Obi-Wan Kenobi - TCW [R] - Basic (CW48)

Obi-Wan wears cold weather gear to protect himself from the icy conditions on Orto Plutonia. The Jedi Master is part of a team that investigates the disappearance of clone troopers stationed on the snow-covered world in the Pantora system.

There is really something extraordinarily special about seeing a Star Wars character in a parka, isn't there? Perhaps it's because it tickles a fond memory of one of our favorite films of all time, The Empire Strikes Back. But whether you’re young or old, there is something fun and exciting about things that are somehow involved with snow. Having relatively universal appeal, cold-weather outfits always look neater than the relatively common military styles we see throughout the films and they seem to make for better imaginative play. But whatever your stance, Hasbro knows the cash-cow that “Hoth-looking” things will have on their bottom line and we think this works out fine for our benefit too. After all, we get some really great and cool looking characters. Remember the 2001 POTJ Obi-Wan Kenobi (Cold Weather Gear) figure? It was a great figure then and we are glad that the cold weather theme has once again made it into the basic figure line. But as with anything released now, Obi-Wan Kenobi is designed with amazing quality and great attention to detail. We love this figure and it is a must-have for your collections. Besides, you need a correctly outfitted Obi-Wan Kenobi figure to pilot your Freco Speeder, right?

When you pose the Anakin Skywalker (CW42) and this Obi-Wan Kenobi (CW48) figures next to each other, you are hopelessly reminded of how Han Solo and Luke Skywalker looked together on Hoth. The one blue outfit compared against the one white outfit is immediately familiar. In fact, it is scary how reminiscent it is to what we saw in Episode V. Obi-Wan and Anakin have very similar gear, but there are differences. You may even think that one is a repack of the other with a new head, but this isn't so. Obviously one was a basis for the other, but they aren't identical by any means. When compared to Anakin Skywalker’s outfit, the one on Obi-Wan is a little bit neater looking and we aren't entirely sure why. But is just looks fantastic. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been designed very well because his parka hood can be removed and you can place his goggles over his eyes then replace the hood. All these pieces have great functionality with each other and we would love to see the same brilliance applied to realistic figures. You may take this feature for granted, but it allows for a lot of display variety and we love the option of giving him numerous varied looks in our collections. In short, don't take these details for granted, it is such a pleasure to have this interchangeability! Obi-Wan Kenobi also comes packaged with his lightsaber and it can be posed very well in his hand.

Part of the last wave of figures in the "red phase" of The Clone Wars line, these figures will either be hard to find or will be reissued in the third new line look packaging. We believe the latter will be true. Obi-Wan Kenobi in this outfit was seen in a very popular episode of The Clone Wars entitled Trespass. It introduced us to a fighting native Talz tribe who until now, fans didn't really know that they came from a cold world planet. The episode provided Hasbro with a lot of great ideas for figures and we almost got them all in the basic figure line so far. Some of the other main characters have yet to even be announced, but we look forward to Hasbro completing this episode in full. It has been a great year for lovers of The Clone Wars. Hasbro released fifty figures in the "red" phase of The Clone Wars line look which is quite impressive and certainly no small feat. Yes, a few were straight repacks, but those are inevitable these days. We look forward to what Hasbro has in store for us, but while we wait, we will certainly enjoy Obi-Wan Kenobi in his cold weather gear. And we hope that Hasbro includes multiple and removable parts because play value is what ranks highest for a kid focused line. (And who are we kidding, we like it just as much!)