JediDefender.com Forums
Collectibles => The Vintage Collection => Collect All 92! => Topic started by: Scott on April 21, 2010, 12:23 AM
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Source Images:
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawa anh.jpg)
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawa comparison.jpg)
Data
Vintage
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawa carded.jpg)
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawa vintage.jpg)
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawanaked%20vintage.jpg)
Modern
Legacy Collection Jawa (w/ Treadwell)
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawa modern.jpg)
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This was a tough one, I picked the Legacy w/ Treadwell version over the other two here:
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawas%20modern.JPG)
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That is a toughie... The one you chose comes with the ion gun, but it's pretty bulky (though probably scaled right judging by its base as a British rifle if I'm not mistaken) as is the holster, so I'm not always wild about it. I liked the one on the right with the vest when it came out, and the one on the left has the softgoods going for it...
I guess to me it's tough to make a definitive Jawa, and so the diversity they have made, to make 2-packs with droids (and wrap up the Sandcrawler's wares), has been very cool and I am glad to have all the Jawa variants. I still slip my POTF2 Jawas and Commtech ones into the Jawa mix as they are pretty good figures still, and the POTF2 give you a lot of height diversity as well.
Jawa's are basically done to me... I'd like sitting drunk ones taking a siesta outside the Cantina, but that's more a cool accessory to me, than a figure.
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I agree, the Jawa with Treadwell droid is most likely the best modern Jawa. All my modern Jawas have a shelf in my collection (shared with the Sand People).
The vintage Jawa was the first with soft goods...and I always liked that one (of course I lost mine when I was a kid).
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I love the new ones, but he vintage one is still the best.
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For me it's a toss up between the guy you picked and the soft goods version.
When the sculpt with the LIN droid came out, I went nuts and bought five. I knew there would be variations further down the line, but I just couldn't seem to wait.
The two packs with the droids have been great and if they considered doing more, I would definitely pick them up. Maybe an updated Lars Treadwell or power droid.
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This is my absolute favorite SW figure of all time, so I'm glad we're on to him. Choosing is a modern one is tough, but I think the Treadwell one is right on. That's the one I have in my HOF shelf of modern stuff, hanging out with EB Chewie and the like. I still think the POTF2 and especially the OTC repaints are good figures. I also still like the Ronto one for some reason.
I would like to see Hasbro go whole hog on a soft goods version, but given how some of their other soft goods stuff turns out, I won't mind if they don't.
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I agree Darby, I sort of want them to try a full softgoods Jawa but I really don't think it will turn out swell.
I also agree Jesse, the gun is sort of way too big but the other 2 also have flaws...the orangy coat while probably accurate doesn't make it very vintage and the mix of softgoods and plastic isn't very asthetic...
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I'm with you all too. The recent incarnations of the Jawa all are great examples and it's tough to nail down a ranking as each have their own unique benefits. In fact, for me, there really isn't a Jawa sculpt I don't like.
I like the varied heights of the POTF2 versions and the OTC versions markedly improved those sculpts with the great deco. The commtech version has an awesome sculpt as well even with today's SA technologies.
I'd like to see Hasbro take a stab at a fully soft goods version for the nostalgia factor as long as they choose the proper weight fabric, maybe along the lines of the Tsui Choi figure complete with the wire in the hem.
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I'm with everyone else here too. Pretty much all of the modern Jawas (even the POTF2 ones) have been pretty well done, and we've really got a nice variety on the shelf now. I'd go with the Legacy/Treadwell version as well, although the others are pretty nice as well. As already stated, attempting an entirely cloth version would be about the only other way to go at this point. Big fan of the modern Jawa figures though, and have a tough time not picking more up each time I find them. I always thought the vintage version was pretty well done too.
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I'll join in on the Jawa love-in here, too. Jawas have always been a favorite of mine too, I wore a Jawa costume for Halloween in '79 (kindergarden). Please Scott, add a picture of the Vintage Jawa without the robe...it's a shame to cover up all the sculpted goodness under there.
I got my first Jawa as the last of the original 12 back in '78, of course it was the cloth robe version. On the bonus side, I was able to talk my mom into getting one for my little brother too, since they were so hard to find. So I already had the collector mentality at 4. Those original jawas also stood in for children when I would play as a child.
