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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