Review : Obi-Wan Kenobi (A New Hope)
Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro)
Wave/Series : 40th Anniversary
Released : March 2017
Price : £24.99
In early 2017 Hasbro announced a series of 6" scale Black Series figures to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars, A New Hope. The intention was to replicate the original 12 Kenner figures by releasing the 6" versions on retro Kenner style cards.
The first wave was released March 2017 and was made up of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, R2-D2 and Obi-Wan Kenobi. All five figures were re-releases, although Leia did get a revised headsculpt.
The new card backs are sized to accommodate the 6" figures, without being a direct upscale of the original 3.75" figures. They utilise the same character image as well as the Star Wars and Kenner logo's. The character name is set into a coloured box, with the same colouring used behind the figure.
A neat 40th Anniversary logo sits in the top left corner.
Round the back of the card is a checklist of the 12 figures that will be released. These are framed in various colours, each colour matching the scheme that will be used on their card. Under the 12 figures is an image of the Legacy pack, the stand that revisits the original Early Bird pack and gives collectors who aren't keeping these on card a display option for loose figures.
A subtle Black Series logo is atop the card and of course being 40 years after Kenner & Lucasfilm, we now find the Disney logo at the base of the card along with the present day safety notices and legal logo's
Obi-Wan stands 6 inches in height and is probably one of the best Human character likenesses they have done in the past 12 months. The likeness is a reasonable one to Alec Guinness particularly capturing his cheek-bones and the fierceness of his stare. There remains a lack of any paint application on the skin tone, but with a more define aged face than say a General Hux, the light and shadows falling on the sculpt does part of the job for you. The beard and hair also helps, and I am pleased they didn't just go with a stereo-typical grey, but more the grey/blonde colouring that Kenobi had in 1977.
The torso is a hard plastic with the outer cream robes over an inner darker one. Neither of these carry any real paint depth, just a base colour. The belt is a dark brown band with gold buttons and hook to the right as you look on which Ben can hang his light saber hilt. And to the left is a pouch. The lower robes are a more flexible plastic and are a slightly different colouring to the top half. These lower robes are fitted on top of sculpted, and very detailed, legs. These legs are dark brown with texturing on the trousers and a sculpted seam, and these trousers then tuck into a sculpted boot. You wonder if these legs will make an appearance further down the line in another figure as Hasbro didn't really need to put any detail into a pair of legs that are completely hidden at all times.
The outer robe is done in soft goods, similar to how Emperor Palpatine was realised in phase 2, and is fully removable - although I found one of the arms on mine was a very tight squeeze to get over the flared cuff of Obi-Wan's sleeve. Straight out of the box and the robes are a tad flat and need some work to get them to hang right. The fabric is light enough and does flow and hang fairly well to the scale it is representing. The hood is stitched and therefore does sit like a hood when up, but is a bit bulky when folded back.
I compared the supplied robe to another that was fan made, and they are probably about the same in terms of how they work on the figure with pros and cons to each. The custom version is a bit better in terms of stitching and finishing, and I worry that Obi-Wan's cloak will fray pretty easily over time.
Articulation is standard to the Black Series. Starting at the feet there is ankle rockers, double jointed knees, a thigh cut swivel and ball jointed hips. None of this is really of any use as you can only move the legs within the confines of the outer skirt piece. That being said, Obi-Wan stands really well and isn't going to fall over easily. The waist is jointed so the torso can swivel and this joint is hidden nicely in the wrap around the belt.
The arms are where you will tweak Obi-Wan's look so it's good to find the arms are really maneuverable on the ball jointed shoulders either up above the head or out to the side. The elbows are single jointed, but do swivel. And as you can see from my pictures, with a bit of tweaking of great wrist movement, you can get Obi-Wan to hold his saber in both sides and ready to take on Vader. The articulation ends in the ball joined head, so Obi can look around a full 360 degrees and up and down.
This is the third release of this Obi-Wan figure in under 12-months, and there is an element of saturation now for poor old Ben. The initial release as the SDCC pack with his table & holographic Leia. He then arrived in the Phase 3 red box, and now again here in the 40th Anniversary packaging. The price has also risen in just a few months from the £23 you paid for the Red Box release to £25 now for this retro card.
The card is what this release is all about and many collectors will simply keep these on the card back for the nostalgia element. Either way the figure is a good one, despite being plentiful, and whether your a loose collector who still needs a Ben figure or a MOC collector wanting your own 2017 version of the 12-backs - then this figure is an easy 4 out of 5 release.
