'05 | #55  Obi-Wan Kenobi - with Pilot Gear (Reviewed 12-01-2005)

Includes:
• Lightsaber
• Lightsaber Handle
• Removable Cloak
• Starfighter Headgear

Click thumbnail for large image Spice: If you thought you couldn't use another Obi-Wan Kenobi figure and passed this one by, guess again. What we have here is perhaps one of the greatest figures ever, a very bold statement seeing as we're over 500 basic figures these days. However to be the man, you have to beat the man as an old tired horse used to say. For the carded collectors who are into openers, you may want to pick up two or the Separation of Twins sets that have just been released. Any long-time fan of Sandwatch action figure review knows I'm a tough sell. What did they do to this figure that makes it so great? Something they have known how to do since the early eighties!

Click thumbnail for large image With the overwhelming popularity of the super articulated figures, you would think they would make plans to crank all figures out this way. You will see there aren't many poses your vintage swivel-arm battle grip Joes can do that Obi-Wan Pilot can't mimic. With movement basically everywhere your own body does, the possibilities are absolutely endless. The facial sculpt is just good enough, I'm still a little partial to having some type of expression on the face. They cut the robe just right on the forearms so he doesn't have the Popeye the Sailor syndrome. I'm glad they stayed with soft-plastic and did not go with cloth. While you can't put the hood up on the cloak, I think the plastic wardrobe works very well here.

Click thumbnail for large image The only complaint I could really sneak in would be the lack of detail in the pilot headset. I know it sounds tacky but with a little bit of black and silver paint they could have really hit this one on the numbers. I could even look past the fact it doesn't fit very well, but again we see another example of the Hasbro mass-production we don't give a damn about the collector. We have to keep in mind they make these for the kids, not the people who have single handedly kept the line going since the late nineties! This figure will not let you down, you can pretty much move it any way you'd like to. A great thing when you look back at all of the Saga/AOTC figures that are more or less statues.

Spice - It seems there not enough good figures to balance out the bad. While usually I shy away from giving praise to multiple core characters, this is perhaps the best Obi-Wan to date. The only thing they missed was the British accent. I wish they could make them all this way. For future reference, major pose ability, loads of accessories and a durable quality product is truly what people want. We can only hope someday Hasbro will hear our cries!

(Figure '05 | #55, Asst. No. 85173, Item No. 85665, Backing Card P/N 6394133900, Window Insert P/N 6394143800) 

What's your opinion? Post your feedback here in the Forums.