We’re one for one with the Hasbro vs. SH Figuarts Attack of the Clones figures. Hasbro got out to a quick lead with Count Dooku, but the articulation advantage gave the SHF Anakin the tie. Now it’s time to see if the Star Wars Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi puts Hasbro back in the lead.
Obi-Wan is a central figure in AOTC of course with a major subplot investigating the assassination attempt on Padme. Ewan McGregor’s take on the character has basically become my definitive take so I’m always down to find the signature version of all three of his Obi-Wan appearances from the sequel trilogy. Let’s see if this one will stick around.
Packaging: Obi-Wan is No. 111 in the series, but he doesn’t get that sweet new packaging. I would love to see that mural with all the principal AOTC characters. There’s nothing new from the traditional setup, but I did like the bio.
Likeness: This category is close. Both pull off the Ewan McGregor likeness well though neither tend to get the essence of McGregor’s AOTC Obi-Wan.
There’s a slight playfulness to him during AOTC and he’s mostly acting serious around Anakin. He’s far more serious after experiencing the Clone Wars, which has aged him from leading platoons of Clone Wars and seeing so many Jedi fall. In short, the likeness is there even if it’s not an ideal AOTC expression.
Checking out reference pictures and it’s impressive to see how well Hasbro captured McGregor’s hair style. SHF went with a wider longer flow while Hasbro gets the curl on the right side and slightly more pronounced blown out left side. His beard is a bit thicker around the cheeks, but it’s hard to get the proper scruffy look. Obi-Wan had it more refined come Revenge of the Sith.
The SHF version has better texture on the Jedi tunic, but it’s not as big a gap as you might think. Hasbro did provide some texture and it does convey that unique look of fabric. The rest of the tunic with the flow of the inner and outer layers looks good although the SHF layers are separate pieces.
Hasbro’s figure does look less segmented and broken up particularly around the arms. His pants bunch up appropriately at the boots. They look very nice.
Paint: Both the SHF and Hasbro don’t properly capture Obi-Wan’s lighter shade of blonde brown. Both tend to skew darker with more brown than blonde. (Edit: I got the darker haired running change in the figure. There is a lighter color hair version that seemed to have some issues with random gray wash that makes it look goofy).
Hasbro doesn’t get all the same amount of detailed paint apps of its higher priced counterpart — the capsules on the belt are one color on Hasbro’s vs. four on the SHF figure and the boots have the leathery style wash.
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Scale: The scale of this line is really impressive. Hayden Christensen was slightly taller than McGregor — about half a head — and the SWB reflects that precisely. I love how Hasbro is keeping the scale throughout SWB so consistent.
Articulation: Obi-Wan is a big improvement over the Anakin figure. He’s more reflective of the modern SWB figures that sucked me back into the line. He’s able to do the double grip stance really well thanks to the butterfly shoulders and tremendous range in the torso.
Obi-Wan has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- butterfly shoulders
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Obi-Wan comes with his lightsaber. It fits well in his traditional double grip fighting stance.
Hasbro doesn’t go the cheap route with the saber hilt as it features a good amount of detail and crisp paint work. The blade is removable and can be pegged into the belt.
I wish Obi-Wan came with his Jedi cloak. For most of Attack of the Clones, he’s wearing it and that addition would have stacked the odds in the SWB figure’s favor over the SH Figuarts figure. Another great option would have been a Force gesture hand.
Worth it? Obi-Wan was $20, the standard price point for the line. That’s a fair value for the figure, but man do I wish he came with the cloak.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
It wasn’t as close as I thought. Star Wars Black Series wins again. The only improvements for this one would be an alternate head, swappable Force hand and that Jedi cloak. For a fraction of the cost this is another winner over its SH Figuarts counterpart.
Where to get it? Amazon is probably the best bet at this point for an in-stock option although Entertainment Earth has him for $21.99 as a pre-order.
