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My dying wish is for an owl/camel hybrid, which I call camowl.

Obi-Wan & Dawn of the Deadddd.

Here's a pretty quick one about "The Spirit of Obi-Wan," a mail-away exclusive from Hasbro and Frito Lay to tie in with the special edition theatrical release of the Star Wars trilogy in the late 90s. I mentioned the figure in that UGO feature a month or so ago, and realized that it meant enough to me for a full tribute. Or in this case, a small one.

By the way, we caught "Dawn of the Dead" last night. No complaints here whatsoever. The main gripes I'm reading deal with the lack of "social commentary" seen in the original, as if that's the real reason people have championed the first flick for all these years. Yeah, it's nice that the movie was clever and all, but come on. It was all about the characters, and while prototypical at times, the new flick delivers with a cast you'll actually feel something for. The zombies are cool, but the film is more about "waiting to die" and scrambling for hope in a hopeless situation rather than an all-out zombie action fest. And yet, when it's time for the monsters to shine, we aren't let down. The film has the requisite gross-out shots and loads of gore, and I'm impressed that they pulled the trigger on some extremely un-PC bits here and there. I'd expand on what I mean, but you know...spoilers and all that. I've been waiting to see a horror movie that's satisfied enough in being just that without trying to be "something better than a horror movie," a poorly structured way of saying it I know, but that's what I wanted and that's what I got. Recommended, and don't wait for the DVD -- it's definitely the kind of movie that's worth seeing in a crowd.

Posted by Matt on 03/21/2004. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 94 comments

I got one of those Ben’s, but it was part of a cinema scene that had all three dead Jedi – Anakin, Yoda and Ben. I wasn’t back into SW figures until well after the Frito Lay promotion.

Regarding literature, I am a big fan of some of the Jedi comics – The Tales of the Jedi is a great series. I have a bunch of them in tradback form.

Chestnuts roasted by beSharp @ 03/24/2004 12:00 PM


Star Wars Galaxies is an awesome game. I played it a lot for the first couple months it was out, but I’ve been way too busy lately. Actually Beerstalker is my character name there. I haven’t logged in for the last couple months though. I should really start playing again or drop my subscription I guess.

As far as the comics go I haven’t read any of them yet. I’ve read all but 5 of the novels though. I suppose if I ever get through those, and the Shadow trilogy that follows up the movie Willow I will get into those.

By the way the book Willow was better than the movie too, except it wasn’t as funny.

Chestnuts roasted by Beerstalker @ 03/24/2004 2:14 PM


I think that if I watched the original series obsessively, I could probibly come up with better prequel scripts, actually.
Anybody with good writing skills could.
Now, if I’d just remember to use the spellchecker…

Chestnuts roasted by AngeFaitore @ 03/24/2004 5:36 PM


I have the Obi-Wan figure. Very nice one, methinks. Pretty colour and good detail.

Chestnuts roasted by GJ @ 03/24/2004 9:51 PM


Haven’t read the responses, but I had one of these. Waited AGES for it!

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron @ 03/24/2004 11:26 PM


i got the Spirit of Obi Wan Figure.. gobbled down those mini-bags of chips with the greasy UPC symbols and mailed it off.. an i was surprised when it actually arrived, because i’d never done a mail-away offer before. i think my figure’s slightly different, though i don’t have it where i live now (it’s at my parents, and they live across an ocean), so i can’t describe it, but i thought it had a lightsaber, and no glasses. time makes the memory fade, however. i need to search about to see if i can find the alternative pics.

i LOVE that figurine comic at the end of the article. i almost crapped myself.

squee4242 has some good points on the plotline that i wondered about, too (though i thought the whole "brothers" thing might be referring to "brothers in combat" or somesuch since Ben and Owen have different last names). Beerstalker, thank you SO much for mentioning the Timothy Zahn novels, they’re what dragged me into a full-time Star Wars obsession back in the day.

anyway, excellent page! i got a good laugh out of it.

Chestnuts roasted by Sara @ 03/27/2004 11:16 PM


Hey Matt. Long-time reader, first time poster.
I have that Obi-wan, too! I got it for 2 bucks from a friend who is an action figure nut, but periodically cleans off his shelves by selling everything. This was in Australia, so I’m not sure which batch it was from, but I agree, he’s damn cool and minty-gel-y! He sits on my husband’s Linux.

