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'04 -  Obi-Wan Kenobi - A New Hope (Reviewed 11-28-2004)

Includes:
• Lightsaber

"Feel the Force flowing through you..."  

Click thumbnail for large image Spice: Much like ying-yang with a lot of good you get a little evil. Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the greatest of all Jedi, however you wouldn’t know it by looking at this figure. I really like the head sculpt but from the neck down this figure leaves much to be desired. The retro-package once again rocks a home run, but you wonder how Hasbro could play double the money and accept the cash for this thing. The mix of soft-goods/hard plastic is real bad. It seems they should have gone one way or the other, the cross over looks atrocious. When you put on the robe that looks like it was designed by a rap mogul, for double my money this thing is downright bad.   Click thumbnail for large image Rob - Just as with the VOTC Leia, I disagree on the half and half with the soft goods. I feel that the overall figure sculpt really portrays the elderly Jedi in his final hours. However, I totally agree that the top robe looks terrible. Upon opening this figure, I immediately dispensed with the silly looking Robe from Poof-land and let Old Ben duke it out with Vader while sporting the informal look. How anyone could expect a quality item when sewing fabric of that type amazes me. It’s just too thick to make the tight turns and droopy affect that the Jedi robe has come to represent. As with the other VOTC packages thus far, I love the retro look and the additional protection offered to the figure. Once again, this eliminates that all too frequent pain of finally finding that HTF figure and discovering the card or bubble had been mauled.   Click thumbnail for large image Spice - I just can't agree with you on this thing looking half-good. When you get the robe off it's even worse. Did Obi-Wan have shoulder and elbow replacement surgery in his old age? The elbow and shoulders look like he's got a blow dryer stuck in his outfit somewhere. The whole thing is horrible, from neck to toe. It looks like he was smoking cigarettes with a lap robe on for 85 years. It should and could for twelve dollars, match! It is the little things, I realize they have to make the robe fit loosely but they missed so very bad. It's almost a shame, the original vintage figure may be a better design other than the lightsaber jammed into its arm. I really think this thing is the worst I've seen in this assortment thus far.   Rob - While I will agree that this is probably the worst specimen offered to us by the VOTC line, I think that they did the best that they could with what they had when trying to blend design accuracy and cost. I think the head sculpt is awesome. However, I think I should switch the perspective on this figure to cover the good points. If you are looking purely for a figure, standing in the prone position and holding a lightsaber, for some diorama, than this is not a bad figure. If you are looking for any type of arm movement stance, then the figure does look outright awkward. The problem centers on the elbow joints and the sculpted robe. When moving his arm at the elbow, you get a funky mismatch on where the wide part of the arm is at. You end up with an Obi-Wan that appears to have air intakes in his biceps. That’s just not right.

Spice - That is exactly what I was saying, it's simply horrible. They say the path to Hell is also paved with good intentions and I really think they were here. However, the hack who was behind the sculpt of this thing should be fired without any severance package. Obi-Wan is simply too much of a class act to have something created like this. I found it somewhat difficult to position a saber in the hands, the arms are possibly the worst in the last 3 years for any figure. I guess I just expected so much more, but when you get this thing free from the multiple bubbles, it is just a straight let down. Especially for a figure that has been done over and over again. We really didn't need this, I can think of worse ways to waste twelve bucks. You could buy some more of the Basic OTC figures! Which I may add they put Obi-Wan from the PotJ line back at us. This is one of my biggest problems with Hasbro. If you were going to release the VOTC or superior version, why put that worthless Basic OTC #15 out there? The Target Cup too? Again, I grow very tired of Hasbro sticking it to the carded collector, and I guess the answer is to stop buying the crap. The best thing this thing does is sit in a Landspeeder!

Rob - For all his glory, Hasbro definitely gave Master Kenobi the stinky end of the lightsaber on this one. While I did like the face sculpt and bottom robe in softgoods, Hasbro did shaft us by not giving Old Ben knee joints. For the money I’m shelling out, I expect knee joints. How are we supposed to recreate the famous “..as if a million voices suddenly cried out…” scene if our Jedi Master can’t even sit down. With that type of articulation, or lack thereof, we’re back to the 12-back days and the vinyl cape. For the money that Hasbro requires us to lay down for new figures, I feel we should require them to give us a quality product. Give us knee joints or give us death!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Spice - If there has been a let down in the VOTC line this is definitely it for me. If you remanufacture something, it should outshine and surpass the quality of the previous versions. For all the hype, this thing just doesn't match up to the other two figures we've reviewed in this line, not by a long-shot. For everything good there is something bad about it. Like the head sculpt looks great, but the size of the head is too oblong or egg headed. Big thumbs down for this one, and I'm a big Obi-Wan fan.

Rob - While I tried to stand by Old Ben’s side throughout this whole unveiling, the head sculpt just doesn’t do enough to save it from eventually becoming the ugly duckling of this line. Where we were promised a superior product, we ended up with no knee joints, no ankle joints, and a robe that you’d expect to see on an NBA player while driving his Hummer. Definitely a thumbs down on a figure that at best is good for a one-pose diorama. What was Hasbro thinking on this one?

(Figure '04 | #XX, Asst. No. 85215/85213 , Insert P/N 6314591400, Backing Card P/N 6314581600,  UPC No. 7693085215)