Obi-Wan Kenobi - LC - Basic (BD06)

Obi-Wan Kenobi battles Darth Maul after the mysterious Sith apprentice fatally wounds Kenobi's Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Kenobi calls upon his years of training to defeat this deadly opponent who is as skilled with the lightsaber as any Jedi.

The third figure that was to be part of the canceled "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Evolutions set has finally been released, and it was absolutely worth the wait. Obi-Wan Kenobi, based on his Padawan appearance from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace completes the relatively short but long-awaited list of super-articulated figures of one of our favorite Jedi characters. Obi-Wan has had many incarnations throughout the films and we now have every single one in hyper-articulated glory! If you own the 2008 TAC Obi-Wan Kenobi (08 01) and the 2009 TLC BD 34 Obi-Wan Kenobi and BD 44 Obi-Wan Kenobi figures, you know what standards to expect from this one. Hasbro left no detail out from this one as well and he is everything we could expect. His body sculpt is nearly flawless and very faithful to what we saw in Episode I and his outer robe is very well tailored. We suspect that some of you will find it a bit too big and baggy, but we think it looks nearly perfect. Obi-Wan Kenobi is an all-new sculpt with 14 points of articulation. And when he is compared side by side to the 2009 TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi BD 44, we have to admit that this figure has an overall better proportioned body. The posture and stance also just looks better, so Hasbro nailed something here that must have been missed on the Episode II figure. And yes, the lightsaber mix-up saga continues here as well. Obi-Wan Kenobi comes with his Episode II lightsaber. Thank goodness this is an easy fix for both action figures. A simple swap can remedy this continuity inconsistency.

The head sculpt of this figure is good, but to be completely honest, we think that the Power Of The Jedi line provided collectors with a little bit more of a better likeness of Obi-Wan's Episode I appearance. Actually, we're quite sure of that. Of course the technology to create that likeness wasn't as good back then, but we think something was captured in the older figures that didn't transfer over as well in this figure. His hair has a more reddish brown look (just like as seen in the film) when compared to the Episode II figure and this is an important detail that we are thankful Hasbro didn't miss. We honestly cannot pinpoint what is slightly off with this new head, but we do know that something is a bit off with it. His braid looks too thick and too long, maybe this has something to do with the awkwardness, but it doesn’t address the likeness issue. Don’t get us wrong. This looks like Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode I. But something about him makes us think something is not perfect. (Maybe it's the extra long braid? Who knows?!) Another nice aspect to this figure is that he comes with very tight joints. Hasbro has upped the ante and zealously assured that their super-articulated figures don't have loose joints. Nothing is worse that positioning a figure to stand in a certain way and then only to have it fall over a second later because the joints won't hold. This is definitely not an issue here. In fact, it is a bit difficult to move certain joints, like his knees, for example. But this shouldn’t be interpreted as a complaint here in any way. We would much rather have to use extra elbow grease than deal with a figure that can stay in place. Obi-Wan Kenobi is beautifully in scale with the Evolutions Qui-Gon Jinn (from The Jedi Legacy set) and Evolutions Darth Maul figures. It looks as if we can recreate that Final Duel scene with super-articulated potential now!

There are a few other minor issues with this figure. The ankle joints are again a different color from the boots (white, in fact) and this has been a chronic issue that Hasbro has yet to resolve. We don't know why ankle joints always seem to be cast in a different color from the boots or are constantly left unpainted, but we hope Hasbro revisit this soon and does their best to prevent it from happening to future action figures. Another issue is that his pants seem to be colored inaccurately. We have checked our source material thoroughly and the pictures show that his pants in Episode I are indeed tan. But on the action figure the color looks to be a very light gray. This is not a terrible problem, but there is unfortunately too much contrast between the upper and lower portions of this figure. And since Hasbro can basically make figures authentic in every way with their access to source materials, we find it disappointing that this detail slipped by them. Despite the coloring issue, we can say conclusively that the figure is detailed very well. There is a beautiful wash over the top half of the figure that casts a shadow like effect and highlights ever layer and wrinkle in his clothing. It is amazing what Hasbro can capture on their action figures with a beautiful finishing wash. We wish that this would be the practice for most of their figures. The only other issue we wish to bring to your attention is his Padawan tail. Although very thing and realistic, it has a bizarre curl to it which sticks out from his body. Since it is part of the head sculpt, we expected it to be a little bit stiff, but we think it could have laid more flush against Obi-Wan's chest. As a whole, Obi-Wan Kenobi is an amazing action figure. We now have our definitive Episode I version and there is not much more Hasbro can do other than give the hair braid soft-goods treatment (we think this is the best way to go for this detail). We bet this figure will be a strong seller, especially since it is the 10 year anniversary of Episode I. This is certainly a figure that celebrates this anniversary very well!