Obi-Wan Kenobi - LC - Basic (BD13)

Obi-Wan heads to the planet Kamino to investigate rumors of a clone army. He uncovers more puzzles and secrets during his visit to the watery planet – and has an ultimately contentious encounter with the mysterious bounty hunter Jango Fett.

They used to be called "Greatest Hits" in The Legacy Collection.... for the first wave only. Then Hasbro decided that there was no reason to keep a third sub-line active just to help balance out the Droid Factory parts distribution. So they just made these “placeholder” figures part of the normal line to make them as seamless as possible. Hasbro went back into the rich recent history and pulled some of the best made and most popular action figures to help pad various waves in the red phase of the Legacy Collection. The Return Of The Jedi focused wave received the largest remix of all, and no less than six “carry-forwrad” figures were added into the assortments (wave 2 or wave 9 overall depending upon how you look at it). What makes the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi a must-have purchase is that Hasbro finally gave him the correct lightsaber. If you recall, 2009’s TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 44) was sadly packed with Episode I accessories (and by this we even mean old 1999 tools). Now we have the correct version. We’re thrilled about this! Because Obi-Wan Kenobi was originally intended to be one of three figures in a canceled Evolutions set along with two others: the 2009 TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 34) and 2009's LC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD06) figures, it is makes sense that at the factory level that Hasbro easily got the accessories confused. We’re just glad it has been fixed.

Despite a few nit-picking issues with the figure, Obi-Wan Kenobi based on his appearance from Episode II is nothing but a masterpiece. There are some deco issues (as in paint operations that are lacking) but for the most part this figure is the reigning champion of Episode II Obi-Wan Kenobi figures. His head sculpt is absolutely amazing and we don't think that Hasbro will be able to match it or make a better likeness ever again. We of course have learned a long time ago to never say “never” but they will have to work pretty hard to improve upon it. His hair has been sculpted perfectly and his facial hair is lean and clean cut just how it was seen in the film. His Jedi outfit remains a solid and uniform off-white (or very pale tan) color whether you are looking at the arms, legs or chest. It is all very uniform in color, but it’s not completely accurate. However, great care was taken to match all of the pieces an we are impressed with the final results. Additionally, the joints are hidden masterfully well. Aside from white ankle joints awkwardly places in the center of the brown boots, you will have to take a second look to find all of the points of articulation. We really hope Hasbro will address the non-matching of ankle joints to the rest of the leg if this is ever released again.

While the boots are a tad dull when compared to the shiny leather seen in the film (or movie stills), they are still expertly crafted and add incredible authenticity to the figure. The shine on his leather boots somehow got missed, but you will probably have to rely on a larger scale version of Obi-Wan for details like this to be captured. His food capsules and other 'painted-on' accessories on his belt just look plain fantastic and as a bonus, Obi-Wan's comlink attaches very nicely to his belt. It plugs onto a peg on the posterior side and is in perfect scale to the figure. While we think he came with appropriate accessories, we think a repack of the ASN-121 Assassin Droid would have been the icing on the cake or perhaps a Jedi robe would have served him well. Because Obi-Wan Kenobi is such a fine figure, we expect very quick sell through at retail even for a second time. This is now the definitive Episode II Obi-Wan Kenobi upgrade now. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro re-released this figure again with updated paint operations as 2011’s TVC Obi-Wan Kenobi (VC31). This is now the definitive version!) You may want to pick up an extra for your collections. We know we are buying an extra one!