I was very pleased with the POTF2 two-packs, I bought them every time I saw one, resulting in having more of those than any other figure by far. Over the years I've given some away to nephews or others.
I loved that the Ronto jawa was another new sculpt. I wound up with a couple of those, too.
The Commtech version has to be my favorite. The sculpt is just perfect IMO. To my eye its a work of art the likes of which come along very rarely in the toy line. I have a customized one that wears a shorter robe to show off his spindly little legs (Not because I needed to have that, but I used the longer robe/skirt for another custom, so I sort of wound up with a leggy jawa.)
The OTC ones were a real nice upgrade, and a two-pack of jawas is always alright by me. I picked up a few of those too.
The 30AC version really won me over for simply the fact that it was a well-articualted jawa without a light-up panel on the hood, plus I was impressed they went to the trouble of making a movie-accurate variant (ie the orange-vest jawa.) I was able to do away with my custom "short POTF2 jawa with JarJar's vest" version. I got two to have a non-vested version as well.
The Legacy version, however, just hasn't rubbed me the right way at all. The rehashing of the 30AC one is fine and kind of expected, but the new belt plus the brown vest plus the ion blaster just added too much bulk and really detracted from the figure. And that's not even getting into the scale of the pack-in droid. The first time I didn't want a second of a jawa.
I don't yet have the Legacy soft goods version. It looks to take care of some of the bulk issue, but then again, it's a cloth bottom robe so I'm not expecting much.
An "honorable mention" ought to go out to the Hallmark "Jawa & R2" ornament which fits in well with my jawa figure display, and the Clone Wars Jawa two-pack, which add some diversity too. That makes for, what, 13 different Jawa sculpts so far? Not too shabby for the little guys...
My pick for the "ultimate" modern jawa so far still goes to the CommTech version. One of my favorite figure sculpts ever.
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The vintage one is one of only two vintage figures I think works well (or at least passable) with the modern line. The other being Wicket.
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Its so funny to me, that I don't really care about Jawas. However, everytime a new sculpt comes out, I buy it just to flesh out my already full Jabba's Palace Court. I even threw the Clone Wars ones in there, just to be funny. I figure those things would be everywhere - I mean, heck, we see 3 or 4 of them in the palace anyway, I figure they just chill out wherever they find some space.
I'd love a fully soft goods one, especially if they cover the cloak with the bandoleer to hold the fabric down. I almost am undecided, however, on if I want the whole hood cloth, sculpted (with the soft goods underneath it), or if I would want a double hood (like the vintage one). Heck, make all 3 Hasbro - put em with different droids and you know we'll grab em!
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Scott's Jawa has me thinking about Yoda... He's similar in that people's opinions on "the best" varies. Some feel the Flashback has the best headsculpt. Others hate the VOTC but yet others love it (myself included). Then there's the OTC one which has the sculpted aesthetics people like, but little to no poseability.
It's kind of like the Jawa to me... You can't really have one, and I doubt Hasbro ever makes a definitive one that appeals to everyone.
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When they make one with truly glowing eyes and authentic Jawa stank, then we'll have a definitive Jawa.
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I don't know why they never made glowing eyes. How hard can it be to put an LED inside with a pipe going to the head?
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Vintage Jawa kicks all sorts of ass. I find that with the modern ones, I like different parts of different versions. Hard to pick one complete one for me.
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Here is the decloaked Jawa
(http://www.jedidefender.com/collect92/jawanaked%20vintage.jpg)
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Yay! Thanks Scott!! :D ;D :D
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I don't know why they never made glowing eyes. How hard can it be to put an LED inside with a pipe going to the head?
I would love to see this for a future Jawa update--same goes for Artoo and Threepio, too. Has LED technology gotten to the point yet where they could do something like that fairly cheaply, if they wanted, and without impacting the aesthetics and/or articulation of the figure too much? Or is that just crazy talk? I let my subscription to LED Technology Monthly lapse some time ago.
