By: David Delgado
The 107th figure in The Vintage Collection, labeled simply as "
Weequay" (just like in the original vintage Kenner line), is easily one of the very best releases in this marvelous assortment. And as lovers of this line are well aware, that's saying quite a lot. It represents everything that's been so awesome about The Vintage Collection: premium articulation, gorgeous packaging, and splendid attention to detail. Weequay is one of those figures that truly looks as if the character jumped straight off the film screen and into that plastic bubble to join our collections. Read on to find out why Weequay is an absolute must-have!
Weequay (VC107)
Year Released: Late 2012
Assortment: The Vintage Collection (Wave 16) [online only]
Description: Celebrate the legendary Star Wars saga that changed the universe forever! This collection brings to life the incredible story of good versus evil that captured our imagination and took us to a galaxy far, far away. Iconic Star Wars heroes and villains are captured with incredible detail and premium features to commemorate each epic tale in the Star Wars saga. May the Force be with you!
Overall Rating: 5.0/5
One of my favorite things about The Vintage Collection is the fact that it's given us so many wondrous (and in most cases long overdue) resculpts of memorable
Return of the Jedi characters, most of which made their initial plastic debuts in the original Kenner toy line.
Return of the Jedi may be my least favorite of the three Classic Trilogy films (I actually prefer
The Phantom Menace too by a slim margin, but that's for an entirely different write-up), but it probably contains the most brilliant array of fantastic looking characters, particularly among the various alien species it introduced to the saga. (How awesome has it been seeing the Weequay take center stage three decades later in
The Clone Wars under the leadership of the incomparable Hondo Ohnaka?) VC107 Weequay will no doubt claim its rightful place as one of the greatest
Return of the Jedi action figures ever produced. I might be a little biased here. This particular Weequay henchman has always been my favorite "Jabba goon," largely because I have fond 90's kid memories of playing with the first modern-era release of the character back in the Power of the Force 2 line. For whatever reason, he and Ponda Baba were always my go-to bad guys and could often be found in the cockpit of my TIE Fighter shooting at the heroes. (It doesn't seem to be acknowledged all that often, but those of us who grew up in the 90's definitely retain a certain degree of Kenner nostalgia too!) So even though it's a pre-posed nightmare that's been rendered obsolete for many years (yet oddly saw consistent re-release in various formats all the way up until around 2008), I'll always have a soft spot for the POTF2 Weequay figure. I think that makes this long-awaited resculpt all the more special and exciting! VC107 Weequay is a delightful action figure. If there's ever been a resculpt worth waiting a decade and a half for, this is it right here!
Let's start at the top. Weequay's headsculpt is phenomenal and succeeds in a number of ways. Hasbro has a history of knocking
Return of the Jedi alien likenesses out of the park dating back to the earliest modern lines with great releases such as the Power of the Jedi Mon Calamari Officer and Saga Ephant Mon. The level of detail is astounding; every wart and wrinkle is captured flawlessly, and those wincing black eyes make him look really intimidating. One of the figure's most impressive features above the neck is a remarkably effective wash of light gray paint over the thick brown facial skin that adds an incredible level of realism to the finished product. One of my very minor nitpicks about this figure is that this terrific detail wasn't applied to the neck and hands as well (at least on my sample), which comes across as a little bit inconsistent. While the overall paintjob is still very, very good, the neck and hands appear more glossy than the face does as a result of omitting the gray wash. The Weequay braids look great, and the hair color is an exact match to the character's appearance in the film. Weequay physiology seems to vary greatly among individual members of the species. The Weequay skiff master in Return of the Jedi (who was also released in The Vintage Collection making its highly anticipated "character debut" back in 2011) has quite an oblong noggin almost like that of a Crystal Skull alien, whereas the Weequay characters we see in the Prequel films and
The Clone Wars completely lack this striking characteristic. This particular Weequay character seems to fall somewhere in between. His skull is bigger/longer than that of Sora Bulq or Hondo Ohnaka, but definitely much smaller/shorter than that of the skiff master. Such variation within Star Wars species isn't uncommon (eg Aqualish, Gran, Trandoshans) but certainly noteworthy as we examine the latest action figure release of a character belonging to the Weequay species. Weequay have had decent representation in the action figure lines over the years (I think
Tas Kee or
Que-Mars Redath-Gom should be up next to give some more love to the "Preequay" characters).
