Star Wars Jawas

My journey to building a Jawa collection had been slow up until recently, purchasing a 7" 3-D printed vinyl cape Jawa from Rad Vintage Toys on eBay, as well as two 1:18 scale Stan Solo vinyl cape Jawas. 

Rad Vintage has several of these 1:6 scale Kenner style figures that help collectors fill in the gaps in their Gentle Giant 1:6 scale Star Wars collections. The characteristic silken texture of 3-D printing is less jarring on the Jawa's monochromatic palette than some of the other figures offered by Rad Vintage-  posed on a shelf, it's not distracting.

Below, a comparison of the 1:18 scale Hasbro/Kenner Retro Collection Jawa and Stan Solo Jawa, sans robe/vinyl cape. The "SS" stamped on back lets collectors know the Stan Solo figure is not the highly coveted vintage vinyl cape Jawa. At about $23.00 each, including shipping and sales tax, these SS figures were much more affordable.

I found this 1979 8" Jawa on eBay for a competitive price, with robe, but no bandolier or ion rifle. He was a decent purchase of a clean but not complete sample I supplemented with a 3-D printed blaster. I've not yet secured a vintage bandolier nor 3-D print of considerable quality to complete the figure, but I'm happy as it is, regardless.

Below, a comparison of all these Jawa's ion rifles, the top two 3-D printed, evident by their silky texture. The Jawas used these rifles to capture droids- when fired, they attached a restraining bolt to the droid which ordered a stop command. Its maximum range was about 12 meters, and while it wouldn't kill most organic creatures, it could administer a painful sting.

Below, my vintage 8" Kenner Jawa with C-3PO and R2-D2 from the same line of 12" figures...

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Star Wars Retro Collection: 10 of First 12

 I've only acquired ten of the first twelve Kenner Star Wars figures released again in Hasbro's Retro Collection, but this post will cover the first twelve figures released by Kenner in 1978 - the remaining two I actually have vintage samples of. I had every one of these figures as a child, and though I sold off or gifted them all since, I've had fun rediscovering them as an adult. There were a lot of complaints about how Hasbro's Retro Collection were distributed and released, beginning in 2019, but I'm just glad to have a few.

I only recently acquired these three Stormtroopers, all vintage samples. Two are stamped Hong Kong, the other China. According to Perplexity.AI, the Hong Kong are considered among the first production runs of this figure, Chinese Stormtroopers having been produced later as Kenner's outsourcing throughout Asia broadened.

Below, Kenner's original Stormtroopers and Darth Vader with their later 

Power of the Force line Stormtroopers and Darth Vader from 1995...

Kenner's Death Squad Commander was a somewhat odd choice for Keener to include in the original twelve, but he has his own thing going on and fills out the troop lineup nicely....

My vintage Obi-Wan Kenobi can finally do battle with my Retro Darth Vader ...!

I actually have two vintage Obi-Wan Kenobi figures, both outfitted with replica lightsabers, one the coveted telescoping model ...

It's been a while since I've had a 3.75" Princess Leia in my hands! 

She can now load the Death Star plans into R2-D2 while C-3PO looks on ...

Luke Skywalker was a coveted figure in my youth- having a clean Retro Collection sample is fun! The Bespin Luke figure took his place in 1980, followed by Jedi Luke Skywalker in 1983, but Farmboy Luke was my first in 1978!

The Retro Collection Chewbacca and Han Solo look just like I remember them in 1978! You can probably see some putty holding Han's blaster in the picture below- sadly, he cannot hold his weapon at all. Really unfortunate! Regardless, they'll handle Greedo and Walrus Man easily with their smuggler's swagger!

And last, but certainly not last, the Tusken Raider and Jawa, mysterious inhabitants of Tatooine. Both captured my imagination seeing Star Wars for the first time in the '70s!

When returning to collecting actions as an adult several years ago, 3.75" Star Wars figures were oddly not my main point of interest, though they occupied a lot of my play time as a child. But with the 50th anniversary quickly approaching, I was reminded how much Star Wars meant to us '70s kids and it's fun to have this classic lineup once again!

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Kenner 2" Retro & 4.75" Action Collection Yoda

I've collected a couple of Yoda figures recently: a more recent 2" Kenner Retro Collection Yoda and a 4.75" Action Collection Yoda from '97. I really wanted a 3.75" scale Yoda like I had as a kid and lucked upon the Retro Collection Yoda at a decent price- better than I could find a clean vintage sample for. Cracking open a fresh Yoda like I had in youth was kind of a thrill in spite of some collector's misgivings about this line of re-released Star Wars figures.

