WUHER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“The surly human Wuher saw a lot of action while working at the seedy Mos Eisley cantina. His policy not to allow droids in the establishment was facilitated by a droid detector unit. Upon entering the cantina with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO were promptly ousted.”

Oh good, an action figure of a racist.  That sure sounds fun.  Like, here’s a guy so racist that it’s, like, his second most defining trait.  It’s Wuher! Who’s Wuher?  Well, he’s a bartender and he’s racist.  How do we know that?  Because his one bit of dialogue is delivered from behind the bar, and it’s about how he’s a racist.  So, you know, that’s who the guy is.  Anyway, here’s an action figure of the aforementioned racist.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wuher was offered in February of 2000 as a Fan Club-exclusive figure in the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line (which was now under the Hasbro brand, following the release of the Episode I tie-in product).  He was originally meant to be an early Fan Club-exclusive, before a wider retail release, but retailers weren’t interested, so that plan was scrapped.  However, like some of the other Fun Club figures, quantities of him ended up at Toys “R” Us later down the line, at discount prices.  Wuher’s packaging shows off the last handful of figures from the line, all from the last assortment, which kept up the CommTech gimmick from the Episode I line.  Curiously, it also shows off a Chewbacca figure that would ultimately be released under Power of the Jedi, sans CommTech.  But what of Wuher himself?  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  While others in the last assortment got improved movement, Wuher maintained the basic approach from the bulk of the line.  His sculpt was all-new at the time, but would be mostly repurposed for a two-pack release in different colors in 2004.  It regards to capturing the schlubby and dirty racist guy, it does it pretty well.  His face has a more than passing resemblance to actor Ted Burnett, who played Wuher in the film, and he’s got that appropriate slack jawed sort of sneering look he had during his one bit of dialogue.  The body sculpt is on par with earlier offerings from the line, so it’s basic, but it works.  Perhaps the oddest quirk about it is that the glass in his right hand is permanently molded there, which is an odd choice to say the least.  The 2004 release would alter the mold to him a more normal hand.  The color work here is, much like the sculpt, rather basic, but there’s some more intricate work on the face, which makes him appropriately scruffy.  The glass is once again an issue, with some rather obscenely sloppy paint around the edges on that one.  Wuher is packed with his droid detector unit (for all of his racist needs), which is a neat enough piece, albeit hollow on the back side, as well as a CommTech stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I make my way closer and closer to completing my Power of the Force collection, I’ve started encountering some of the slightly odder releases.  Wuher’s one of those, because he’s not particularly pricey, but he’s also not all that common (admittedly, none of the 2000 figures really are).  So, I was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic Con last year, mixed in with a bunch of others more common offerings, for a good price.  He’s….fine.  I mean, it’s not like Wuher’s a great character with a great look.  So, this figure really does the best it can, and it honestly looks pretty great behind the bar in the Cantina playset, and that in and of itself is pretty cool.