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LEDs are cheap, small, and consume very little battery power, so I'd say it's well within their budgets. They pulled it off with a couple of R2s, so I don't know why not a Jawa or other droids. If you recall, in fact, the broken apart 3P0 that came with the Saga-era "Cloud City Capture" Chewbacca had eyes that lit up when the head was pushed into the body. They can definitely pull it off.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ez6pmpa%2BL.jpg)
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LEDs are cheap, small, and consume very little battery power, so I'd say it's well within their budgets. They pulled it off with a couple of R2s, so I don't know why not a Jawa or other droids. If you recall, in fact, the broken apart 3P0 that came with the Saga-era "Cloud City Capture" Chewbacca had eyes that lit up when the head was pushed into the body. They can definitely pull it off.
Yeah, I know about all those, but that's what I was talking about with the impacting of the aesthetics and articulation and all of these things. That Threepio's just a couple of hunks of plastic, and the Artoos with the light-up eyes have the fixed domes and stuff. So they're all gimped in some way or another.
What I'd like to see are regular figures with LEDs implemented in, like the Resurgence Artoo or Threepio with light-up eyes, while retaining the articulation. I don't know enough about LEDs to know if that's even possible at that small a scale, and if it even is, how expensive it would be.
And what do you know about electronics and toys, anyway? ::)
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One thing that could be tried is a basic poseable R2 like Bar2 or something (no gimmicks like retractable 3rd leg when you move the dome, etc.). Just a basic articulated R2 that you gotta maybe attach the 3rd leg yourself ala the VOTC figure.
OK, so you put an LED inside the head soldered to a piece of metal strip. Inside the body you house the battery, which has wires running up to another metal strip at the top of the body. When you swivel the head the LED's strip connects the circuit to the batter/power sources strip. A small soundchip should also fit in the body, and "activate" when you move the head to connect the circuit. You could have actually 2 or 3 strips at the body base I'd think, so you could swivel the head various poses and connect the circuit, the sound plays and stops till the circuit breaks and reconnects again when you move the head (so you don't have sounds playing all the time), and that in theory should work. I don't know if it would meet the "play" standards though.
The real problem with making the head swivel and the eye light up, is that the dome doesn't allow much room for the electronics, but the body allows a good bit. So you have to find a way for the LED's wires not to tangle as the head turns left/right.
Another fix is just not letting the head rotate 360 degrees, but instead just left and right to the point the eye is centered on the back of the figure, but then must be reversed to get it foreward again. You'd avoid twisting the wires to the LED that way as well.
My above method is more complex but would allow the head to turn 360 degrees, but the eye couldn't light up at every single point you turned the head.
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Yeah, I know about all those, but that's what I was talking about with the impacting of the aesthetics and articulation and all of these things. That Threepio's just a couple of hunks of plastic, and the Artoos with the light-up eyes have the fixed domes and stuff. So they're all gimped in some way or another.
What I'd like to see are regular figures with LEDs implemented in, like the Resurgence Artoo or Threepio with light-up eyes, while retaining the articulation. I don't know enough about LEDs to know if that's even possible at that small a scale, and if it even is, how expensive it would be.
And what do you know about electronics and toys, anyway? ::)
Just because I totally owned you with my last post, don't get all jealous and ****. I think just a cell battery and some small LEDs would get the job done, and I can't imagine why it wouldn't be possible. At least in an R2 figure.
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Jesse, your post about the wires twisting in the R2 dome reminded me of that interview clip with Kenny Baker where he's talking about the same thing, but in his case the wires were garroting him.
I'm all for more LED's in figures. I've always thought a destroyer droid with a light up shield could look pretty good.
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Yeah, that was actually something I was thinking about... I've had some experience with various RC things, and tanks don't have fully rotating turrets because of that issue. There's ways around obviously, and I've seen them done, but they're not as cheap as simple a wire between an LED, a power source, and some kind of on/off switch. In a figure it has to basically be that simple.
I wonder if a tall POTF2 Jawa doesn't have most of the components (sans electronics) to do a light-up eye figure? Hmmm....
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See for the R2, I could see them doing a small LED and battery inside the body, then making the dome out of a painted translucent blue plastic, which has a part sitting right on the LED...that way if you press a button or something, the light goes up the plastic and out the eye, which is obviously left unpainted.
A Jawa and 3po could probably be done the same way - you just may not be able to have waist articulation (or at least not much) due to fitting the stuff inside the torso.