Oh what a time it is! Star Wars is back to being EVERYWHERE thanks to the annual “May the Fourth” holiday, the new Black Series Jabba the Hutt and Yoda reveals, and that little production going on in London right now. You know, how they are filming a NEW Star Wars movie? Exciting times indeed!
Well, the new movie is still a ways away, so I have to stay in check about that one for now, but I can remain excited for Hasbro’s Black Series action figure line. Hyperbole aside, I have been waiting for this line my entire collecting life. 1:12 scale, super-articulated Star Wars figures are an absolute dream come true for me, and even though we don’t have ton of figures yet, some of what we do have are counted among my favorite current figures. We have been doing a little mock-celebration for Star Wars this week if you caught canonball’s great write-up about Jedi cloaks that are currently available on eBay, you have probably already ordered at least one. If not, go check it out because the content of that article gives some great background on the point of this article.
Are you back? Okay, so here is the thing:
Obi-Wan Kenobi is my favorite Star Wars character. He lands just above Chewbacca and Han Solo, but, even as a kid, I knew the old hermit was arguably the greatest Jedi of his time, so that automatically elevated him above all the rest. Counting Obi-Wan as my favorite also gives me a distinct advantage when it comes to working though the Prequel Trilogy. I know it is maligned by most Star Wars fans, but there are certainly some great highlights about it, and, lucky for me, I count Obi-Wan as the best part.
I find Ewan McGregor to be spot-on perfect in his portrayal of both Obi-Wan and Sir Alec Guinness. He made me like Obi-Wan even MORE than I already did, and his character development and journey through life as a Jedi was the strongest part of the Prequels. I mean, I know Anakin was the “star” of those movies, but as his backstory actually made him LESS likable as a character, it was the opposite for Obi-Wan. C’mon, balance to the Force and all that. Sure, sometimes he was given a steaming pile to work with, but McGregor always did his absolute best with it.
So that lead-in helps illustrate that when the Episode III Black Series Obi-Wan was announced at Comic Con last year, he jumped to the front of the line of my most-anticipate of the series. He even beat out the AMAZING Boba Fett and Han Solo figures. Well, as production pictures were released and it got closer to the time when series three was scheduled to drop, my enthusiasm became tempered, and when I finally did get the figure in-hand, it was met with a tinge of disappointment.
The main culprits for my less than enthusiastic welcoming for the figure were the paint applications (or lack thereof), the size of the the head, the poor articulation engineering in the arms, and the lack of the Jedi robes. JEDI ROBES. Robes are almost as essential to a Jedi as his/her Lightsaber. Now, normally I would take these deficiencies and just count the figure as a dud for the line, but when dealing with my favorite character and (arguably) my favorite look for said character, I could not be idle and I immediately began to look for ways to improve him.
The arm articulation was the easiest solution, at least for me. It was a challenge to get Ben to hold his Lightsaber with both hands, but after some finagling, I was able to do it without any work being done. All of these figures have the dreaded “elbros,” and the range of motion with those is just not as good as with biceps swivels and hinge elbows, be they single or double. I think I can get the figure to pull off the pose convincingly, but I have given some thought to carving away a little bit of the plastic on the upper part of the joint to improve range a bit more.
The second easiest fix was remedying the severe lack of Jedi Robes. Now, I am normally an ARDENT detractor of all things soft-goods, especially in the 1:12 scale. It rarely looks natural and often times detracts from the overall aesthetic of the figure. However, it is clear that soft goods are going to be a part of this line, and, Slave Leia notwithstanding, they have actually done a good job with them, which is why I was really kind of shocked that Obi did not have his standard issue Jedi robes. I know that Jedi don’t usually throw down while wearing their robes, but they are usually not seen without them in any other circumstance.
Well, the trusty Fwoosh forums come through for me once again, and I was directed to an eBay seller that has made some pretty convincing cloaks, so I ordered one to see how it would look. You know what? even though it isn’t perfect, it instantly made the figure better. I am not going to get into the details because canonball did so perfectly in his article, but I highly recommend getting a robe for Obi-Wan, even if it is just a temporary solution. Maybe Hasbro will make a proper cloth or plastic robe in a later incarnation of Ben.
Finally, the head was the greatest challenge. On first sight, I knew the paint application were terrible on this figure (Bespin Luke suffers, too) but for some reason Hasbro reverted to the terrible scheme they use for 1:18 figure faces that absolutely DOES NOT WORK for 6-inch action figure. I only hope that they see this and go back to the paint applications they employed for series one. Paint wasn’t the only issue, though; somewhere in the production cycle, the engineering on the head went awry and poor old Ben’s head was shrunk down to a disproportionate size. ARG! That would NOT be an easy fix!
So, as I prepared to ask Robokillah to repaint the production head, I remembered that (once again) the Fwoosh forums might have a possible solution to the sizing issue as well. Member Glassman6 has a full-service casting a sculpting site where he can change the scale of head sculpt based on the production piece. Now, I did not need for a drastic change, only about a 10 percent enlargement, so I took a chance and contacted him about taking on the project. Holy moly, I am glad I did.
See, not only did he absolutely nail the scale, but his casts also show that, lo and behold, a FANTASTIC sculpt still lived under all of those terrible paint applications. It is not that I did not have faith in the amazing guys at Gentle Giant, I just assumed the details went soft during production. Nope, they are spot-on perfect and it just goes to show how paint can completely make or break a good sculpt. I am not completely sure if Glassman has made this upsized Obi-Wan head available on his site yet, but I would STRONGLY suggest picking one up, he will even do the painting for you if you request it. Glassman is the goods and shooting him a quick email might help solve a lot of your Kenobi woes.
Okay, so even though I have not gotten my shiny new Glassmas cast Obi-Wan head painted yet (this is my round about way of asking Robo or Craarl to lend the skill and brushes), I think you can see that with a couple of alterations, you really can build a better Obi-Wan figure. I will provide an update when it is done, but needless to say, I am really excited. The production piece was close, but by getting an in-scale, better painted cast of the head and some robes really pushes the figure to the next level. And Obi-Wan deserves it. Always.
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