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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| Yoda is depicted in his CLONE WARS battle gear, as seen in the first chapter of the Cartoon Network micro-series. His gray inner robe and light gray bandolier are covered by a dark brown, hoaded outer cloak. Yoda is definitely in an action pose, as he leans forward, his right arm extended and gripping his lightsaber, his left arm extended slightly behind him as a counter-balance, and his cloak billowing out behind him. While true to the cartoon design of the character, the sculpt is oddly proportioned. Just as tall as the Saga Yoda figures, his head and extemities are twice their "normal" size, making him look like some sort of victim of bloating (kind of like Jerry Lewis at last year's MDAA telethon). It works, but at the same time, it doesn't work: 7.5 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Yoda gets a fairly decent amount of paint applications here. His head gets a very light gray on his hair, olive circles around his baggy eyes, and a brownish hue to the inside of his ears. His arms are molded from the same green plastic as his head, with the brown of his robes painted along the lengths of his sleeves. His upper torso--including the billowing cloak--is molded in brown, with the light gray of the bandolier and medium gray of his vest painted on. His lower torso appears molded out of the light gray of his robe, with the medium gray of his vest and green of his feet painted on. His lightsaber is molded in clear green, with a light blue handle with darker blue markings. Overall, this comes to an impressive 7 paints used. Although the card insert shows Yoda's claws a lighter green than the rest of him, the figure's claws are unpainted. Mostly true to the coloring of the animated character, he rates 9/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Yoda always get stiffed on figure articulation, and this one is no exception. Neck and shoulders are it, for a minimalistic three points. Planer-cut wrist joints would really have enhanced this figure's look immensely: 5/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Included are Yoda's lightsaber and a figure stand. The figure stand is the same for all the animated figures: the STAR WARS: CLONE WARS logo with one peg for attaching the figures. The lightsaber is smaller than the others in this line, just as Yoda's should be; in fact, it's exactly the same length as the "movie-realistic" CLONE WARS Yoda's saber. The paint markings are a bit off, though, as the vertical striping on the handle continues all the way up the length of it. 7/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The same CLONE WARS card as the rest of the line, complete with profile-view Clone Trooper helmet and orange fireball on the front. The back has a full-figure shot of the character, plus some sketches in a "film strip" display on the back. Each cardback has the same description of the CLONE WARS animated series on the back, as well as tiny pictures of all eight figures from waves one and two. The inserts are die-cut portraits of the individual figures, and the one for Yoda is a nice depiction of him in action, wearing this dark brown cloak from the cartoon. I'm taking a half-point off because, by wave 2, we were getting tired of seeing nothing but these figures at Target while the Saga basic figures were impossible to find: 8/10 |
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| Availability: |
| While these were hard to get when first hitting the shelves in early January, they are rather common now at all Target stores: 8.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| The animated line is something that you either are into, or you aren't. Some collectors aren't at all impressed by the cartoonish depictions of the familiar STAR WARS characters from ATTACK OF THE CLONES, while others feel that the limited articulation doesn't justify the $6.99 price that Target is charging. A lot of collectors felt that the "movie-realistic" CW Yoda left a lot to be desired, and they will probably feel cheated by this version's lack of even the realistic one's hover-platform. What would have been really nice would have been to have this Yoda mounted on the Kibuck, the creature he's seen riding at the very start of the first chapter of the micro-series. Otherwise, he rates a disappointing (for a Yoda figure) 7.5/10. |
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