My brother is what you call an old school Star Wars fan. He came up in the early era of the films and knows most of the characters by their original names. He's not a super Star Wars nerd and I probably know more about the expanded universe than he does, but needless to say I grew up with Star Wars in my house. Myself, I've never been a big Star Wars fan. Sure I love the first three movies and I've seen all the other stuff, but I don't consider myself a "Star Wars Fan".



That's not to say every time I see a fat person I don't say "Fetch me the Jedi" and it certainly doesn't mean I haven't bought a few Star Wars figures through the years. My favorite character in Star Wars is Yoda. It always has been. Long before Yoda was a cool swashbuckling midget, I loved him. Well him and Gamorrean guards and the Ewoks.



Needless to say the original Yoda figure from Kenner got plenty of play in my house. We had a few of them. The figure was quite good for it's time and no matter how many times Hasbro makes a new one it rarely lives up to the vintage one. I'm also a big fan of the Clone Wars style of figures. I prefer them to the chunky more "realistic" figures for whatever the reason. So when Hasbro announced they were making a Clone Wars Yoda, I was elated.



Unfortunately the first figure they released was a hunk of largely unmovable plastic with a rocket launcher built into his arm. It screamed Burger King toy. The worst part was that the sculpt was really nice. So in typical Hasbro fashion, a year later they've released a new improved Clone Wars Yoda. and oh my God is he awesome

Packaging:
Star Wars figures just recently changed their packaging again. I believe they do this about every two years just to stay fresh. I think they should be commended for that although I'm sure they may have some ulterior motives because they know they can sucker at least a few MOC junkies to re-buy figures just to have every version on every cardback. Don't ever let it be said that Hasbro isn't deviously smart.



This card is a nice big square bubble. Is a square bubble an oxymoron? Anyway this is a nice change of pace from the Clone Trooper helmets that were the packaging for so long. While I liked the Clone helmet packages, it quickly grew old to me. This offers some nice artwork of the character right on the front. Seems to be taking a key from GI Joe and Marvel Universe. Hasbro has some nice unity amongst it's lines without making all the cards look the exact damn same (looking at you Mattel!).



The back gives a little story about what Yoda was doing in this particular episode of the Clone Wars cartoon. You know, I've only watched four or five episodes of that but they all seem to be pretty good. Definitely not the kids stuff you would think it would have been. This tells you the rest of the figures available right now, etc. This is Clone Wars Animated Wave 09 in case you were wondering.



Inside you've got the basic shell. He does have a rubber band holding him in and his lightsaber is stuck through the package. So are his feet. Be careful getting Yoda out. Although his feet do pop off if you're having issues.

Articulation:
About a year ago (maybe less) I decided to get a new Yoda figure. I hadn't had a new Yoda since the Kenner re-releases (some fan I am) because I thought they all looked like butt and they had crap articulation. The Kenner re-release didn't have great articulation either. So I did some research and it seemed like the Yoda with Kybuck was my best bet. What an utter disappointment that figure turned out to be. Not only did he look weird but his articulation SUCKED. The last Clone Wars Yoda was probably the most static figure yet for our little green Jedi Master, so how does this one manage?



INCREDIBLE! Yoda is the most articulated he's ever been. Yoda has a ball jointed neck, ball shoulders, ball elbows, mid torso ball joint, cut legs, ball jointed feet and swivel wrists! Dude Yoda can move!


The first Yoda who can do Michael Jackson dance moves.
I don't think there has ever been a Yoda released that you could get into as many poses. This Yoda can hit all of his classic poses with ease. Be it withered old man walking around with a cane, or badass mini flipping around with his lightsaber. The articulation here is really impressive and works flawlessly.



Sculpt:
If you don't like the Clone Wars aesthetic you might have some issues with how Yoda looks. However, in all of the Clone Wars redesigns I tend to think Yoda's is the least drastic. This sculpt is just adorable. Yeah, I said adorable. I wanna give this Yoda a hug.



But he's also a tough guy too. He's got that gentle but deadly look about him. A look I think Yoda probably pioneered. He has a bit of a scowl on his face, but it can also look cute in the right angles. He's like a Mogwai. You want one, but you know it's dangerous.


“Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”
Every little detail on this guy is sculpted to perfection. From little ripples and ridges on his head, to his hands down to the feet. It's a really nice sculpt and no amount of words can accurately describe it. Just take a look at the pictures and tell me that it's not incredible.



