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Clone Wars Yoda

The College Bum himself, Sean Teeter, is back with a new Star Wars review - the Clone Wars Yoda!  I have reviews from him on the Anakin as well that I'll be posting soon.  Take it away, Sean!

The Clone War is here. Not on the big screen, but on the little one in animated format. Oh yeah, there’re also a few toys out there . . .

It’s interesting that the Clone War will not be played out on the big screen. We saw the beginning in Episode 2, and might see the end in 3, but for something that ties in heavily with the plot of A New Hope, a few fans might be ticked off about the cartoon substitute we’re getting on TV. No matter, there’re action figures to sell dammit, and we’ll all buy ‘em regardless of our feelings. The first wave is out on the shelves. Up tonight is the Clone War Yoda.



Packaging - ***
I like the red dust explosion on the card, along with the blue stripe on the side. While not as nice as the gold stripe Saga packaging, I think it’s eye-catching and neatly done.

Sculpting - **
Look familiar? The head is the same exact one to be found on the Jedi Master Yoda, down to the paint ops. The body is similar, but the arms are done differently. The hands and feet are rather sloppy and look grotesquely sized. 

There’s a separately sculpted vest/bandolier over his chest, but the design just looks a little strange –almost like “Old West Yoda”.
While the deluxe Saga Yoda is probably my least favorite of the newer Yoda sculpts, it still look better than the final effect of this one.

Paint - **
All I have to say is wow, and not in a good way. There’s severe bleeding from the hands and feet onto his robes. There’re also green steaks on his butt for no reason. There’s also quite a bit of bleeding on the belt and edges of his vest. 

The yellow color of the vest also doesn’t help his overall look. It looks more like some bandito poncho from an old Clint Eastwood western. 

Articulation - **
Poor Yoda only gets four points of articulation: head, shoulders, and waist. I’m fine with the uni-leg, but I feel that the shoulder cuts are inadequate. Ball-joints would have been much better, as seen on the Jedi Master version.

Accessories - **1/2
Yoda only comes with two accessories: his hoverchair and lightsaber. The hover chair is similar in design to the smaller one included with the Yoda and Chian on the top. Instead of sitting, Yoda stands on two pegs. The bottom ends in a flat tipped cone shape and has a radar dish off to one side. While it can sit on the flat tip with a little balance, the bottom splits open into four panels for easier balance. The hover chair is really well done.

The light saber is really cheap. It’s a solid piece of plastic with really sloppy paint ops on the handle. The molded handle is only half painted. While variation collectors might want to jump all over this, I haven’t seen any that are fully painted yet. Because of this, it looks like one of the cheapest sabers ever produced. 
While the chair’s a keeper, the bubble feels a little empty, especially with the substandard weapon.

Durability/Quality - **
Yoda’s a little chunk of plastic. There’ not much danger of him breaking anytime soon. The sloppy paint ops seem to be on every figure I’ve seen though, so there’re going to be issues with his looks.

Value - **
That’s assuming you pay around $5 for him. Frankly, he’s just a polished, kit-bashed figure. Target currently has him for under five bucks.

Overall - **
I don’t really like this look for Yoda. The hands are really oversized and don’t look right. It’s also never a good thing to have a figure that’s at least 75 % recycled from another. If it’s a repaint, it’s a repaint. Basically, other than the hover chair, I feel this figure’s somewhat of a rip-off. If you’re a completist or Yoda fan, you’ll be picking him up regardless. I’d just stick with the Jedi Master figure instead. 


Figures from the collection of Kevin Apgar.

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