Action Figure #469: Star Wars The Black Series Yoda

  Do or do not, there is no try.

 I used to have a tiny, vintage Kenner Yoda action figure when I was younger, he was my father's favorite character next to Chewbacca, so eventually I gave it to him. Since I love getting updated action figures from toys I used to own, it was only a matter of time before Yoda made it.

 At a glance, this Yoda figure looks really good. He is a very small and simple figure, but I think it is a decent likeness. This is the very first Yoda release, so he has this goofy, wide-eyed, shocked look to him. I don't mind it because it sorta resembles the original puppet. He comes with a cane, a serpent, for whatever reason, and his lightsaber, which he only used in the prequel movies... but, c'mon, Yoda needs a lightsaber, I think it was a mandatory accessory. His outer robes are made out of a very slim, frayed soft-goods. It looks like it might untangle at any moment, which is a bit scary, but it IS accurate to how Yoda looked.

 Articulation is where Yoda disappoints the most. He has a waist swivel, can rotate his neck, hands and feet, and, for whatever reason, he has thigh swivels...

 Which why would you need if he can't bend his knees? I get it, Yoda is a small figure, but I would much rather get joints on his needs than swivels on his legs. I mean, really, what's the point of turning his legs? 

 But worst of all, he has double-jointed elbows... but no arm swivel, which means you can't get many poses from Yoda's arms. Single-jointed elbows would've been the better idea, since you can just turn those around, and Yoda doesn't really need such an ample elbow bend.

 And the worst bit, because it looks ugly, is that turning his head pops the peg upwards, so you get gaps between his collar and his neck. As you'd expect, he is quite a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Yoda is definitely a step up from the Kenner figure I used to own, I mean, his two feet used to be a single piece you could bend. But they made so many odd engineering choices with this figure, such as swivels on his legs, where he doesn't need them, and double jointed-elbows with no arm swivels... It all amounts to a rather disappointing figure of a fan-favorite.

4.5