Obi-Wan Kenobi - TLC - Basic (BD 44)

Obi-Wan heads to the planet Kamino to investigate rumors of a clone army. He uncovers more puzzles and secrets during his visit to the watery planet – and has an ultimately contentious encounter with the mysterious Jango Fett.

What a thrilling thing it is to finally have a super-articulated (and very well done) Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure! Why this update was overlooked for so many years after the Star Wars "Saga" line had ended is something we're not sure we'll ever fully undertsand. Hasbro was using 2003 sculpts as late as 2008 to give us Episode II versions of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The good news is we certainly have acquired a ton of old accessories from previous incarnations of him (most originating from the Star Wars line that ran from 2002-2004). These “collected” accessories will pair very nicely with this new figure and perhaps make him even more exciting than he already is. We will be upfront with you about this figure. We love it and this will be a rave review. And since we want to spend a lot of time raving about Obi-Wan Kenobi, let us get done and away with the minimally few negative aspects or points. This figure is sadly packed with some Episode I accessories (and by this we mean old 1999 tools). His lightsaber (boo-hiss!) and comlink (not that bad) have unfortunately been recycled from that era. Because Obi-Wan Kenobi was originally intended to be one of three figures in a canceled Evolutions set along with the Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 34) and 2009's LC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD06), it is makes sense that at the factory level that Hasbro easily got the accessories confused. (Editor’s Note: Check out our reviews of these awesome figures now too!) Nonetheless, new ones should have been created per current technology standards since the old sculpts don't fit as well with such a finely tuned figure. Although Obi-Wan Kenobi is super-articulated, his soft-goods skirt is way too tight against his body and while it really doesn't affect his leg movement (except for maybe having to lift it up before you pose his legs), something just doesn't look right about it (it bulges at the hips and hugs his posterior way too close because of its tightness). This is a problem and a shame that this wasn't caught in time and changed by Hasbro. If you can look beyond this, then you will be one happy collector!

Despite these few nit-picking issues, Obi-Wan Kenobi, based on his appearance from Episode II, is nothing but a masterpiece. There are some deco issues (as in paint operations that are lacking) but for the most part this figure is the reigning champion of Episode II Obi-Wan Kenobi figures. His head sculpt is absolutely amazing and we don't think that Hasbro will be able to match it or make a better likeness ever again. We of course will not say “never” but they will have to work pretty hard to improve upon it. His hair has been sculpted perfectly and his facial hair is lean and clean cut just how it was seen in the film. His Jedi outfit remains a solid and uniform off-white (or very pale tan) color whether you are looking at the arms, legs or chest. Great care was taken to match all of the pieces an we are impressed with the final results. Additionally, the joints are hidden masterfully well. Aside from white ankle joints awkwardly places in the center of the brown boots, you will have to take a second look to find all of the points of articulation. We really hope Hasbro will address the non-matching of ankle joints to the rest of the leg. Apparently a bit of time was spent on the final look of his boots as well as many other parts of his costume. While the boots are a tad dull when compared to the shiny leather seen in the film (or movie stills), they are still expertly crafted and add incredible authenticity to the figure. The shine on his leather boots somehow got missed, but you will probably have to rely on a larger scale version of Obi-Wan for details like this to be captured. His food capsules and other 'painted-on' accessories on his belt just look plain fantastic and as a bonus, Obi-Wan's comlink attaches very nicely to his belt. It plugs onto a peg on the posterior side and is in perfect scale to the figure. While we think he came with appropriate accessories, we think a repack of the ASN-121 Assassin Droid would have been the icing on the cake or perhaps a Jedi robe would have served him well. There are certainly additional accessories out there that could have been added to this basic figure. Even so, the figure is a wonderful release. At least we have had opportunities to collect these cool accessories over time.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has always been a character that has looked pretty much like the actor no matter what year the action figure was made. For some interesting reason, the likeness is easy to capture on an action figure. While this is not meant to discount the artistic talent of the sculptors, it is quite a phenomenon that almost all Obi-Wan Kenobi action figures tend to look the best. And while there are certainly issues with the late 1990s and early 2000s sculpts, they certainly have aged better than many of the other figures. But clearly Hasbro's standards have become much more stringent because this figure tops them all by a landslide. He will likely be a figure that doesn't age at all (or at least we hope so). From his lean and athletic frame to his height, Obi-Wan has a stature that matches the character seen in Episode II. The coloring is authentic and the attention to details is exacting. He is everything and more you would want your Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure to be and then some. The Attack Of The Clones wave has some incredible character choices but Obi-Wan Kenobi is definitely one of the biggest highlights of it. It is hard to believe we have all waited so long to get a near-definitive version of his Episode II likeness. But our patience has paid off and we now have a truly remarkable figure. Because it is such a fine figure, we expect very quick sell through at retail. Expect Obi-Wan Kenobi to be a bit harder to find on the pegs as he is a very popular character and collectors have waited quite some time to get a version as good as this one. This is now the definitive Episode II Obi-Wan Kenobi upgrade for a while now. We don’t expect this to be revisited in quite some time. It may just be that the collective pool of kids and adults may go nuts for this figure, making it very hard to find out in the wild. You may want to pick up an extra for your collections. We know we are buying an extra one! (Editor's Note: As of September 2009, this figure has been released in the red phase of 2009's Legacy Collection as BD13 and Hasbro has corrected the figure by including the screen accurate Episode II lightsaber.)