Attack of the Hybrids

When Sideshow collectibles first announced they were doing a Stormtrooper figure, I was ecstatic and couldn't wait for the figure to hit stores. With a price tag almost half of what Medicom was offering with its Stormtrooper, the prospects of having 2 and posing them both side by side Darth Vader was just astounding.

As a teaser to probably one of the most anticipated figures from Sideshow, the good people at Sideshow collectibles decided to make an Obi Wan Kenobi figure, based on the hit cartoon miniseries "The Clone Wars' by Gendy Tartovsky which ran on Cartoon Network a few years back. First and foremost I would like to point out one thing; this figure is beautiful! I know I know it might not be perfect, it has its flaws here and there but IMHO this is probably the best Star Wars figure Sideshow has produced to date.

Okay, that aside. Sideshow has made some major overhauling with this one. The first thing you'd notice is the size of the box, which is smaller than the previous ones. Sideshow opted for a more economical/environmental friendly packaging for this one. Gone are the wasteful second panel where the accessories used to be. Now everything's packed onto one tray. As much as I like the older packaging which is way cooler (cos the figures and accessories are a different compartment, and the whole opening fold thing), I have no complains with this one. In fact I'm kinda all for the new packaging. Smaller packaging means less wasted space and less wasted space means more figures per box, which means they would save a lot on shipping which in turn keeps the price of the figures down. So everybody's happy.

Sideshow has really stepped up in the head sculpt department. The head sculpt, my god man! It feels like Sideshow somehow managed to clone Ewan McGregor and scale him down to size. The resemblance is so uncanny its scary. Kudos to Sideshow for the spot on accuracy. I've included pictures of Ewan Mcgregor as Obi Wan so you can judge for yourself.

I was a bit skeptical about the armour and how it would effect the articulation. I read from other collectors about their Medicom Stormtrooper limited articulation due to the armour. To my surprise the armour didn't really get in the way. The hips/torso joint was the only thing that was affected by the armour but everything else seemed to be okay. My only concern for the figure is the joints which are wobbly at times. This is where the figure suffers. The joints aren't as sturdy as Hot Toys bodies and tend to collapse at times if you try to do any deep stances. I would suggest using the stand if you plan to do so but other than than he stands well with the normal poses. The new body is definitely a huge improvement over the Art S. Buck body.

Another major change by Sideshow is the wrist swap. No more fumbling with the teeny weeny peg when trying to change hands. This one resembles Medicom's hand pegs. You can get quite a range of movement for the hands cos the ball joints (which are on the hands) can turn 360 degrees and move up and down. The same goes for the feet (which are detachable). It comes with 3 sets of hands (including the one already fitted on the figure). One set of hands included are for holding blasters, which is kinda pointless unless you have an extra Stormtrooper blaster lying around. Nevertheless it was nice of Sideshow to include them in case you DO have an extra blaster and want to pose him holding one.

All in all, to me this is one solid figure. If you're a Star Wars fan you should definitely get this figure. I can't hardly wait to get my hands on their Stormtrooper and Utapau Clone Trooper.