Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Star Wars: The Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi (Force Ghost)


 
Practically the total opposite of the Mimban Stormtrooper, Force Ghost Obi-Wan is an excellently rendered store exclusive. This time native to Walgreens, this figure takes the base Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi and fancies him up into his Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi look, and the results are excellent.



This is mainly going to be an article that focuses on appearance, as the base figure isn’t really much to get excited about. It is a rendering of Sir Alec Guinness in Black Series standard quality and build. The face sculpt is excellent. The figure itself is pretty great, and is a generally poseable old man action figure. Most of the clothing is molded in soft plastic, so it gives a little bit for movement, but leg movement is limited by the legs being surrounded by softish plastic. No deep knee bends for old Ben here. The sleeves of the robe are molded plastic, which makes the wrists a little inaccessible, but this is not really a figure that is meant to take dramatic action poses. A cloth shawl rounds out the look.

This version of Kenobi is partially molded in translucent blue plastic, with the legs up to the waist (not visible thanks to the plastic robes) and the arms from the hands to just past the wrists appearing this way. The rest of the figure is fully painted, but painted in a soft, pearlescent fashion, making Kenobi shiny in a gentle, shimmering way. The soft robe is sparkly and thin, ethereal in that sense that it’s the clothes a ghost is wearing. Altogether, it is an excellent look, and the figure is truly gorgeous in hand.

The translucent plastic makes tiny joints such as the wrists even more frightening, and even less likely to be utilized, as translucent little parts don’t generally take stress very well. But, the nature of the figure and what it is representing make posing a total afterthought. This is not Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master in old man form; this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master so powerful with the Force that he is able to manifest himself though it and commune with those still living.

The figure does not come with any accessories, and it really does not need any. The cloak he has can be removed, and it does little other than get in the way. The hood doesn’t fold down and stay behind the head, and it doesn’t really do a very good job of being worn as a hood. The cloak is really only here to embellish the look, which it excels at, but even then isn’t necessary.

The face sculpt is the softer looking Kenobi of Empire and Jedi, a visage that always spoke to me of being tired, at the end of ones journey. A New Hope Kenobi still has some life in his face, as he is still partially that Obi-Wan we come to know in the Prequels, full of life and vigor, ready to face challenges and travels. Force Ghost Kenobi generally looks older and more fatigued, and this figure reflects that. It’s really a marvel of presentation, and I don’t know if it’s a different face sculpt that allows this to happen, having no experience with the regular release of the toy.

A Walgreens exclusive, this figure had been kicking around at the stores in my area for a long while. At least twice I’d picked it up and planned to buy it, only to put it back on the shelf due to it’s not looking like the most enticing of figures in the package. I’d basically thought it was a cool idea and didn’t think owning one would be anything I’d look back at with displeasure. But I never bought it. A few months ago, at the start of the summer, my wife came home with one that she’d bought for me on sale, and I was really happy. Everyone likes getting a surprise action figure, but this one ended up being so much better than my impressions of it had lead me to believe. It’s really a beautiful figure, and I don’t believe that pictures or looks through window packaging do it the justice it deserves. For a few days, I had this figure standing on my desk not far from a window, and the light it captured made it strike the eye even from a room away. The pearlescent shine of it really makes it pop, and natural light especially shows off the figures’ glossy yet subtle and stoic look.

For a time in the 2000’s, Star Wars toy lines would occasionally release translucent blue versions of figures, but they were intended to be holographic versions of the characters. This may be the first, or at very least, one of a small number of instances, instance of a Force Ghost-specific version of a character. That could signal some interesting possibilities. With the upcoming Archive series of the line, The Black Series will be rereleasing some older figures that have been long out of circulation. In normal toy line terms, this would mean that Hasbro would be reproducing older figures. One such figure would be Yoda, who initially appeared early on in the life of the line. Could a Force Ghost Yoda be coming? Seems possible, given Yoda’s cameo in The Last Jedi as a Ghost. Could that mean an eventual Force Ghost Prequel Anakin Skywalker, given Hayden Christensen’s inclusion as Anakin in the much edited version of Return of the Jedi? Who can say right now.

I suppose there’s a part of all of us collectors that will still pass over figures because they simply don’t look cool enough, or aren’t what we may consider flashy enough to add to our collections. Unless you’ve had this figure in hand, or seen it in person out of the package, the real beauty of Force Ghost Kenobi will probably be lost on you. But it is a really gorgeous figure, one that catches your eye and does not let go. Doesn’t look or seem like it’s worth the $20 in the package, but in hand, it’s worth every cent.

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