293-2
Hasbro- Black Series: Obi Wan
Rating of worst to best of the Star Wars movies continued; see reviews 215-2, 218-2, 221-2, 241-2, 245-2, 247-2, 266-2 & 272-2 for the previous instalments:
8. Star Wars Ep 1- The Phantom Menace. The Bad:
Despite some recent revisionist history, it would be incorrect to say that EP 1 was a flawless film, far from it as a matter of fact. Many hours have been devoted to the flaws of this movie and while I’m sure I share many of them, I’ll attempt to keep this to a concise, personal opinion as to why I thought EP was bad.
Firstly, I didn’t like the casting. Jake Loyd was too young to play Anakin and came off as an unlikable twirp, Qui Gon, played by Lian Nesson, was shoehorned into a role that was expanded to leverage his star power, thereby displacing all the other characters storylines and Natile Portman just seemed disinterested 90% of the time.
Secondly, not only was the story bad (trade dispute?!?) but it felt that there were no stakes. In one scene where an officer from Naboo is requesting help from the Jedi in holographic form, he claims that the death toll is catastrophic, however the movie never shows any evidence of that. Infact, outside of a few pilots and Qui Gon, I’m not sure any humans die at all?
Lastly, and this is somewhat difficult given that it’s the basis of the entire prequel trilogy: the Jedi order was a stupid idea and does not make sense in the grand scheme of things. I’m not sure what I wanted or pictured when I first got into Star Wars, well before the prequels, but I’m not sure if it was an organized set of space wizards not unlike a modern western religion.
Pros: OH MY GOD you guys, Obi Wan Kenobi is now my favorite Black Series and /or 6” figure to date. And while this may sound hyperbolic (and actually not really true) my reasoning is simple: the designers have solved one big thing that bothers the hell out of me about modern action figures: PLASTIC TUNIC SYNDROME. I constantly see modern figures suffer from PTS and it really bothers me as it takes a figure that could be great and makes them average; especially when it hindered lower body articulation. But Hasbro did something amazing: Cloth panels between the hard plastic sections. Now while I recognize that this trend did not survive the future waves, it is nice that one or two figures were able able to pose to their full potential!
Cons: Another set of hands along with a Jedi robe would have been great additions to this already great figure.