Below, Yoda with my vintage Obi-Wan Kenobi, and some other Empire Strikes Back figures I've collected recently- some vintage, some from the Retro Collection...

I found this 4.75" Kenner Action Collection Yoda loose on eBay for a good price a few months ago while building out my 1:6 scale Star Wars lineup. I don't think the larger scale Star Wars figures form '97 and onward have the same charm as the late '70s figures Kenner produced, I thought this was a pretty faithful representation of the Jedi Master.

The Action Collection Yoda didn't come with a snake, but I found some cheap on the internet to make him feel more comfortable, like on his home planet Dagobah...

I picked up this larger Yoda to compliment some of my earlier '78-'79 Kenner 12" Star Wars figures, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Kenner Star Wars figures Kenner produced didn't have quite the detailed paint that the '97 Yoda has, but his scale is perfect and he's an overall good fit with them.

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Kenner Cantina Creatures & Death Star Droid (1978)

As I began collecting a few 3.75" Kenner Star Wars figures awhile back for the first time since childhood, these four denizens of the Mos Eisley cantina were a priority in my book; I had them all as a kid, and they were some of the 2nd wave of Star Wars figures released by Kenner in 1978. I bought the Mos Eisley Streets backdrop from Cardboard Galaxy of eBay- it's somewhat flimsy for the expense and took the seller over two weeks to finally mail it out, but I like how it flattens out for easy storage and shipping here in the U.S. was free.

 Bespin Han Solo isn't really the correct match to do battle with Greedo, but he'll do...

Walrus Man's fate when facing Obi-Wan Kenobi is the stuff of legend! I have two vintage samples of the famous Jedi Knight, this on sporting a reproduction telescoping lightsaber, which I mad for!

Like Greedo and Walrus Man, these newly acquired Snaggletooth and Hammerhead figures are much cleaner samples than my well-loved childhood figures, which I sold many years ago now...

My childhood friend had this Death Star Droid, while I had C-3PO- was fun hunting one down as an adult. While this one has missing black paint in one eye, it's in relatively good shape and has tight joints. I put him in front of my Cardboard Galaxy Death Star Hallway backdrop I picked up the Mos Eisley Streets backdrop.

I couldn't resist throwing my Power of the Force 2 Darth Vader and Stormtroopers in there while I was all set up. I didn't have any of these '95 POTF figures back then, but I find them charming...

But if I understand correctly, the "Death Star Droid" was really the RA-7 Protocol/Inventory Droid was first seen in the original Star Wars movie aboard a Jawa sandcrawler in this reflective finish. So for my childhood memories he belongs on Tatooine, but I digress. It's fun going back to some of my earlier childhood action figures- Star Wars was everything to us back in the '70s!

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Star Wars POTF TIE Fighter (1995)

I had a Kenner Darth Vader TIE Fighter in the '80s which had lights and sounds, a feature sadly missing from this 1995 update. The Power of the Force TIE had added sculpt on the wings however- a definite improvement on the decals used on the original ship. You can find these used at relatively reasonable prices. There's a white version of this produced in 2003 as well (like Kenner's original 1979 TIE Fighter), they seem to be more rare.

I kind of had to get a Power of the Force TIE Fighter Pilot to fit in the cockpit and picked up a couple Stormtroopers and a Darth Vader to lord over them while I was at it. I wasn't into collecting in '95, so I never had any of these- they are cheap to acquire. For years I've seen these warming the pegs of reseller's shops- Kenner's production runs on this line must've been enormous.

I don't care much for Darth Vader's clunky plastic cape, and his lightsaber is way too long, but the Power of the Force figure line's "beefed up" styling is most effective on him. The mix of matte and shiny black throughout are nice ...

The Stormtroopers can be a little challenging to stand- I've ordered some bases to display mine. While not the iconic figure from 1978, these figures haver added neck and waist articulation and are far more affordable. While I had no figures from this '90s line and the original line is where I came from, I find these POTF figures charming.

I actually bought this TIE Fighter to display with some of the larger vintage Kenner Star Wars figures in my collection, using this Starship Wall Mount I bought from Galactic Collector on eBay...

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