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Gentle Giant Jawa mini-busts

One of the most recognizable characters from the Star Wars films are the Jawas.  Like Yoda, even people who have no real interest in the Star Wars universe know who they are on sight.  They're design might be as basic as you can get - grab a someone short, throw a robe on him and hand him a vacuum attachement - and you have yourself a Jawa.  It's like the Munchkins meet Omega Man.

With all the characters that Gentle Giant has turned into mini-busts, it's no surprise that they've just released a pair of the Jawas.  Perhaps the real surprise is that it took them this long.

These guys only come as a pair, since as single busts they'd be a bit tiny for the price tag.  Both have a light up feature, and the gun totin' version has a second weapon to swap.

They'll run you around $45 - $50 for the pair, and they are a limited (and I'm using that word in the loosest possible way) edition of 7000 sets.

  





Packaging - ***
Yep, it's the usual box.  There are windows for each bust though, which is a plus, along with the usual nifty baseball card COA.  It would have been cool to get TWO COA's, one for each Jawa, but that's not a big deal.

Sculpting - ***
The two busts are relatively small, standing only about 5" tall or so.  They also take up much less volume than the usual bust, but that's completely expected since the are Jawas, after all.

The Jawa working on the droid is slightly larger than the one holding the blaster, due in part to the large hunk of droid he's working on.  In fact, if it wasn't for this very detailed hunk of R2 unit, the overall score for Sculpting would be another half star lower.  Folks have often complained about the lack of texture on the robes of some GG mini-busts, both in the Star Wars and the LOTR licenses.  It's a bigger issue for some characters than for others - unfortunately, this pair fall into the 'big issue' category.  The robe and bags they carry blend in too much, and the smooth robe hurts the realistic look of the bust quite a bit.

But there's that cool droid, and there's a ton of nifty detail on his interior.  The quality there is enough to boost this category an extra half star.

Paint - ***
The paint here is clean, but uninspired.  The plain brown robes are already hurt by the lack of texture, but the paint doesn't do a thing to help either.  Other than the nifty droid head...again...there's not much in terms of detailed work.  Brown and black are the predominate colors, but while they're a tad dull, they're at least clean and relatively neat.

Design - ***
What do we know about Jawas?  They like shootin' blasters and taking apart droids.  It seems fitting that these two were placed in those poses.

The shooting droid is alright, but the pose is a tad uninspired.  The droid repair Jawa is much more interesting, and slightly large as well.  There's more detail in the sculpt, and even the light up feature worked better!

Light Up Feature - **1/2
Both Jawas have light up eyes.  Big surprise there, huh?  I'm not complaining that they did it, but it does seem pretty much a necessary feature for a Jawa of any sort.

The eyes are very much like the real ones were - LED lights that look like eggs sticking out of their face.  The LED's don't stick out from the bandages at the same distance though, and the intensity of light coming from them was uneven on one of the two busts.  Overall, I was left a bit under whelmed by the quality.

Value - ***
These two are actually running at about the same price as the usual single bust.  With the added in light up feature, you might be tempted to think that makes them an even better deal - and if the feature was perfect it might.  But the light up feature on busts this small means they are pretty much hollow, so you're not getting quite the deal you might first think.

Still, you can get the pair as low as $43 from one of my sponsors, and that's a pretty decent value.

Things to Watch Out For - 
The only thing I noticed was that you'll want to be particularly careful when swapping arms on the smaller Jawa.  The wrist posts can easily damage the arms if you force it, and getting it to line up just right takes some patience.

Overall - ***
I'm pretty much blasé about this set.  The sculpt work on the droid, particularly the interior, is the high point.  The lack of texture on the robes hurts this set more than some, and the light up feature was only mediocre.  In the end, there's nothing glaringly wrong with them, but there's nothing that makes them stand out against the likes of Ben or Zuckuss.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***
Paint - ***
Design - ***
Light Up Feature - **1/2
Value -  **1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy -
Check out these recommended online options:

- Urban-Collector has an excellent price at just $43 for the pair.

- Dark Shadow Collectibles has them for $48, in stock.

- CornerStoreComics has it for $50.

- Andrew's Toyz, a great Star Wars resource, has them at $55.

- Related Links -
Other Star Wars mini-bust reviews include:

- Dengar and Zuckuss were the most recent.

- Other Star Wars mini-busts I’ve covered include Chewbacca and Darth Maul, Jedi Luke, Qui-Gon Jinn, Palpatine and Skiff Lando.

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Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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