Clone Wars Yoda has slightly more hair than most versions of Yodas but Yoda has been getting more and more hair since the prequels started anyway. It definitely looks a bit "cartoony" but it's not like they phoned it in either. It fits the style of the show and it also fits the general design of Yoda.



Paint wise he's very solid. He appears to be cast in a middle of the road green and then has a dark green wash all over him. It looks REALLY good. There also appears to be an even thinner light wash of yellow over him as well. His nails are painted well but have a tad bit of run, which is to be expected. His eyes are really the strongest point. They're inviting and make you want to look into them. A major improvement from the crappy little dots that some other Yodas have gotten.


By the power of Grayskull!
His hair has a decent little wash on it and it appears a bit darker than in these pics. The flash tended to brighten it up a bit. The rest of his body appears to be cast in the appropriate colors as opposed to painted and all looks truly superb.



Of course the one drawback would be his scale. He's not 100% in scale with the typical figures. Naturally if you already have version 1 of Yoda you're quite aware and comfortable with this. The head is really the area that seems the most out of scale. Still I think it's totally worth it because even if he's a little big it allowed Hasbro to sculpt him much better. I'm also pretty sure he's screen accurate scale wise, because he looks pretty hoss on the Clone Wars show.



If you have the Kybuck from the previous figure you can put him on there too and he looks infinitely better. Like he jumped right out of the screen!

Accessories:
Yoda only comes with three accessories, but man are they all winners. First he comes with his lightsaber. I'm going to assume the sculpt is accurate because I'm not one of those guys who can tell the difference between Luke, Vader, Chuck E. Cheese's lightsabers. This is one of those flared lightsabers that I still really don't understand. I've yet to see a movie where it appeared "flared" but I guess somebody knows more about this than me.



Next up he has his cane. To be fair the sculpt is very simple, but it damn sure looks good. It's a mostly smooth but lumpy little sculpt and it's cast in a dark brown. It looks perfect in his hand and you could do a lot of cool poses with it. Definitely a nice piece.



Finally he has his robe. I suppose this is a Jedi robe, but I like to think Yoda would totally wear robes even if he wasn't a Jedi. It's a cloth good item, which can be a bit of a mixed bag at times. Not here though. The robe fits him really well and doesn't look too big at all. In fact it looks just about perfect. The hood is wider to fit his head, but his ears are too big for it to really be able to go on.



I suppose if you cut some slits into the top of the hood you could fit his ears into it. Interestingly, if you have the previous Yoda from the Kybuck figure you can put him in that robe. That Yoda was swimming in his robe, but this Yoda fits PERFECTLY into it. I'm not sure which one I like better, but it might be worth picking up the other Yoda just so you can have him change clothes.



Additional Notes:
This figure is probably one of my most favorite purchases in a long time. I'm a Yoda fanatic as it were and this guy is just so damned good it's a real treat to have him. He may end up being a permanent fixture on my desk. I have no doubt that this figure would have been one of my favorite toys as a kid.


Old drinking buddies...

There is just so much fun stuff you can do with this Yoda. He'll also fit in good with other lines because of his slightly larger size. Yoda crossover with Doctor Who? Oh yeah, it's coming.



Value:
$7.50! OUCH! That's gonna leave a mark. It's a good thing that Star Wars really isn't a kids line because at these prices it's hard to imagine that kids would buy too many of these. Of course the Marvel Universe figures cost a bit more, so I suppose kiddies might could afford a few of these. Yoda is smaller than most guys and doesn't include a ton of accessories but he's pretty much perfect otherwise.


Wise old men.
Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 10
Articulation - 10
Accessories - Lightsaber, Cloth Cloak, Walking Stick
Value - 7
Overall - 10 out of 10



This is one of those times where a figure is greater than the sum of it's parts. Earning him the rare ten out of ten. I'm just not sure how this figure could be anymore perfect. It has all the right stuff. I'd tell you to pick this figure up if you ever see him, but let's be honest you're either a big enough Star Wars nerd that you already have this guy or you have no shot because the sweaty fat Star Wars nerds bought them all.



I kid, I kid. But seriously, you probably don't have much of a shot at obtaining this guy. He's a really good figure, he's Yoda so the kids will want him and Star Wars figures are a bit hard to get unless you're looking for that fat lady with six sets of boobs or that guy from NYPD Blue. But if you see this guy, GET HIM! Don't think twice about it.



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