Recently, we reviewed the awful Padmé Amidala (Arena Escape).  It had a weird action feature and an awkward sculpt, but had one decent accessory (the column).  The chain is nice, but not technically removable, unless you’re either lucky or a butcher.  Padmé herself was pretty terrible.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Acklay Battle) is similar, on paper, to Padmé.  It also has an action feature, an awkward sculpt, and good accessories (several, actually).  But it’s better that Padmé.  First of all, the sculpt, while frozen in a fairly specific pose, isn’t nearly as awkward as Padmé‘s straight arm firing stance.  On the other hand, the action feature, which has Obi-Wan’s arm moving to thrust forward a spear, is most definitely more awkward. The button is on the belt, via an oversized pouch.  It’s not as well hidden as it is with Padmé‘s left arm.  However, Obi-Wan gets idiot bonus points for the unfortunate posture and right hand/arm motion.  Yes, this figure brings out the inner-moron in all of us, and has been doing so since it debuted in 2002. If you have the figure, you know what I’m talking about.  If not, well, you’ll have to take my word for it. 

The included spear (an electropole, actually), which Obi-Wan basically strong-armed from an unfortunate Geonosian, fits well in Obi-Wan’s hands, as he performs a convincing two handed weapon grip (THWG).  The silly action feature is a bit less silly when he’s actually holding the spear.  It’s not particularly aggressive, as the spear is moved forward only a tiny distance, but you get the idea.  The figure actually looks pretty good when set up with an Acklay. 

Also included is a metal hilt, which is attracted to the reasonably unobtrusive magnet in Obi-Wan’s left hand.  (By the way, the last third, or so, of the spear is a metal piece, and also sticks to the left hand.) Hasbro was in love with magnets in 2002.  They really weren’t always awful, and sometimes were kind of neat.  I definitely liked the metal lightsaber hilts that were all the rage at the time, but by necessity, they had to include the dreaded removable blade.  I have at least a dozen green and blue blades where the pins broke off, effectively rendering them useless.  The lightsaber is a nice inclusion, but doesn’t really work well with this version of Obi-Wan, due to the overall pose.  You can make Obi-Wan lunge forward in something akin to a bad fencing maneuver. 

Also part of the accessory suite is a pair of binders.  Makes sense, since Obi-Wan was wearing them until he was cut loose later by Anakin.  But again, the action stance precludes the use of these binders.  If you watch the film, Obi-Wan not only has to hold the spear with his hands close together (due to the binders), but he’s actually fighting from the opposite side than is sculpted into the figure.  It’s not really film-accurate, but it was 2002.  The Saga line isn’t exactly known for its realism.

Finally, there is the two-part column accessory, the same as was included with Padmé.  It’s nice, but is sadly too short.  It’s still good to have, as the Arena had 4 columns, and the playset only came with 2.  So unless you’re Daddy Warbucks and have 2 Arena Playsets, you’ll need the Padmé and Obi-Wan figures to help complete the environment. 

It’s a terrible figure by today’s standards.  Hasbro tried to do a lot with an action feature, magnets, and a bunch of hit-or-miss accessories.  It was an admirable attempt in 2002, so I’ll give it credit.  The pre-posed (not film accurate) action stance, and the poor interactivity with some of the accessories hurt this release.  I’ll give it a 5, especially if you consider that the accessories can work well with other figures.