Chestnuts roasted by Mimi @ 03/29/2004 10:13 AM


Hahahaha Matt you always know how to make someone laugh so hard they fall out of their computor chair…Love the little story at the end…is this the beginning of a series? ;)

Chestnuts roasted by Allie @ 03/30/2004 1:19 PM


Matt, your envelope didn’t have postage markings– you LIAR! You just threw that in a mailbox and took a picture. I’m on to you!

Chestnuts roasted by me @ 04/01/2004 12:36 PM


Ahoy Hoy Matt,
Looks like your ZIP says 10031, Hamilton Heights-Sugar Hill HOLLA!
See ya on the A-Train!
Yet that vinyl siding and mounted mailbox reeks of L-Train…
Chill, I aint stalkin you!…yet.
:-

Chestnuts roasted by ForrestIan @ 04/12/2004 12:10 PM


Absolutely Classic!

Brought back some fond memories of waiting impatiently by the mailbox for "exclusive" Star Wars figures.

I never got the Spirit of Obi Wan figure… But back in the day I did send off UPC symbols for both Nien Numb (Lando Calrissian’s co-pilot in Jedi) as well as the Emperor figure… which oddly enough looked exactly like Roddy McDowall.

Thanks for the memories.

Chestnuts roasted by Matthew @ 05/07/2004 7:41 PM


Right on Jay Amabile!
Screw that Hip Hop Garbage! We gotta try to keep our rock ALIVE! Screw Billboard top 100! Screw Motown! Who the hell did those guys (The Bomb) think they were with their hot chicks and their BIGGY Smalls, Jay Z and R. Kelly junk? LNOE (Last Night On Earth) are the guys who really are keeping it real with the long hair and the ripped jeans. The Cowboy Hat was Awesome! North Jersey RULES! Long live the South! The Akkkuarian, X-Entertainment, AmericasBest, WKNJ & Jay Amabile is all we need! White people are only 72% of the united States but with Jay Amabile on our side I feel like we are 90%. The BOMB and all those chicks can pack up and get out of North Jersey! We don’t need em. Hip Hop, Reggae and R&B should be illegal. We need to use the Aquarian to put all that Jungle Music down and Stomp it out!

Later, Straight Edge Daniel (S.E.D)

Chestnuts roasted by S.E.D @ 05/31/2004 5:18 PM


This site is the BEST! You guys ROCK!
Any hope you guys might have a blurb on the series "V" (the show about the lizard aliens that come to earth to do battle with Marc Singer and Michael Ironside while sucking down rats and other creepy-crawlies)?
Your site goes to the top of my bookmarked list!

Chestnuts roasted by Russlander @ 07/17/2004 4:09 AM


ALTHOUGH IT AIN’T WORTH MUCH,THIS FIGURE WOULD BE GOOD TO HAVE AS COLLECTOR, AND MIGHT BE WORTH SOMETHING IN A FEW YEARS.

Chestnuts roasted by Austin @ 10/31/2004 4:59 PM


ALTHOUGH IT AIN’T WORTH MUCH,THIS FIGURE WOULD BE GOOD TO HAVE AS COLLECTOR, AND MIGHT BE WORTH SOMETHING IN A FEW YEARS.

Chestnuts roasted by Austin @ 10/31/2004 4:59 PM


ALTHOUGH IT AIN’T WORTH MUCH,THIS FIGURE WOULD BE GOOD TO HAVE AS COLLECTOR, AND MIGHT BE WORTH SOMETHING IN A FEW YEARS.

Chestnuts roasted by Austin @ 10/31/2004 4:59 PM


ALTHOUGH IT AIN’T WORTH MUCH,THIS FIGURE WOULD BE GOOD TO HAVE AS COLLECTOR, AND MIGHT BE WORTH SOMETHING IN A FEW YEARS.

Chestnuts roasted by Austin @ 10/31/2004 5:00 PM


Oh my god. This was the first time I ever saved up upcs for anything. It was worth it. Then they put that figure out as a set with the other “ghosts”

I was pissed.

Chestnuts roasted by chris @ 02/22/2007 11:06 AM


during the summer of 1999. Star wars episode one released collector cans on pepsi cans. They all came with their own word hidden on the picture. what order do they go in?

Chestnuts roasted by Mac Vader @ 05/28/2009 9:59 AM


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