Obi-Wan Kenobi - TBS [P2] - Six Inch Figures (#08)

Obi-Wan is forced to battle his friend Anakin Skywalker in a devastating lightsaber duel after Anakin turns to the dark side.

"I have failed you, Anakin."

What the heck? Hasbro reissues the biggest peg-warmer in the line to date as the carry-forward choice? That’s a fantastic way to bring the line to a halt. After a great first wave of all-new The Black Series 6” figures for the second “blue” phase of the line, Hasbro felt that a case of three new figures and a peg-warming Obi-Wan Kenobi (from Revenge Of The Sith) would be a swell idea. God forbid if the line doesn’t have an Episode III Obi-Wan Kenobi in it for five seconds. As a result, get ready for orange and blue shelf rot of Obi-Wan Kenobi to be at one or more of your many local retailers. The figure itself isn’t the worse thing made by Hasbro, but terrible paint operations have afflicted many of them. It’s very hard to find a face sculpt that doesn’t look ridiculous (especially the eyes), sadly. Always a fan favorite character, Obi-Wan Kenobi, based on his appearance from Revenge Of The Sith, reenters The Black Series 6” line unnecessarily. Still tooled with a hefty amount of articulation that will continue to impress most collectors, Obi-Wan Kenobi remains imperfect as a The Black Series [Phase II] 6” release directly because of its deco. We sometimes wonder what it’s going to take for the paint operations to stop working against these brilliant sculpts. Maybe a miracle is in order.

We understand the need for Hasbro to contain costs whichever way they can, but it is our position that Hasbro made a few mistakes by not including key accessories with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most notably absent is a soft-goods outer robe that this character desperately needs. Clever customizers have taken it upon themselves to produce their own beautiful soft-goods robes for these figures, but this should be a quintessential inclusion with these collector-focused figures. We’re actually curious. How much more would Hasbro claim they’d need to charge to include more accessories than what they are currently in this large-scaled line? All of these cries about containing costs just feels more and more like hot air anymore. Why make an action figure if you can’t do it right from the start? While we have been impressed with most of the figures in The Black Series 6” range, a few things, namely head sculpts and lack of accessories are beginning to become burdensome. We absolutely want the most for this line, but going cheap and repacking figures already peg-warming just seems like one injustice and another now. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a character who utilizes a ton of accessories in Episode III, so why does he only comes with a lightsaber (that splits into a hilt and a blade)? It seems that something is out of place here.

We often get trolled for being empathetic to the fact that Hasbro is on a “learning curve” with The Black Series 6” line. We don’t mind executing a little bit of patience for Hasbro to correct things if it means greater things are in the future. But Hasbro has had years of experience with poor case assortments and choosing the wrong figures to carry forward into new line looks. It killed the Comic Packs and Battle Packs lines. So why are they still doing the same behavior? We want Hasbro to remain edgy and feel the need to constantly tweak and improve things. Because right now, Obi-Wan Kenobi does not meet the expectations of the many fans and collectors who have eagerly awaited new figures in this line. We don’t need to see Obi-Wan Kenobi again. And if you’re going to re-release it, why not update the bad paint operations he first release had? This was their chance to make an update. When a Star Wars action figure costs $19.99 (and potentially higher as inflation affects things), collectors are going to demand a certain level of precision. Obi-Wan Kenobi should have relatively flawless paint operations and a healthy dose of accessories. But he has neither. And the $19.99 he commands just shouldn’t come out of any of our pockets based on this level of quality.