Chewbacca (Clone Wars)
One interesting aspect of watching the animated Clone Wars TV series was that sometimes an Original Trilogy character would make a cameo on one episode.
One such instance came at the end of season three in the episode titled “Wookiee Hunt”, where the future partner of a corellian smuggler comes to the rescue of Ahsoka Tano.
This Chewbacca figure is constructed very similarly to the one from the Vintage Original Trilogy version, although the sculpted fur texture looks a lot neater, with smoother lines and a less shaggy appearance, particularly on the forearms and hands. The overall body proportions seem correct to me, capturing the characteristic lankiness of actor Peter Mayhew.
At this point in time, Hasbro started cutting back on some of the articulation for these figures, which left this particular version of Chewbacca with:
• Ball jointed neck.
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Pegged hinge elbows.
• Swivel wrists.
• Barbell mounted torso.
• Swivel hips.
• Pegged hinge knees.
About the only joints missing are the ankles, alhtough even on the VOTC figure they were not particularly useful because of the sculpture. The great thing about this action figure design is that all of the articulation is nicely concealed by the sculpt and it retains all of the functionality, within reason.
The face paint is neatly applied on the eyes, nose and mouth areas, but the rest of the paintjob is relatively simple, with darker patches of fur airbrushed at certain point over the torso and the limbs.
One thing that sets the Clone Wars Chewie apart is that this is the first time a 4-inch Chewbacca figure has a separate bandolier accessory included, as in all previous versions made by Hasbro this piece of gear was either sculpted directly onto the figure or glued in place afterwards.
Other accessories included with Chewbacca are two Wookiee bow casters (one of which has a projectile-launching action feature), a trandoshan blaster carbine and the usual Galactic Battle Game paraphernalia of a dice, plastic display base and personalized stats game card.
The best thing about Clone Wars Chewbacca is not only that the figure looks spot-on as the model used in the series, it also looks unique enough to fit in right alongside the more realistic wookiie figures as a youth, adding variety to any Wookiee mob.
Errex Score: 90/100
Category: Featured, Star Wars, Toy Reviews