Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Vader Concept Art Edition

Release Date: August 2022

RRP: $55.99

Star Wars just wouldn't be Star Wars without the work of Ralph McQuarrie. Throughout the creation of the original trilogy and beyond, the artist designed the look and feel of the Star Wars galaxy that we are all familiar with. There might have been some changes as it leapt from paper to screen, but the influence is undoubtedly there. While Hasbro have paid homage to McQuarrie's original designs for these iconic characters in the past, the Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Vader Concept Art Edition set is the first time they are doing it in their premier six-inch collector figure line. Originally revealed at Star Wars Celebration 2022, the set releases as a ShopDisney online exclusive also available at Galaxy's Edge.

"Ralph McQuarrie's contribution to the look and feel of the Star Wars galaxy is immense. His unique style provided a visual language and guide for the saga's costume designers, set builders, location scouts, and model makers, and laid the groundwork for a consistent Star Wars aesthetic that is still seen and felt today. McQuarrie's work has and will continue to inspire artists and fans around the world for years to come."

This special concept art set comes in some special Black Series two-pack packaging, which is largely similar to the standard boxes but has a few key differences. The most obvious is of course size, but more significant each side of the box connects at an angle so that both sides feature the usual mural artwork. While there's nothing for it to connect to here, it means both Obi-Wan and Darth Vader adorn the sides of the packaging in newly created artwork that pays homage to their Ralph McQuarrie designs. Colour-wise the box features the same orange accents as the other figures from A New Hope, as opposed to having its own unique colour designation. Rather than a character bio the back of the box features a very brief blurb about the legacy of McQuarrie's concept art, and then inside both figures are neatly laid out on a moulded plastic tray. As an extra special detail, the silver backing card behind them features faint images of the actual concept art as well.

First up out of the box is concept Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the first thing that should be noted is that neither of these figures are 100% accurate to the art itself. Rather these are repaints of older figures with brand new head sculpts, with this Kenobi logically being derived from the original trilogy Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. However by removing the cloak and giving the body a vastly different colour scheme it almost looks like a brand new figure, with the blue robes being quite a departure from the sandy white fans are more used to seeing. But alas as a repaint there are some obvious inaccuracies, most of which are visible even when comparing the figure to the box art. The robes sit slightly differently, and the figure lacks the shoulder pads the blue strips should protrude from. In the grand scheme of things it isn't a huge difference, but it is a shame that Hasbro didn’t opt for all-new moulds (or at the very least more new parts) for this special release. The new head sculpt does however make all the difference, and is quite the contrast to the familiar face of Alec Guinness. This stern-faced Obi-Wan is clean shaven and balding, with a strip of white hair running around just above his ears. But as different as he may be, he gives off that same sage-like vibe befitting of the Jedi Master. It's an interesting figure that probably doesn't have quite as wide appeal as the Vader does, but an interesting piece of Star Wars history that it's great to see in the Black Series.

Even as an older figure Obi-Wan does pretty well on the articulation front, but unfortunately there are some pretty significant design drawbacks that impact on the figure. Altogether he features; 

- Ball jointed head, waist and hips 

- Swivel hinge shoulders, wrists and ankles 

- Hinged neck, elbows and knees 

- Thigh swivels 

It's not so much the articulation that's the problem, more that the legs are completely surrounded by soft plastic robes and don't allow more much movement or posing at all. While there are slits at either side which the legs can poke out from, the result usually looks rather awkward. On the one hand it's a figure that's pretty well suited to the kind of poses Kenobi was doing in A New Hope (other than sitting down that is, no chance of that here), but not so well suit to action poses or lightsaber duelling. When it comes to the latter you can get the most basic poses out of him, which is enough to do the job but remains frustrating when so many Black Series figures have adopted soft good robe pieces by now.

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