Jawa & LIN Droid

The original Jawa is one of the few vintage figures I had multiples of.  I actually remember seeing a vinyl cape Jawa as a kid and passing on it, because I thought the cloth one was cooler.  I had the Droid Factory so I needed more than one to keep things running.  If you think about it, the Jawas actually were a good chunk of the vintage line for the first film.  There were three related playsets or vehicles.  (Droid Factory, Land of the Jawas Playset, and the RC Sandcrawler. )

So how does the newest member of the Jawa clan ante up?  

Appearance:

This is the first "modern era" Jawas we have seen.  I actually saw a reference picture somewhere that matches pretty close to him.  The main thing that sets him (her?) apart is the neat little over vest that's a separate piece.  The belts are then done as another piece over top of that. 

Not detracting from this Jawa is the light pipe heads that we've seen on most of the rest of them.  Unless they have a light directly overhead, I never thought they displayed well anyway, so no big loss. 

The robe and vest are textured.  It adds something to the figure, but I think the texture is a bit over done for the most part on the newer figures.  There is a bit of a wash over him as well to enhance the texture.

The LIN droid is a big bubble.  The figure's bubble is translucent, so you can just see in it.  He's (she?) is one of those droid that is just kinda there.   One arm?  What could these things do?  But he does look like the film version, sort of.  The eye(?) array in the middle looks a bit oversize to me compared to the film version.

The translucent dome is what bothers me the most.  The droid I've seen in pics and remember looked like it had an aluminum dome.  The one from the sand crawler appeared to have a black weathered paint job on it.  I almost wonder if this is going to be another "Brown coat Han" deal.  Either way, I think there should be some weathering on the dome.  He just looks too new.

The detailing on the treads makes reminds me more of accessory sculpting.  The Jawa is the figure the droid is just an "add-on".  He could have been quite a bit better with just a few tweaks.

Fun:

First of all, this is another figure that can't sit down.  I guess Hasbro thinks since they don't make chairs and playsets figures won't need to be posed sitting.   This guys doesn't even get articulation under his robes.

He does get ball jointed shoulders and a head though.  The extra articulation in the in the arms will all you to tweak him in your displays.

He comes with a small Han style pistol.  I would have rather seen the one with the cord on it if they were going to do a new Jawa, but oh well.  It fits neatly in his holster and hand, so that's a plus in it's favor.

OPEN PACKAGE WARNING.  His next accessory  is a droid caller.  There is a little bit of silver paint accent on it to make it look like something.  I almost didn't know about this one.  It fell out when I opened him up.  If it had landed on the carpet, it would have been puppy plastic chow in my house.  I'd have never seen it.  It does store in the other holster on his belt, when not in use.  It' a bit of a pain to get in and out.

The LIN has the one articulated arm, and if you take the eye array out, you could rotate it.  The nifty part about him is his dome is removable.  Underneath is some sculpted wiring and batteries and such. 

Overall:

I have to say I really like this pair.  Yeah the LIN has a few things that could be better, but if you look at him as an accessory and not a figure, He's not so bad.  This is probably my favorite that I've opened of the TAC figures.

Now, if they would just make the droid with all the arms in the middle.  I've been itching to build a partial sandcrawler / homestead diorama.  This pair may have just given the inspiration to get off my but and do it.

Engineernerd Score: 90/100

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