Obi-Wan Kenobi - SW [TPM 3D] - Movie Heroes (MH08)

Obi-Wan Kenobi defends himself against attacking battle droids. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn are sent to settle what appears to be a simple trade dispute, but they suddenly find themselves in danger. Obi-Wan ignites his lightsaber and strikes down the attacking battle droids and destroyer droids.

It’s not like we can say “help us Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope” because he’s actually the problem in the Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] and The Vintage Collection lines. How many times are we going to see 2009’s LC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD06) figure (no matter what configuration) released as a basic figure? In 2012 alone, you’ll find this figure in the Movie Heroes line, The Discover The Force line, the Class I/Deluxe line and The Vintage Collection’s The Phantom Menace wave (which was released alongside all Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] line look. (And let’s not forget all the times it was re-released in between 2009 and 2012 too. It’s a figure that needs to be retired immediately. It’s essentially painful to look at it at retail now. We understand that it was a refreshing figure to see in 2009, but like so many other figures he has overstayed his welcome in the basic figure lineup as well as the other multipacks this figure has been part of and the like. Obi-Wan Kenobi actually isn’t half as bad as we’re making him seem. The head sculpt needs a great deal of work, but the body of the action figure is actually quite good. It does however need enhancements like ball-jointed hips. We’d even take swivel hips where the legs that aren’t situated so closely together. But as we’ve already said, what Obi-Wan Kenobi needs the most is a new head sculpt.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has become boring at this point and it’s another figure that’s been tragically overkilled in the basic figure line in just a few short years. It’s become a dead horse that Hasbro has beaten for much to long that we can barely appreciate the positive qualities originally brought to the line in 2009. We’re quickly drawn to its negatives; like its awful head sculpt and its lack of ball-jointed hips. But there’s more. In an effort to save on costs, Obi-Wan Kenobi comes without his soft-goods robe or his commlink accessories. Instead, Hasbro has included an ascension gun blaster for extra play value, something collectors do not need, but that kids may appreciate. This is certainly not the way to repack a figure. We just don’t understand how Hasbro couldn’t have set aside some tooling budget to give this figure the much needed tweaks it deserves. Heck, why not use the new head sculpts they created for the “light up” figures to give this version some newness? They didn’t even do this for the collector-focused 2012’s TVC Obi-Wan Kenobi (VC76) figure which is a shame. We feel that figures like this prove over and over how mismanaged the Star Wars line is becoming. It’s very alarming. And even if they re-released this Obi-Wan Kenobi once we might have been more forgiving. But this SAME EXACT sculpt is in the 2012 line at least four times already.

This figure does have some cool history however. It was the third figure to be part of the canceled "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Evolutions set Hasbro had planned. But they broke it up and released all of the different versions throughout The Legacy Collection and Legacy Collection lines instead (thank goodness for that). Most of those figures were worth the wait. Obi-Wan Kenobi, based on his Padawan appearance from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace completed the relatively short but long-awaited list of super-articulated figures of one of our favorite Jedi characters. But even with plenty of notice and constant reminding, Hasbro still allows the lightsaber mix-up to continue Obi-Wan Kenobi still comes with his Episode II lightsaber. Now Obi-Wan Kenobi comes with a Galactic Battle Game card, a die and a display stand. Hasbro updated these in new colors for 2012 and the release of The Phantom Menace in 3D. Sure, the package is refreshed and the pack-ins and contents have changed, but it is still the same bad figure inside. From the extra-long braid to the “much too close” legs, Obi-Wan Kenobi should have only been released once in the Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] line look. It’s not a figure that collectors and kids need because they’ve purchased him too many times already.