Obi-Wan and Kylo Ren are Star Wars Black Series 2016 Convention Exclusives

Summer is here and that means it's time for convention exclusive items. Both the bastion and the bane of many collectors, convention exclusives present us with collectibles we may otherwise never see at retail with the caveat that they'll be next to impossible to track down if you aren't actually at the show itself. Heck, sometimes you can be at the show in person and still miss out on a sweet limited item. Fortunately, Hasbro's Star Wars Black Series is offering up two exclusives this convention season which should double your odds of acquisition.

Last year, we saw the debut of the First Order Stormtrooper, as San Diego Comic-Con was the first place you could get your hands on any toys from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This year, Hasbro isn't just sticking with the latest film in the franchise, though the Force Awakens will be a part of the plan. A new Kylo Ren Pack, featuring Ben Solo's finely coiffed portrait, will be offered exclusively at Star Wars Celebration Europe. Additionally, the original trilogy will get some love in the form a an Obi-Wan Kenobi pack, which will be offered exclusively at SDCC 16 and Fan Expo Canada.

Kylo Ren has seen his fair share of action figures from Hasbro over the course of the last year, but this is the first time we're seeing an unmasked version outside of Disney's exclusive Die Cast series. He'll come complete with his helmet, an active lightsaber and just the hilt, a display stand featuring the First Order insignia as well as a First Order banner, and the jewel of the set, Darth Vader's melted helmet. It's probably one of the best accessories the Black Series figures have seen to date (barring the 2013 Boba Fett and Han in Carbonite set), though it is a tiny shame it will only be available in this set. That said, even though there have been plenty of Kylo variations since last September, the Vader helmet alone might make this the preeminent Ben Solo figure.

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Old desert wizard Ben Kenobi gets his first Black Series figure, and it's a winner. The prequel trilogy incarnation of the character has been done in Black Series form before, but for whatever reason Sir Alec Guinness is only just getting his moment in the spotlight. Like the recent New Hope Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan gets a big cloth Jedi cloak to go with his more standard Jedi desertwear. He'll also include his lightsaber, Anakin's lightsaber, and a table for which to display Leia Organa's message requesting his assistance for the Rebellion. It all comes in a rather nice windowed display box (if you're one of those "mint in package" people), which features the full message from Leia and a nice portrait of Obi-Wan.

Now, I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it, too. Why not a Rey exclusive? I can't answer that question (though it'll definitely be one asked of Hasbro in the coming weeks), but I can say I'm tiny bit glad Rey hasn't been made an exclusive figure for conventions. She's still hard to find in a number of locations even in her most basic form in any scale Hasbro offers. If her Resistance iteration from the end of the film was shown off as a convention exclusive, it wouldn't be great to see her get another toy, it would be even more of a nightmare trying to get your hands on one. Do we want more Rey figures? Absolutely. Do we want them at the cost of being in even shorter supply where secondary markets have a chance to really tug at wallets? Not at all.

Hopefully the wait for more Rey collectibles won't be long. We'll find out more about Hasbro's Star Wars Black Series plans very soon. With Ahsoka Tano already out, Sabine Wren and a new Princess Leia confirmed to be coming soon, and (fingers crossed) Jyn Erso on the horizon, we could be in for a very good year for Star Wars female figure representation. For now, I'm more than happy to let Kylo and Ben be exclusive because I won't be terribly upset if I miss out on them.

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