Yoda, The Jedi Master - Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figures

You really have to hand it to Gentle Giant Ltd. sometimes when it comes to their ability of capturing the most minute of detail on classic toys and apply them to their collectibles. This is especially true with the Jumbo Vintage Kenner line, a line of high-end collectibles that are scanned from the original Kenner 3.75” action figures we grew up with as kids. The Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figures line was warmly embraced upon its announcement, but potential fans/collectors of the line wanted to know more before they could make a hearty preliminary decision that this was a collection for them. What will Gentle Giant do for this line and how far will they take it? Well, questions like there were quickly answered. Gentle Giant Ltd. since this line’s inception has been clearly making it known that they’re in the Jumbo property for the long haul and it appears that their commitment is to produce every last vintage Kenner figure in 12” “Jumbo” scale. With the released PGM Gamorrean Guard, and now the PGM Exclusive Yoda, The Jedi Master on a Return Of The Jedi card back, they have released collectibles from every single card back Kenner released between 1978 and 1985. By the time these figures had been released, Gentle Giant Ltd. had announced a huge run of figures from The Empire Strikes Back too. So great things are planned for collectors of this line.

The Yoda, The Jedi Master [Brown Snake] PGM Exclusive Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure is pretty cool in general. As mentioned, it comes packaged on a Return Of The Jedi card back (which is only for the exclusive version), has “The Jedi Master” following a comma after his name and the most discriminating difference, the brown snake included for posterity. It was during the Return Of The Jedi Kenner line that Kenner decided to update Yoda. In addition to updated card back art, they enhanced the actual action figure too by changing the snake accessory from orange to brown. They also changed his skin color. But there was a caveat to that. Initial samples had mismatched hands and feet – which were intentionally carried forward on the PGM version as well. But what Gentle Giant Ltd. may have not realized is that Kenner corrected this mismatching and eventually ensured that Yoda’s hands and feet matched the same color green and his head. We find it a shame that Gentle Giant didn’t go with this version, or if they even picked up on that. One other detail we wish they would have paid attention to (although it may have been difficult to execute in the Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figures line) is that there were two different types of brown snakes released by Kenner. One was the same plastic like the orange snake version, but later releases of this figure Kenner changed the material to a more rubbery medium.

Perhaps the most disappointing feature looks to be one that Gentle Giant had caught (based on prototype/promotional images of the Yoda, The Jedi Master figure) but didn’t ensure made it to the final production piece. Yoda, The Jedi Master comes with the same lighter colored can as the Yoda [Orange Snake] Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure. The cane should be very dark brown by comparison. This actually bugs us quite a bit is that they used the wrong color cane. All of these “errors” add up and the sum of them is a bit too much to sit well with us for an item that has cost our wallets almost $100 with shipping. Without sounding hypocritical, we are thrilled that Gentle Giant Ltd. is intent on bringing the rare Kenner variations to this collectibles line as exclusive pieces. It makes the PGM worth it and the lower edition sizes of these variations truly make them collectible in every sense of the word. But we just wish that Quality Control was employed more stringently in this line. They literally have one chance to do each of these figures right and if that means things need to be delayed a little while longer to get all of the fine details correct, then so be it. Yoda, The Jedi Master is a wonderful edition to the Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figures line, so please don’t misinterpret our complaints to mean you shouldn’t consider this piece for your own collection. We just want them to be more careful with the upcoming exclusives they have planned. These just have to be done right.