Yoda (Jedi Mentor) - Order Of The Jedi - 1:6 Scale Figures

While the oppression of the cruel Empire hangs like a dark shroud over the galaxy, the few remaining Jedi have gone into hiding to protect their knowledge and ways. Darth Vader, charged with hunting down and eliminating the last Jedi for his master, has scoured the galaxy in search of the stragglers, but, even two decades after the great purge began, a precious few have eluded him. On the arid world of Tatooine, baking under the rays of two Suns, Vader's former friend and master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, watches over the Dark Lord's son in secret from his humble desert hermitage. Half a galaxy away, on a world even less hospitable, the serene and gentle master Yoda, bides his time amid the swamp-life of the soggy planet Dagobah. Once among the greatest of all Jedi, Yoda has chosen this exile to preserve the hope of redemption and freedom for the galaxy.

Under the boughs of dripping gnarl trees and between their twisted roots, the old master has built himself a cozy home of mud and clay. Here he sits in meditation and quiet contemplation of the Force, his consciousness attuned to the shifting tides of the great energy field that surrounds and binds all living things, awaiting the day when a new hope will emerge to free the galaxy from Sith tyranny.

That hope lies in the secret offspring of the Dark Lord, young Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia. Separated and hidden by Yoda when they were born, the twins share an affinity for the Force and a destiny that he aspires to help them fulfill. When Luke comes to Dagobah in search of guidance, Yoda undertakes to train him in the ancient ways of the Jedi, which he has protected all these long years. Though their time is short, Yoda unlocks in Luke his innate Force affinity and seeks to enlighten him in understanding of the subtle ways in which it works. Only through the children of Anakin Skywalker can Yoda hope to bring about an end to the Emperor's rule and undo his own failure with Anakin himself, now hopelessly lost to the Dark Side.

Yoda (Jedi Mentor) is a splendid 1:6 Scale Figure. We had to get that out right away. And why it took Sideshow Collectibles so long to get him out there for us is something we will probably never understand fully. It’s basically impossible to understand why such a core character as Yoda hasn’t been high on Sideshow Collectibles’ wish list. Maybe it has, but why did it take so long to arrive? Perhaps we should expend our energy telling you why it’s such an awesome figure instead of trying to figure out why we didn’t get him right away. There are so many other core characters from the Star Wars units that collectors are clamoring for and we hope that those characters don’t see a wait as long as Yoda’s. Yoda should be one of Sideshow’s proudest moments because not only does he have an all-new body, the paint job, soft-goods clothing and awesome accessories are wonderfully done. And there is enough “stuff” that comes with the figure which more than justifies its MSRP. What’s more, Sideshow pays homage to the original 1981 vintage Kenner figure and we’ll get into more detail about that in a moment. But simply put, Yoda (Jedi Mentor) from Sideshow’s Order Of The Jedi collection is a figure you need to get. It is designed supremely and it’s a very high quality figure. And it seems that Sideshow has some expectations to meet because the production run of the regular edition figure is higher than its been for some recently released figures. But the 5,000 regular units will disappear before we know it. In short, ensure you get Yoda into your collection as soon as you can. (Count the 750 exclusive units history already.)

Yoda is an all-new five and a half inch body type. He comes with an impressive amount of articulation including premium ball-jointed hips, arms and head. He then has jointed knees and elbows an interchangeable ball-jointed hands and feet. It's expensive to tool an all-new body type, especially when it's for one character. We're impressed Sideshow Collectibles ventured into this territory. Yoda also comes with a ball-jointed torso which does wonders for him as far as great posing is concerned. As a bonus, Yoda comes with an extra set of feet (which are slightly curled so you can stand him on the included log) and two additional sets of switch-out hands. The switch-out hands are capable of replicating Yoda’s appearance in essentially every scene in The Empire Strikes Back. Sideshow went above and beyond to include all of these attachments. We count ourselves fortunate. He comes outfitted in brown tattered cotton pants and shirt and then he has a thinner cotton/linen cloak that also has also seen quite a bit of stress. It’s not dirty at all (a slight disappointment), but it is wrinkled and pulled in places and just looks fantastic overall. The cloak is held such with a wraparound leather belt complete with affixed pouches belt and it ties around his waist with real strings. The joints are tight and hold Yoda up well when you try to be creative with posing him and this is great news since this is a new body type. Typically new body types need a learning curve before being perfected. This is perfect from the start. One thing important pieces we feel this figure is missing is the backpack he used to be carried on Luke’s back. And the sad thing is that 2007's Luke Skywalker (Rebel Commander: Bespin) from the Heroes Of The Rebellion collection doesn’t come with one either.

Yoda’s portrait is fantastic. His green skin is beautifully replicated to the exact shade it should be. And he green eyes are brought to life by expert painters since all of these figures are hand painted. Sideshow Collectibles was very generous to us with the various colors used to bring Yoda’s face to life. There are multiple shades of green and awesome use of darker colors were used to recreate the shadowing effects caused by wrinkles in the skin or naturally occurring imperfections on the face. For a tiny figure, Yoda has some weight to him (we like weighty figures) and this should prove that this is a quality figure in and of itself. Yoda also comes with his unforgettable walking stick (also known as a gimer stick). We were pleasantly surprised with all of the accessories included with Yoda. He also comes with a log accessory that couldn’t look more real than if you picked it out of a forest yourself. And it complements Yoda and the snakes he comes with beautifully. Oh, and about those snakes? The regular edition comes with a brown spotted snake and the exclusive version comes with an orange snake. Sound familiar? This is a tribute to Kenner as the original vintage figure was packaged with both colored snakes back in 1981. How incredible is this? Both snake accessories have a wire imbedded in them and are very flexible. You can put it around Yoda’s neck or put them around the log accessory. This figure is just so much fun! Be sure to get Sideshow’s 1:6 Scale Yoda (Jedi Mentor) for your collection. Trust us, you need this figure! Between the beautiful sculpt and the impressive accessories, there isn't much to discount with this figure.