Yoda - SW [TPM 3D] - Movie Heroes (MH09)

Yoda suspects that Palpatine is behind the events that are destroying the Republic. On Coruscant, Yoda and the Supreme Chancellor meet in the ultimate confrontation between the galaxy's most powerful masters of the Force.

When you see a figure like the Movie Heroes Yoda, you really have to ask yourself “what is Hasbro thinking anymore?” Sure, this Yoda figure, which was originally released as 2005’s ROTS Yoda (III 26) figure, was fun with its gimmicky seven years ago before this figure was re-released. But in 2012 when figures like this are competing on shelves against the glorious figures in The Vintage Collection, you just have to conceded that no one is going to spend $10 on Yoda when they can get a quality super-articulated figure for the same price…. in vintage Kenner era packaging to boot! We’ve always felt frustrated when a good sculpt is ruined by action features. Forget about the argument that these things are designed for kids for a few moments. We realize that and for all intents and purposes we don’t care about such things. But Hasbro has an alternative that they don’t utilize all that often. They can relegate these said action features to things outside of the action figure, like miniature environments and large weapons. We said that we didn’t expect to see this figure again in 2005, and here it is in 2012. Never say never unfortunately.

Yoda comes with a pretty decent head sculpt, but at the same time a Yoda without two independently articulated legs and ball-jointed arms is a figure we won’t ever fully accept warmly in our collections. This is articulation at its simplest and it really detracts from the aesthetics of what this figure should have. We’re pretty sure that kids are going to love this thing. But will parents buy this figure for them with all of the action figure competition out there? We’re not so sure. Many kids become fans because their parents are already collectors. And those collector moms and dads are spending their money on The Vintage Collection figures instead. So, let’s talk about the play features of this figure. Well, technically there really are none. Hasbro decided to go cheap and exclude the environmental piece that interacts with Yoda. So you can turn him and click his “feet” pedal and it will unlock, but it really needed that extra piece to be meaningful. But at least we get the removable cape, the interchangeable lightsaber with hand attachment and gimer stick. His articulation isn’t useful for these extra parts, but at least you get some variety.

The paint job is actually quite spectacular on Yoda, and we feel these great paint operations were wasted on such an inferior sculpt. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles when you’re a Star Wars collector. With all Movie Heroes figures you get a stand, a die and a Galactic Battle Game card that we originally saw added to the Star Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] Saga Legends and The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] basic figure lines. This time however they revised the card art quite a bit to make a fresh appearance in the line and made them more colorful. The cards look very nice now (almost collectible) and they’re two-sided now. The front describes the character, and the reverse side (back) has all of the point allocations for the character’s skill sets listed. The stand has been changed to bronze/gold/tan color and the die is now black with gold paint. Regardless of these extra inclusions, it doesn’t make up for getting an inferior action figure at double its original MSRP (when the figure was originally released). You have to wonder sometimes if Hasbro enjoys shooting themselves in the foot.