Despite taking a break from TFs, and having sworn to never line Lucas' pockets again, while I was coming home, I stopped at TRU, looking for new Marvel Legends, which I found (Yay!). Looking around, I saw the SWTFs. In the Star Wars section (Here, right next to the TFs), lots of vaders, 2 grievous', and a Obi-wan. Originally, I was planning on getting Vader and Obi-wan, but passed on Vader, it really failed the inspection when I looked at the actual product. I went ahead on got Obi-wan; out of all of them, he appealed to me the most, as a kind of Alternate Universe TF, rather than a crossover trying to jam a TF into a SW mold. Usually I do a brief review of the packaging, and all that kind of stuff, but it's pretty obvious that it's unneeded, so I'm just going to bottom line it (Though the tech spec was a nice touch). Unlike so many, I'm satisified, in fact, glad I got it. As a Starfighter, it's flawless. Opening wings, lowering landing gear, opening cockpit, and other than if you look at it straight on/underside, it's practically impossible to know it's a TF (The hips show slightly). Kind of a nice touch is what appears to be a kill count stamped on the side of the cockpit, ala WWII. Transformation is simple, and robot mode is nice, except for the arms. IMHO, the lightsabers (He comes with 2) are too short, but they fit well in the vehicle mode wings, and looks like cannons, or missles when shot. In robot mode, he suffers from stubby arm syndrome, but it's quite livable, as long as you don't fixate on it, but what really annoys me is the articulation, or lack of it. Double shoulders, hinge elbow, hinge wrists sounds great on paper, but because of the execution, the elbow and the wrist don't line up, (Like Cybertron Scourge/GF Flame Convoy) in other words, he can't hold the lightsaber pointing up, with his elbow bent and the bicep not extended (In an L from the shoulder), all because of a lack of a ball jointed wrist. This seems like a really bad move. As mentioned, there's a G2 feeling to the robot mode. Reading in the Grievous and Vader thread, loose joints and other problems seem to be a rampant problem, not so with my Obi-wan, the joints are very tight for the most part, and the paint aps and TF are very clean. Everything pegs together very smartly, and just as they should in both modes. Now, the instructions, while sufficient, actually leave a critical step out, that I think makes a tremendous difference. When TFing, after the head has been deployed, push the cockpit seat back. This allows Obi-wan to be able to sit mech style in the figure, and far more importantly, locks the head in the raised position. (Otherwise it's a mess.) Personally, I didn't get it for the SW aspect (as mentioned), but as a different TF, I like the starship design (reminds me of a hybridization of Vector Prime and Noisemaze), and I like the robot mode, for the most part. I am, however, going to be customizing it, as it was my purpose all along. I'm going to cut off the R2 unit, paint the red dark gray, and the beard/hair black on the head, and lastly, stick a Decepticon sicker on the cockpit, making him a Last Decepticon kind of figure. Thinking about it, it would also serve as a fantastic base for a neo-Sweep. Cut off the R2 unit, paint him in all shades of blue, and you've got a pretty neat update of the Sweep design. (In fact, you could do Ob1 as Neo-Scourge, and a bunch of Anakins as Neo-Sweeps) The only thing I feel is wrong about the figure is the price. At $15, this seems like a bad deal for what you get. This feels like a Deluxe figure, on par with what we've been getting at that pricepoint, so at $10 I'd recomend it. At $15, and given the harsh negative reaction Vader and the others received, I'd say get it only if you like one of the modes. It's not perfect, but then again, what is?
I bought Obi Wan this afternoon (Can I assign someone to heckle me everytime I buy a toy I swear I'm going to wait on or not get at all? gah.). I agree, the alt mode is spectacular. Aside from it's...portlyness...and stumpy arms the robot mode is actually pretty cool too. Not much more to add, though I love the lightsaber/ missile integration into the alt mode...plus it works as weapon storage in robot mode too...pretty impressed by that. B-/C+
I would definetely have to agree with you guys. I just bought all 4 of the first wave SWTFs for my birthday this last week; they're the first Transformers that i've gotten in awhile and for the most part, I really do dig these toys. Obi-Wan is my favorite both with Alt-mode perfection and tight joints. I've found the biggest surprise of these figs is that they really do look a LOT better in person. The Luke Skywalker robot mode is actually much more impressive than I had originally thought it would look. I am looking forward to more figures in this line for sure!!!
I just found out this is an easy problem to fix. Remove the pin from both of his wrists and they act exactly like ball-joints. They stay nice n' tight and don't fall out. I have absolutly no idea why they put the pin there in the first place. The only purpose it serves it to block articulation. I posted pictures here of the wrists with the pins removed: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/thread90369.html
I did a nice lengthy review of this toy as well as big piccies. http://www.tikgnat.com/toys10.htm I agree that its good, but I think 'it could be better' applies here.
