Bodyguard Vs Obi-Wan - ROTS - Battle Arenas

Battle as Obi-Wan or one of General Grievous’ bodyguards, as they face each other on the sinkhole planet Utapau! One remains – the other falls!

The Revenge Of The Sith line provided the Star Wars collecting with a ton of different products. Some were designed with hardcore collectors in mind while others were created to introduce new fans to the Hasbro brand. Always willing to try something in an environmental and deluxe type of format, Hasbro introduced Battle Arenas in the Revenge Of The Sith line, and ultimately the format didn’t perform well. But it also isn’t without merit. For one reason or another Hasbro decided to go with abbreviated names of the characters included in these two-packs. For example, this set is called Bodyguard Vs Obi-Wan, but it specifically referred to a MagnaGuard (Or Grievous’ Bodyguard) versus Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi Master) as they encountered each other during the Battle of Utapau. Both Bodyguard and Obi-Wan are simply articulated action figures. There is no other way to describe them. But the sculpting they received should not be discounted because Hasbro did a great job of capturing screen-accurate likenesses, brilliant paint operations, and accessories appropriate for the scene from which the characters are based (whether or not they can be removed from the figures’ hands or not).

The star of this set is the Bodyguard. It’s better-looking than 2005’s ROTS Grievous’s Bodyguard (III 8) figure. The sculpt is incredibly more accurate and, Hasbro painted the figure stunningly well. In all seriousness, the Bodyguard has a paint job that rivals most of the figures in the Revenge Of The Sith basic figure line. Yes, Bodyguard is minimally articulated. Aside from a ball-socket head and two swivel shoulders, the figure doesn’t have any other movement. But again, the Bodyguard figure looks so great that you may not care it only comes with three points of articulation. It also comes with an electropole which is held with both hands very easily. The Bodyguard battles Obi-Wan in this Battle Arena set. The Obi-Wan figure is pretty nice too, but he is heavily pre-posed and has a permanent lightsaber accessory attached to his hand. We’re EXTREMELY disappointed that Hasbro decided to mold a permanently lit lightsaber accessory to the figure’s hand. It never works out well, from storage to display. Gravity also pulls down on it and created a warping that never looks good. Again, Obi-Wan is far from perfect, but not without merit.

Both figures are displayed beautifully in dioramic packaging. Each Battle Arena set is based on a specific battle that occurs within the timeframe of Revenge Of The Sith. And the Bodyguard Vs. Obi-Wan set is based on the Battle of Utapau. The two figures each come with a quarter moon display based with a lightsaber controller that moves a based around an arc while twisting functionality allows the figure to spin around as you move it up and down the arc. The two bases connect to create a half moon shape and you get a nice and complete surface area on which to build a great background of Utapau. It’s important to note that each Battle Arena display can connect with another to create a full circle of action, but because each Battle Arena is based on a different scene or battle in Revenge Of The Sith, it’s a moot point to try to connect them to one another (different sets specifically). Still, the option exists if you’re adventurous. The Battle Arena sets provide nice scenery backdrops for displaying action figures, but they’re MSRP is $19.99 each and that’s a lot of money for what you get here. They serve a purpose, but discriminating collectors may not see the value of them at all.