Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi Cape
Wolff
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi Cape was usually released with the following combinations of colour to figure:
There are 9 main variations plus subvariants. Subvariants do exist and may not all be documented. As a result of the fact that these were produced from a vinyl sheet bought from a third party involved, the subvariants may vary heavily depending on the supplier.
Vinyl cape material (PVC) is made out of a heated mass, rolled and milled in several processes to finally get printed or not. That is important to know, because shrinkage can occur to them when heated again, also depending if they were cold milled or heated milled in the last steps and the directions they were milled. Giving exact dimensions of 35+ year old PVC capes is not very helpful for a guide. They were likely die-cut under tension which would also contribute to capes produced in varying sizes from the same source.
So overlaying those to see differences isn’t helpful in most cases. What we have to do is look for overall differences in shapes, forms and die-cuts. For that reason I will refrain on measurements on all vinyl capes but have a scale on all my pictures for reference.
A Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi cape does not have a given front or back. But all of those capes have a left and right side determined by the asymmetrical shape of the cape. A front and back side was then assigned to make them comparable in the guide.
M1 was produced by KADER in Hong Kong. This is the earliest cape made by Kader. The one without crosshatch pattern also came with DT Ben Kenobi. The are pretty glossy and have small armholes with a narrow stance.
The following versions are known:
- smooth/faint, no crosshatch (M1a)
- crosshatch/faint vertical lines (M1b)
M2 was produced by KADER in Hong Kong. The cape has a round collar and larger armholes compared to all other Kader versions. The surface is pretty glossy, comparable to M1.
The following versions are known:
- vertical lines/crosshatch (M2a)
- faint vertical lines/crosshatch (M2b)
- smooth/crosshatch (M2c)
M3 was produced by KADER in Hong Kong. The surface of cape is way duller compared to all Kader capes and the armholes are always out of line. The cut to the round collar seems to be irregular somehow is caused by a damaged cutting tool (also see Princess Leia capes from Kader).
The following versions are known:
- faint vertical lines/crosshatch (M3a)
- crosshatch/rough (damaged cutting tool) (M3b)
M4 was produced by KADER in Hong Kong or China. The cape was produced at the end of the line and is most easy to spot: The pointed top to the collar is a unique give away. The size of those can vary, but we can roughly say that there is tall and small capes.
The following versions are known:
- smooth/crosshatch (large) (M4a)
- smooth/crosshatch (small) (M4a)
- faint vertical lines/crosshatch (large) (M4b)
- faint vertical lines/crosshatch (small) (M4b)
- rough/crosshatch (small) (M4c)
M5 was produced by UNITOY in Hong Kong. It is the earliest cape produced by UNITOY and therefore goes with Ben Kenobi Fam. I COOs. The stance between the armholes is so narrow that the first in production only survived with splits in the capes (M5a large). The bulgy top and sides of the cape are comparable to the Unitoy M4 Princess Leia Cape and give this variant a distinctive look.
The following versions are known:
- faint/smooth, no crosshatch (large) (M5a)
- smooth/faint, no crosshatch (medium) (M5a)
- smooth/faint, no crosshatch (small) (M5a)
- horizontal stripes/crosshatch (large) (M5b)
- faint horizontal stripes/crosshatch (large) (M5c)
- rough glossy/crosshatch (large) (M5d)
M6 was produced by UNITOY in Hong Kong. It is very hard to distinguish this cape from versions made by KADER because of its round collar. The difference is in the cut (larger) and position of the armholes and the corners (both sides inverted). The cape is assumed to come with late production of Ben Kenobi Fam. I COOs.
The following versions are known:
- vertical lines/crosshatch (M6a)
- faint vertical lines/crosshatch (M6b)
M7 was produced by UNITOY in Hong Kong. The shape of the collar has a bulgy top. It is not as obvious compared to the M4 produced by Unitoy as well, but still clearly visible compared to Kader round collars. The M7 was mainly used for Ben Kenobi Fam. II COOs. Indeed this cape variant has a subfamily with a taller shape and different armholes which are more in line. These are the first two capes shown below. In a later step the armholes got lower and seem to be always out of line. I summarized these two families because they seem definitely related and share similar surface structures.
The following versions are known:
- crosshatch/smooth (subversion1) (M7a)
- vertical lines/crosshatch (subversion1) (M7b)
- vertical lines/crosshatch (M7b)
- faint vertical lines/crosshatch (M7b)
- crosshatch/faint grid (M7c)
- grid/crosshatch (M7c)
- rough/crosshatch (M7d)
M8 was produced by UNITOY in Hong Kong. This version evolves from the M5 and M7 made by Unitoy. The bulgy top is present again and seems like a mixture of both cape versions, but more important is that the capes got bigger armholes to prevent them from splitting too easily. The M8 appeared mainly with late Ben Kenobi Coos Fam. II no COO figures.
The following versions are known:
- crosshatch/faint vertical lines (M8a)
- crosshatch/rough (M8b)
M9 was produced by LILI LEDY in Mexico. As always the capes produced by Ledy don’t have any crosshatch pattern present. The cut is unique compared to the capes made by KADER and UNITOY: The cape is shorter and wider then most capes produced in Asia and the very round corners are very unique.
The following versions are known:
- smooth/faint (M9)
*Coming soon
Ben Kenobi Figure Guide
Poch Ben Kenobi Guide
Lili Ledy Ben Kenobi Guide
