Jawa & WED Droid

All of the Wal-Marts in my area have been resetting all their displays and haven’t been stocking anything to speak of. I was actually surprised to find this new Jawa & Treadwell two pack when on a recent visit. Stormtrooper Luke I could pass up with a $7 price tag, but the blister on this guy looked completely full.

I’d detailed my love of Jawas in my Jawa & LIN review from the TAC series of figures. Similar to the LIN two pack, this duo is taken from Star Wars (A New Hope). In particular, they are take from the droid sidewalk sale where Uncle Own and Lue purchase R2-D2 and C-3PO.

This Treadwell droid is a different model of the droid seen helping Beru at the homestead and Han fix the Falcon in Empire. According to Wookiepedia, this particular WED-15 Septoid Treadwell is designated as
WED-15-ST68. If I’m interrupting the information on this
droid correctly, accessory arms could be bought and switched out similar to how I got a hedge trimmer that fits on my gas powered weed eater.

Appearance:

In the LIN two-pack review I stated it would have been nice to get the Jawa with the corded weapon instead of at tiny pistol. Apparently they listened, because this Jawa has that weapon.

For the most part, this version of the diminutive desert
scavengers is a repaint of the LIN droid’s companion.
There are couple of notable changes.

The first being the paint used on his eyes. The LIN Jawa did not have light pipe eyes and neither does this one.
Instead of the yellow used on the LIN, they used a metallic gold paint. This actually fooled me for a minute, and had me looking for a light pipe. The eyes really show up great and reflect enough light to make them look like the film version. Great job, Hasbro.

In order to create a multi layered look, this Jawa has a vest on over his robe. Unlike, the previous version, this dude’s robe and vest are matched in color. I really like the fact that none of the Jawas ever seem to match in color. The
variety goes a long way to making them  appear as they did in the films.

The main difference, other than coloration, in these two traders is the utility belts. The new one has a sculpted holster to hold the corded weapon. The side of the holster and the back of the belts have some Jawa looking decoration. The pouches on this guy’s belt are a bit bigger that his earlier cousins. There’s a bit of a wash over the belt piece to give the look of leather with silver snaps to finish it off.

The taller pouches on the belt actually create one of the small things that I don’t like about this figure. When the head is popped down on the ball joint, the pouches keep it from sitting all the way down. This makes him slightly taller
than the previous version. It also creates a bit of space under his head that looks a little un-natural from some views. It also causes the head to be detached easily.

Now, let’s not kid anyone. A new Jawa figure is great. There’s loads of these guys throughout the six films, and lots of display opportunities for them. The reason most collectors and kids are going to want this two pack is the WED
Treadwell droid. As one of the last droids needed for a good Purchase of the Droids diorama, this Treadwell has been a long time coming.

This figure pulls of the WED Treadwell look. Multiple spindly arms on a treaded base. I’m sure this guy was steered away from just because of the spindly arms.

Comparing this guy to his film counterpart, I noticed a couple of things. The first was the scale seems to be a bit off. Where the LIN droid seemed a little too small the WED seems a
little to big. In the film his (hers?) photoreceptors were almost level with the top of R2’s dome. This guys’ eyes are a up higher than that (See Bottom Picture).

Also, the version in the film has a red white color scheme, instead of the figures copper and grey. To be honest, the base looks like something out of Star Trek TOS to me. The copper textured section I guess.

The overall size isn’t the only thing that is off scale wise.The end effectors on the arms all look a little on the biggish side as well. I’m willing to concede the oversize limbs and tools, however. You can only mass produce detail in plastic down to a certain size an have it hold up. I’m sure this a trade off between appearance and durability.

The Dr. Who like antenna coming out of the front of the base was a surprise. That could have easily been left off and nobody would have mentioned, but it was nice to see the attention to detail. I was also impressed with the fact, none of the tools is a duplicate generic grabber. Most of them appear to be farming implements.

Fun:

I’ve said it before, anytime you get two figures on a card, it’s going to be fun. When one of the figures is a multi armed robot with tank treads, instant fun. Maybe the Jawa is repairing the droid, maybe he’s hunting him. The possibilities are endless.

This guy can really stretch out. There’s a joint at the bottom and and one in the middle of each arm. The one thing that arms don’t do that would have been nice is swivel at the bottom. Not a show stopper, but it would have been nice. To be honest not having them is probably more screen accurate.

The treads are similar to the LIN’s. They are sculpted in place, and there are no wheels on the base. The arms are the key feature of this guy, though, and they look great.

The Jawa has two accessories his weapon and a small tin can. The gun has a cord that leads to a small detailed box. The box attaches to his body with a shoulder strap.

There are two things about the weapon I don’t like. First, he can’t hold it. Well, to be fair, he can hold it, just not so that he can pull the trigger. Second thing, What’s with the sealed off end? Even if it was indented only slightly it would have looked better. (BTW. After getting all this typed, I found a picture of a Jawa with the pack on this back, my bad.)

Now the little canister. At first I thought this was a droid caller, like the one that came with the previous version. However, after I realized this is the restraining bolt gun, my opinion changed. I’m not Hasbro and have no idea for sure, but I’m guessing this is suppose to be a restraining bolt.
Since the Jawa can’t hold it or put it anywhere, I’m also guessing the original intent was to make the gun to where it would fit in the muzzle. That would have rocked. I would imagine difficulties in  molding or cost cutting may have eliminated that in the final version.

Overall:

As a sorely needed droid for a Lars homestead diorama, I have to say well done. I was initially worried that the arms would be cheap immovable things, but my fears proved unfounded. The Jawa, while a repack, is different enough to be a good scene filler.

Aside from the scale issue with WED and the mysterious canister, overall a well done pair. The detail is good, there’s articulation is good, and the paint doesn’t seem to have been skimped on.

Kids and collectors take note, I can’t give you a good reason not to buy this pair if you see them. Of course finding them on the pegs is going to be like finding a protocol droid in the Dune Sea.

Engineernerd Score: 97/100

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