Obi-Wan Kenobi - EI - Action Collection

Obi-Wan pilots a Gungan bongo through the ocean depths of Naboo as Qui-Gon Jinn looks on.

The first wave of Episode I Action Collection figures included a goofball, a villain and a hero. It was quite a mix of characters, but it also provided some balance and anchoring for what the line became. The hero of the group, Obi-Wan Kenobi, provided Star Wars collectors with the first Prequel Trilogy version of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 12 Inch Figure scale and provided a little more detail and depth to the character than the 3.75” line of CommTech figures did. The Obi-Wan Kenobi Action Collection figure turned out nicely. We feel Hasbro should be proud of what they accomplished with this figure. It resembles actor Ewan McGregor and includes layers of clothing without making the figure look too bulky. It isn’t a perfect attempt at the character, but Hasbro did enough here to make collectors happy. We feel collectors should be happy with the result at least. With the inclusion of mixed media, Hasbro either wittingly or unknowing elevated the amount of realism worked into the figure, and we feel the final figure is a few steps ahead of what they offered collectors in The Power Of The Force “2” Action Collection series, or at the very least the next progression of what should have come next. Let’s take a close look at Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan Kenobi comes with a decent likeness. It resembles Ewan McGregor quite a bit, but it does feel like Hasbro could have taken a the sculpting a bit further for a closer resemblance. The portrait was approached with mixed media. Hasbro cast most of the hair in plastic, but they also added rooted hair for Obi-Wan Kenobi’s ponytail and braid. They attached real colored “rubber bands” to the braid to imitate what we see in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. And they did a great job doing so. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s hair appears a little too dark, but it’s not that off in our opinion. His blue eyes shine through, and his expression is nothing out of the ordinary. Where the figure shines the most, however, is in the outfit/costuming. Hasbro weaved multiple layers to give Obi-Wan Kenobi a fully assembled appearance including a hefty outer robe, pants, a shirt, a belt, and left and right boot. Thanks to the various layers of clothing, collectors will find that they have flexibility with how the pose Obi-Wan Kenobi, like with or without his outer robes or with or without a lit lightsaber, to recreate the various scenes with The Phantom Menace film. We love the options this 12 Inch Figure affords collectors.

As briefly mentioned, Obi-Wan Kenobi comes with a fully lit lightsaber that breaks down into two parts: the hilt and the blade. Hasbro also tooled a clip on the hilt of the lightsaber which allows you to hang it from his belt if you so desire. This approach isn’t necessarily screen-accurate, but at least you can recreate the hanging lightsaber hilt effect with this figure. It’s a nice option to have here. The Obi-Wan Kenobi Action Collection figure borrows past bucks produced by Hasbro in the past, but the body type offers a decent amount of articulation. What makes posing him so wonderful is the inclusion of ball-socket hips. Thanks to them you’re able to recreate many of the action poses we see in Episode I, and that’s a nice feature to have for an Action Collection figure. The paint operations are very nice here, and the soft-goods outfit is astounding. Hasbro has come so far in the Action Collection line, and we become more and more interested to see what they’ll decide to produce next. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy Obi-Wan Kenobi.