After looking at Darth Maul this morning, we now bring you his arch enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi.  While Obi-Wan, and his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, fought together against the newly discovered Sith Lord, it was Obi-Wan who needed to take him on alone, after his master fell to the Sith’s blade. Following one of the best dueling sequences in the entire Saga, Obi-Wan felled Darth Maul after bisecting him with Qui-Gon’s lightsaber.  Left for dead, Maul later returned, but that discussion is for another day. 

This figure represents Obi-Wan Kenobi during the “Duel of the Fates”, when he set aside his Jedi Robe for the only time in the film.  Like Darth Maul (Jedi Duel) he sports some rather advanced articulation for the day. He’s got swivel elbows and wrists.  This definitely allows for more poseablitly than earlier figures, but obviously is still poor by today’s standards.  The upper body articulation allows for some variations for display, but the lower body is essentially useless, both due to the lack of knees and elbows, as well as the The sculpt isn’t as nice as the Mace preview and Maul figures that we’ve reviewed already, but it served it’s purpose.  It’s quite plain, with barely any details or textures sculpted into the clothing, as there was with Mace.  The likeness to Ewan MacGregor definitely leaves something to be desired, but we weren’t all that picky about it back in 1999.  For an accessory, Obi-Wan has a lightsaber.  The styling, of course, predates today’s slimmer hilts and flared blades.  He can grip the saber in either hand, but also can perform a rudimentary THWG (Two Handed Weapon Grip). 

With this figure and with Darth Maul, you can recreate that duel that set these two characters on a long and winding path that we never thought would happen after the film was over.  But you can definitely do better.  Hasbro has done a figure that was far superior to this one in The Legacy Collection, which was then re-released with an added accessory in TVC.  However, while it is light years ahead of this Episode I figure, it is still substandard.  There’s a lot to gripe about with the TVC figure, and it is far from definitive.  We gave it a pretty dismal (for TVC) 6/10.  But that 6/10 is a lot better than this Episode I version.  Nevertheless, I’ll still give this a 4, which is the baseline for our budget (5POA style) figures.  It exceeds a modern 5POA in articulation, but the plain sculpt, poor facial likeness, and lack of accessories make this a poor display option for today.  It gets a little love for nostalgia, but that’s about all.

The point is, we need a definitive Episode I Obi-Wan Kenobi.