Yoda - POTF2 [FB/CT] - Basic

A long time ago....
A new Star Wars movie will premier in movie theaters next Summer. It is Episode I of the Star Wars saga and the first movie in a new trilogy that goes back in time a full generation to tell the story of Luke Skywalker's father Anakin. We will see how Anakin became a great Jedi Knight but then turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader.

Like the swamp planet Dagobah where he lived out his last years, the Jedi Master Yoda was shrouded in mystery. A diminutive, green-skinned creature, Yoda faithfully served the Galactic Republic as one of the 12 members of the Jedi Council. When the Emperor seized control of the galaxy, he ordered the elimination of all Jedi. In his darkest hour, Yoda, the last known Jedi Master, went into a life of hiding on Dagobah. When Luke Skywalker searched out Yoda for Jedi training on the advice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Master had reservations, but he chose to instruct young Skywalker in the ways of the Force.

You make a Yoda action figure better by adding…. real hair? Apparently that’s what Kenner/Hasbro thought would be needed to make a better version of Yoda for The Power Of The Force “2” [FlashBack/CommTech] lineup. This all-new sculpt is actually not half bad but interestingly, we think the real hair is a detriment to the updated sculpt and they might have been better off abandoning this concept altogether. Instead of “real hair” perhaps Kenner/Hasbro should have spent the extra money on correctly decorating Yoda’s pot and gimer stick, two bones of contention we personally hold against this Yoda figure. The off-colored orange accessories are glaring errors in our estimation and we wished they would have taken a bit more care in decorating them to look like real miniature props from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The Yoda figure itself is pretty nice. It does resemble the 1996 POTF2 [Red] Yoda figure very much. In fact, had this new FlashBack version not been given real hair, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it was a different figure. Then again, there are more and more eagle-eyed collectors out there now. Nothing goes unmissed more than ever.

Yoda follows the same approach as previous releases, really. Hasbro added a swivel head, two swivel shoulders and a hinge-jointed torso joint. Obviously he comes with a whole lot less articulation than his vintage counterpart did, sadly. We long for the day when Kenner/Hasbro returns to producing Yoda like any other Star Wars character with independently moving legs and a swivel waist. As a result of this strange articulation, Yoda does not possess a lot of great movement and you may become quickly disappointed by how little you can position him in your collection. The sculpt is above average, although, Yoda looks a tad too “alien” than he did in the film, if that makes any sense. By this we mean his eyes were molded after Albert Einstein and that quality has definitely dissipated in this particular action figure version of Yoda. It’s not a total loss however. Yoda seemingly has well-balanced proportions otherwise, and he has a great center of gravity, which means that you will be able to position him in your collection quite easily. We’re still uncertain if the rooted hair was wise with this particular Yoda, but the general consensus feels that different means “a worthy enough purchase” for them.

Let’s talk about Yoda’s cool accessories. Yes, they’re incorrectly colored, but they’ve been long desired and awaited and we’re finally happy to have them available. The pot is a very surprising accessory to finally get in the basic 3.75” line. It can’t really do much. After all, we don’t have a fire or a spit to hang it on somewhere in Yoda’s abode, but the gesture that they even made the accessory is warmly accepted by us. The great news here is that Yoda can hold the pot relatively easily, so it’s not only an accessory, but a functional accessory. Yoda also comes with Luke’s light, the one he battled R2-D2 for on Dagobah while Luke was setting up camp. It’s gray and has a white tip (obviously to simulate light) and it looks pretty good as far as its scale is concerned. Yoda can hold this without issue, too. The final accessory, the cane, is a bit tougher to swallow. We have no idea why it's orange like the pot. Hasbro already has tooled a proper brown cane for this scale, so why couldn’t they use that mold again? Perhaps the pot and cane have been manufactured together and this is the sole reason they’re the same color. Even still, you would think that they would have ensured they got repainted. Yoda may not be the greatest update, but there is newness here for sure. And that’s a great thing.