun is cast in solid black plastic and has no highlights, but it does have decent molded details. The gun fits in either of the Jawa's hands perfectly or nicely in the holster on the figure's belt.
The Security Droid is a little plastic robot on wheels that is accessory quality, especially the underside. This looks just like the squat droid positioned near the sandcrawler on the picture on the card and it is basically an R2 unit type head on a flat platform. The head turns and the platform has wheels on two axles which allow it to roll forward and back. This is impressive for the painting details it possesses, as it has extraordinary molded and painted detailing on the droid head, control panel and what appears to be an emitter array on the front of the platform portion of the droid!
This figure was part of the "Droid Factory" line of the Legacy Collection figures and the basic premise was that for every four figures you bought, you'd get a fifth which would be assembled from parts in each of the five toys in the collection. The Jawa comes with the head and foreleg of the R4-P44 droid.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Jawa is excellent in that regard. The Jawa is amazingly well-balanced, especially when one considers that former castings of this figure had a solid body from the waist down! This Jawa is still one of the less-articulated Legacy Collection figures with only ten points of articulation, some of which are not just simple swivel joints. The Jawa has joints at the groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and waist and it twists at any of those points. The shoulders and elbows are both ball-and-socket joints. The hooded head is sensibly a simple swivel joint, which allows the Jawa to turn its head left and right, but not nod up and down.
And for whatever improbable poses one might find where the Jawa will not remain standing, there are playsets with foot pegs which fit into the holes in either of Jawa's feet.
Collectibility
Jawa is part of the 2009 Legacy Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was not incredibly common, but has been slow in selling (my partner found Jawa in clearance with another figure as part of a 2-for-1 liquidation). Arguably, the slow sales have to do with the economy and the fact that the Legacy Collection is focusing on obscure characters that die-hard fans will like, but mainstream collectors might not so easily go for. The Jawa was not overproduced and Jawas seem to be popular with fans as one of the anonymous groups of ubiquitous characters in the Trilogy.
The Jawa is BD39 in the Legacy Collection and while it might not be a great investment figure, it is likely to please fans who are making big Tatooine scenes or play experiences.
Overview
The Jawa & Security Droid two pack is cool, but does tip over a bit. Even so, it is a worthwhile addition to those looking for more supporting characters for their Star Wars play!
For other Star Wars action figures, please check out my reviews of the 2008 Legacy Collection Pons Limbic figure!
5/10
For more toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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