Revenge of the Sith
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Another Obi-Wan figure in the ROTS line. This makes 3, tying him with Anakin (if you include Vader, it’s 4) and Palpatine. It makes sense, as those 3 characters were the stars of the film. But here’s the important thing: Unlike the first two Obi-Wans, this figure was actually pretty incredible for the time, and despite all odds (and honestly, lots of frustration at this point) the basic sculpt has essentially lasted for 20 years. That’s amazing (terrible) for a main character, and if we took a look back, it’s probably only been surpassed by VOTC Chewbacca from 2004. A new Chewie has already been announced, although it’s unclear exactly how much of it will be new. While an ROTS Obi-Wan is still unannounced, it seems inevitable that one will be on the way shortly, to pair with this year’s brand new Anakin sculpt. So both of these mains will have had figures last at least 2 decades before a refresh. It’s a testament to how good the original buck is, but no matter how good it was, it has been several years since an update should have been made.
When this was released in 2005, it was a revelation. Very few non-clone trooper figures got the full super-articulated treatment - and even after the debut of 03-50 Clone Trooper, even subsequent releases often didn’t get that full array of articulation. This Obi-Wan Kenobi was a well sculpted figure in its day, with nice proportions, and a decent headsculpt. It had top of the line articulation for the time, with ball jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, knees, and ankles, along with swivel wrists and hips. It seemed like you could pose it in almost innumerable ways, although obviously time hasn’t been all that kind, and it’s not anywhere near as fun as it once was.
For accessories, Obi-Wan comes with an unlit hilt that plugs into the belt nicely, and can be gripped reasonably well. Skipping the removable blades (thankfully), you also get a fully lit lightsaber. He also comes with a plastic robe, which fits pretty well, in a neutral and slightly mopey kind of stance that Ewan MacGregor often made throughout ROTS. It’s got that “melted chocolate” look to it, but it’s better than similar robes from the past. Finally, as this is intended to be a pilot figure, he comes with a removable headset that fits pretty well over his head.
This figure was re-issued with tweaks approximately 183 times over the course of about 5-6 years. I had no real complaints at the time, because it really was an excellent figure, and if you tried to set up multiple ROTS displays, you really couldn’t have too many Obi-Wans. The tweaks they made were usually welcome, and included things like the rebreather accessory (with weird open mouth) and soft goods robe. I think there was one that came with Grievous’s blaster as well - but I could be misremembering this.
Ultimately, there were two updates that can be considered the best versions. In one of the early waves of TVC, we got VC16 Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was a repack of this figure, but it included soft goods robe instead of the chocolate plastic kind.
However, it was somewhat strange that Hasbro didn’t use a repack/tweak of TAC 08-01 Obi-Wan Kenobi. That figure predated VC16, and was from the last waves of TAC before it gave way to TLC. It was basically the same figure as ROTS55, but with a new headsculpt, ball jointed hips, and a soft goods lower tunic to accommodate the new range of motion of the hips. The headsculpt was a bit controversial as to whether or not it was an improvement over ROTS55, which is why it’s kind of a toss up due to personal preference as to whether TAC 08-01 or VC16 is better. Personally, I prefer the TAC figure because of the hips.
But here we are, almost 15 years after VC16, and the sculpt has worn out its welcome. As mentioned above, it’s hard to imagine that an update is coming very soon, and most collectors can’t wait. In the meantime, as much as that update is needed, it’s hard not to acknowledge how great this figure was for the time.
5 Stars
7/10 Banthaskulls.