Wioslea
In order to raise money for chartering the Millenium Falcon, Luke Skywalker was forced to sell his landspeeder at a used speed dealer in Mos Eisley. The speeder dealer was a large bug headed creature that we only glimpse from a distance. Other than the huge melon, I couldn’t tell you much about the dealer. This year Hasbro decided the time was right to give us a figure of the speeder salesbug. Her name is Wioslea. Her? Yup, her. Although, according to Wookiepedia, the original novelization referred to her as a he. Appearance:Wioslea is one of those original Star Wars aliens that has that 60’s monster look. She really reminds me, more of some of the aliens found on Battlestar Galactica than in the Star Wars Universe. She reminds me a lot of “The Fly” which I’m sure was at least subliminally intentional. That being said, I have to say the figure pulls off the look of the bug. From the pics I’ve seen, I’d guess the Original costume was made to be seen from a distance only. So if anything, I’d guess the figure has prettied her up a bit and added more detail. The figure, I’m sure, has more detial on the hands and other areas than her on screen counterpart. On that subject, multi eyed head is the centerpiece of this figure. The eyes continue around the back of the head where there are two antennea, as well. A nifty feature of the soft goods robe is the small openings that allow the antennae to come out. The question I have is if you have eyes in the back of your head, why would you cover them up with a hood? That just doesn’t seem very practical to me. The soft goods robe is farily well tailored. It was a nice choice for this figure to allow the hood up or down. There is also a soft goods skirt to finish out the bottom of the Jedi style robes. You have to think the costume department grabbed a spare Obi Wan costume and slapped on the giant head and said, “Done!” Again, the soft goods here are a nice addition to add some posability to the legs. Speaking of the legs, I actually wasn’t prepared to find what was under the bottom part of the robe. There are posable legs there, but they’re a far cry from the standard human legs I was expecting. They are more akin to Lak Sivrak’s dog type legs. I was thinking the odd leg configuration would hinder getting her to stand up right, but it didn’t. It’s really nice to see Hasbro come up with something unique like that, instead of some human legs with boots. This is normally the part where I’ve got a few things that I wish could have been done better, but I really don’t have any. Maybe I mellowed out a bit with redesigning the website. The paint on the head is decent, the figure is articulated. Oh wait, she’s cross eyed. Oops, she’s supposse to look like that. Really, I have more issues with the original character design than the actual figure. Like I said above, if anything the figure is a better more detailed represenation of the character than the actual on screen version Fun:One area Wioslea is lacking is in accessories. She comes with a standard Stormtrooper rifle and droid parts. It would have been nice to have some sort of kibble for a Mos Eisley street diorama, A pack in droid or piece of machinery would have been excellent. The standard rifle is okay, but face it, you’re not going to pose her in a diorama with it. This is the first R2 unit droid head that I’ve got. It isn’t too bad the paint reminds me of the Death Star room where Luke and Han wait for Obi-Wan. The third leg piece has some red on it to match. You know, I have to wonder how many kids picked her up thinking she was a Jedi? She has the robes and that oddball alien Jedi Look. Monsters sell, and while she could have been a pretty solid chunk of plastic, it’s nice to see a fully articulated bug under the robes. And overall, she’d fit right in fighting in a Geonosis arena display. Slap a spare lightsaber in her hands, and voila! Instant Jedi bug. Overall:I’ve seen a some custom Wioslea figures online and always thought they looked kind of unfinished. After doing the research for this review, I realize now that is more the character design than the customizers fault. Hasbro, however, has done a great job taking a minor background bug and making her into a fleshed out concept. It’s great to see a figure of the big bug headed speeder dealer come to the pegs. There are a number of awesome Mos Eisley dioramas out there she will fit perfectly into. Engineernerd Score: 92/100 |
Category: Star Wars, Toy Reviews
Great review!. I am thinking of getting one copy of this one soon (I’m just trying to pace myself this year), but it sure looks like a great addition to anyone’s collection. The one thing that does freak me out a bit is the asymetrical disposition of the eyes; that makes me think Wioslea is more of a mutated freak of nature than a member of a just-freaky alien species.
I really liked her, didn’t realize who she was until I got her and read the back of the card. I had to rewatch the movie to catch her (darn LOL).
Wow. Imagine waking up to that after a long night in Mos Eisley.