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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| Jedi masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, as envisioned in an early preproduction painting for STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie. Longtime fans of the Saga are doubtless aware of McQuarrie early involvement in helping writer/director George Lucas bring his vision for the space fantasy to the screen. To celebrate the film's thirtieth anniversary, a series of special concept art figures based on McQuarrie's art have been created. Early sketches of Obi-Wan by McQuarrie depicted an elderly, balding man in a costume similar to a Samurai warrior outfit. The sculpt retains elements from the original black-and-white pencil sketch, combined with the colors for a similar costume design that was rendered in full color. His facial sculpt somewhat resembles British actor Reginald Owen (1938's A CHRISTMAS CAROL). Yoda went through many designs by various artists. Ultimately, a design by Joe Johnston was chosen, and McQuarrie tweaked it for a pre-production painting. Later, the thin, elfin design was again altered in the process of turning the character into a manually-operated combination of hand-puppetry and animatronics. They receive an 8 out of 10 rating. |
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| Paint: |
Obi-Wan is molded in a variety of colors. His head and hands are molded in a medium flesh tone, with light gray paint apps to his hair and eyebrows. His eyes are painted white, with black apps to his lashes and irises. Each pupil gets a white dot deco, simulating eye "sparkle," as most POTF2-era figures did. His torso is molded light gray, with a medium flesh tone app to his neck. There are purple apps to his belt harness and and shoulder armor. The armor gets a red app for the trim. His arms are molded in purple, with red apps to the sleeve trim. His belt and sash are molded in purple, with the belt getting a brown paint app, then silver decos to details like the buckle and sideways-mounted lightsaber holster. His pelvis and legs are molded in light gray, with medium gray apps to his boot tops. There are brown decos to the boot wrappings. His feet are molded in medium gray, with dark brown soles and light gray decos to the boot tops. The softgoods lower robe is white cloth, not a very good match to the light gray of the plastic areas. His lightsaber is molded in translucent blue, with silver and black paint apps. The lightsaber hilt is molded in silver, with a black deco.
Yoda's head, hands, and legs are molded in mint green, and are all given a medium green wash to bring out sculpted details. His head has white apps to the eyes and hair. His irises are a bright yellow-green, with black pupils. The irises and pupils are too small, compared to the concept are on the card. The hair apps are drybrushed, and allow too much green to show through. His five-fingered hands have gray apps to the nails. His torso, pelvis, and arms are molded in a medium tan. There is a brown paint app to the edge of his robe and hood on the torso, as well as a green app to his neck. His belt is molded in brown. His walking stick is a grayish-tan. The softgoods skirt is a medium brown that's a poor match to the rest of the costume's medium tan color: 7.5/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Obi-Wan has a ball-jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, and ankles, withplaner-cut waist, wrists, and hips. Yoda has ball-jointed neck, shoulders, and elbows, with planer-cut waist, wrists, and hips: 8/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Obi-Wan's lightsaber, Obi-Wan's lightsaber hilt, Yoda's walking stick, Hasbro STAR WARS protective case, SDCC sticker on outside of case, and characters-specific SDCC collector coin. The lightsaber is a REVENGE OF THE SITH-style Obi-Wan saber, with an altered paint deco. The saber hilt is a Power of the Jedi-style Obi-Wan hilt, which is too short to match the ROTS saber; additionally, the two sabers have mismatched paint apps: 7.5/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The Thirtieth Anniversary Collection card is basically rectangular, but with several die cut wedges that make it the most serious departure from the basic card design in the modern line. The McQuarrie Signature Series card art features light blue accents and lettering on the front, with the art that inspired the figure enclosed on the front. The reverse of the card features a portrait of Mr. McQuarrie, with text explaining his pivotal role in realizing STAR WARS creator George Lucas' unique characters. There is no figure number on the insert, as it was a convention exclusive and isn't part of the basic Thirtieth Anniversary Collection line: 8/10. |
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| Availability: |
| These figures debuted at San Diego Comic-Con in California as HasbroToyShop.com exclusives in late July 2007. After the convention was over, they were first offered on-line on July 30th. Initial online sales were brisk, and the figures sold out the first day. It took a few more days for HTS to relist it. Figures started shipping in mid-August, with the bulk of orders shipping by early September. Currently, it is listed as "Out of stock" on HTS. Other e-tailers have them, but for well over the $14.99 HTS price: 6.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| The McQuarrie Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda set is geared towards serious collectors, as opposed to casual fans and kids. While the sculpts are decent enough, Obi-Wan's lightsaber accessories seem like rushed, last-minute choices that mar an otherwise cool set: 7.6/10. |
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