Star Wars The Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jabiim) review
The Disney era of Star Wars seems to have divided the fanbase, but I’m thrilled we got Mandalorian, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi shows from it. And the showdown of Obi-Wan battling his former apprentice in Jabiim has been one of my favorite Disney-era Star Wars moments so far.
As with most series, Hasbro’s Star Wars Black Series team was on it quickly to crank out figures from Obi-Wan. I’ve skipped several variations as I wanted this Jabiim version first. I’ll probably dip back and grab other versions once a Princess Leia figure comes out. But I’ve got a Darth Vader so now I’m all set to reenact this epic duel.
Let’s see if the Jabiim version of Obi-Wan was the figure I’ve been searching for or if it needs to get buried under a ton of rocks.
Packaging: While this set had the closed packaging treatment, I don’t mind the somewhat basic Star Wars presentation. If nothing else, it’s consistent.
Obi-Wan has a fitting stance for his battle on Jabbim on the front and the black packaging. The Kenobi theme color is sky blue, which pops nicely against the mostly black color scheme.
On the left side is the continuation of the Kenobi mural. This version is No. 11 in the series. The bio sets the stage for the backdrop of the series with Obi-Wan’s looming confrontation with Darth Vader.
Likeness: I have my Revenge of the Sith Obi-Wan on my desk in hopes of figuring out a better head to make him a generic human Jedi. Looking at the Jabiim Obi-Wan head sculpt I’m very impressed with how far Hasbro has come with the likenesses.
This head sculpt is superb expertly captures Ewan McGregor’s look from Kenobi.
Even the hair sculpt looks great. I thought the production photos looked good, but I don’t think they do the head sculpt enough justice.
The outfit is spot-on as well. It’s basically the standard Jedi tunic with a different belt with pouches. The long boots are gone, replaced by wraps around shorter boots.
Paint: There’s not a ton of paint here. Most of the figure is simply cast in that particular color.
Most of the paint work is done on his head sculpt, which is really well done. That includes a darker beard. This is where you can truly appreciate the face printing techniques. His belt buckle has some small silver accents that are well executed as well.
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Scale: I don’t have many of the dedicated Kenobi show figures so the best comparison for now is Darth Vader. Obi-Wan looks impressively shorter than Vader really selling the massive physical stature of the former padawan.
Articulation: Obi-Wan has most of the articulation that I wanted. Hasbro’s SWB team tends to do single-joint articulated elbows and knees that still have the same functionality of double-jointed points. Obi-Wan’s aren’t as great.
They’re solid enough that he can easily do the double grip lightsaber stances/poses. Yet he’s lacking that little extra range for deeper strikes.
The biggest culprit is his tunic. Its thicker plastic proves restrictive around the shoulder area. Combined with the elbow range, it’s holding back some of his movement.
He has butterfly shoulders, though the tunic hinders some of the back and forth/up and down range. That largely means there’s no chance of doing overhead strike poses. And fat chance of the behind the back twirling poses.
On the smarter engineering front, Obi-Wan’s front skirt piece doesn’t limit any posing. This section was very well executed.
Jabiim Obi-Wan Kenobi has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders (butterfly joints)
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hips
- thighs
- knees
- ankles
Accessories: Obi-Wan Kenobi comes with a decent amount of accessories — almost surprisingly so for the Black Series line.
First up, he comes with his signature lightsaber. To capture the darker scenes from Jabiim, the blade is a much richer, deeper shade of blue. It really looks great. As always, the hilt has a superior level of detailed sculpting. It’s been sized up a little to more easily stay snugly in Obi-Wan’s hands.
Next up is the blaster Obi-Wan used throughout the show. It’s small and very compact but is accurate to the source material.
In some scenes the blaster looks black while in others it has a golden hue with black elements. Hasbro went with a mostly golden tint and a black handle.
Finally, he’s got his half-cloak/half-robe. The biggest change is the robe doesn’t have sleeves.
It fits smoothly. I love the fit of the raised hood thanks to expert tailoring.
Worth it? Jabiim Obi-Wan clocked in at $25, but thanks to a Hasbro Pulse outlet sale, I was able to get him for $15.91. Obi-Wan is more in line with what I would expect from a $25 Star Wars figure thanks to his accessories and that amazing likeness but getting him for under $20 made this an easy purchase.
Rating: 9.3 out of 10
If I could just get another bit of range out of the shoulder portions of the tunic, this figure would have all the poseability I’d need. It’s still a phenomenal Obi-Wan figure though and the one must-get version for fans of the show.
Where to get it? Hasbro Pulse still has Jabiim Obi-Wan in stock. You can also grab him from Amazon and Entertainment Earth at this rate.
As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.