Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi - Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figures

“Just like you remember them, only bigger” seems to be the tag line of the year for vintage Star Wars collectors. Arguably one of the most ingenious high-end collectibles line of our time, Gentle Giant Ltd. has found a way to bring something new to something old. (Still, there are some collectors out there that don’t see the need for large sized vintage Kenner Star Wars action figures.) They’ve taken our vintage Star Wars action figures from the late seventies and early to mid eighties, cranked them up a few sizes bigger and created gorgeous companion packaging to create a truly spectacular line of fully-articulated Star Wars figures for the collectors out there that just can’t get enough Star Wars stuff with that classic flair. It appears however that in the case of old Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi that Gentle Giant Ltd. has decided to remain noncommittal or nonpartisan with regards to his hair color. They picked a color in between gray and white!

Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi is a no-brainer for this line. One of the original twelve Star Wars action figures ever created, it’s superbly fantastic to see him in such a large scale. Gentle Giant has ensured that the figures in the line are exact replicas of this line; and this protocol is done so perfectly well that it’s to a fault. By this we mean that the same imperfections that beleaguered the figures by Kenner are doing the same thing to the larger scale. And this means that these same “issues” appear bigger in this larger scaled line. For example, if one leg was shorter than the other (like it is for Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, the lean that the Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure has is much more pronounced. Conversely, larger scale has benefits. The sloppy paint jobs that the vintage Kenner figures received has been significantly cleaned up on the Jumbo Vintager Kenner Figures. It’s a delicate balance to get everything right.

Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi’s soft vinyl cape is just like how you remember, but perhaps it’s a little bit more transparent than we’ve remembered. Gentle Giant Ltd. has taken a cloudy yet transparent clear vinyl and painted it the color to match the classic action figure. Whatever processed was developed for this, the final product comes out a bit too shiny for our liking. But interestingly the texture is completely reminiscent of the original 3.75” toy and all is forgiven. Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi also comes with a removable blue lightsaber blade. Before you get your hopes up, Gentle Giant Ltd. did not include a double-telescoping lightsaber here, but the single telescoping lightsaber effect works perfectly well and will make you smile. We’re very happy with this release overall, but we hope that Gentle Giant can find ways to “improve” some of the issues that effect the figures at this larger scale. We at least want them to stand up straight.