30th Anniversary Collection
Concept Obi-Wan & Yoda
For SDCC 2007, Hasbro helped round out the McQuarrie concept figures by providing us with another convention exclusive 2-pack (like the Celebration Droids). This one paired Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. There are some sketches of a pre-Alec Guinness Kenobi, but frankly I was not aware of it until the figure was released. There are paintings of Yoda that many of us would be familiar with, however.
The figures themselves are pretty good, but not great. Obi-Wan is particularly frustrating because if he has no knees. “Knees!” said the queen. If she had them, she’d be king. Or something like that. It would otherwise be a top notch figure, especially for 2007. Ball jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, and ankles, along with swivel everything else. The lack of knees prevents the figure from executing meaningful action poses. The soft goods skirt would even allow for sufficient range of motion. But alas, it was not to be. the figure has a bit of a striking look, if only because of of the blue and white uniform, which obviously was very different in the final version. Of course, fans tend to mock Old Ben’s clothes post 1999, since we then learned that Ben was pretty much wearing the worst disguise in the galaxy. But maybe Jedi of the Republic could have been wearing clothing similar to this concept figure. That would have been pretty interesting. The figure has a detachable blade, and the hilt fits nicely in the belt clip. It can also perform a rudimentary THWG (Two Handed Weapon Grip).
Yoda is pretty nifty as well. Like Obi-Wan, it lacks knees, but sadly also is missing ankle articulation. The figure’s tiny stature perhaps made this a bit difficult for Hasbro to execute well. Again, the soft goods skirt would have allowed for plenty of range of motion. The upper body is well-articulated however. Yoda comes with his gimer stick, or “cane” as the kids call it. He can grip it fairly well, and it helps balance the figure. The concept artworks isn’t too different from the finished product, but it is different enough that it makes for an interesting figure.
It’s a nice pair, and along with the exclusive coin, make this set a pretty good value. I’ll give it a decent 8/10, despite the flaws.
The TAC line offered 13 McQuarrie exclusive figures. Eleven were from ANH, and two from ESB. Some of the figures were very similar to the final iteration, while others were wildly different. These figures are a treat, and while most of them aren’t perfect action figures and are missing something that would have otherwise made them great, this sub line as a whole was a lot of fun to collect, and they look great on display together.
