Yoda - TSC - The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection (3 of 12)

The wise Jedi Master Yoda leads the Republic's clone army into battle on the Wookiee world of Kashyyyk. He is assisted in this fateful mission by mighty Wookiee warriors Chewbacca and Tarfful.

There were some shining moments in the Revenge Of The Sith line, but admittedly there were some real stinkers. When Hasbro was able to work in action features into the accessories instead of the figures themselves, the results were much more positive. Take 2005's ROTS Yoda (III 3) figure for instance. He comes with a very oversized cannon based on the style of a Wookiee blaster and its action feature is launching a projectile. Yeah, so what, it’s not screen accurate. But Yoda is and that’s significantly more important. You should perhaps focus your attention to just how much plastic Hasbro included in this basic figure release anyhow. Yes, Yoda is a very small action figure so it makes sense that Hasbro would include a huge canon with him, but they didn’t have to and we have to acknowledge thanks for this. Is the actual action figure of Yoda perfect? No, but he doesn’t look terrible and he is significantly much better that the other Yoda figure that was released in the line where Hasbro did include an action feature. We are not claiming that this particular Yoda is perfect, but Hasbro could have given collectors something much worse. Now he has been released in The Saga Collection's The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection to get another chance at retail.

Yoda is honestly pretty good for an action figure. He doesn’t necessarily come with the best likeness, but he’s very articulated for his small size and the articulation used is premium. There is something off with his portrait and we are at a loss to pinpoint exactly what it is. But is seems that his head sculpt is an unfinished lump of clay, almost as if the sculptor was near completion but just stopped before adding the fine details. A ball-socket head is jointed two ball-jointed shoulders. It gives him a nice range of upper body movement. His left hand is motioning in a way that looks like a Force push of sorts. And his right hand is cupped to accept the hilt of his included shortened lightsaber. He also comes with a plastic molded cloak that wraps about his body snuggly. It’s been weathered thanks to a cool paint job Hasbro gave it. Aside from two ball-socket feet, the rest of his included articulation is all swivel points, but you’d be surprised how well it fits him. He really has a good range of motion while looking authentic to the film (aside from some issues with the shape and look of his head sculpt). Yoda isn’t definitive by any means, but he’s impressive as a figure and is worthy of re-release. Hasbro certainly could have made detrimental shortcuts here. They didn’t.

The cannon accessory provides the collector with some surprisingly fun entertainment. It’s big and bulky and comes apart in four separate parts. It has a rather curvy design, but the parts stay together very well and the launching of the projectile isn’t compromised by its design at all and it works remarkably well. Keep in mind that although a weapons very similar to this appears in Revenge Of The Sith, it’s handheld by the Wookiees and is on a much smaller scale. Hasbro instead made it larger to work in an action feature and make it a plaything. That's fine with us. An appropriately scaled accessory would have been much preferred, but if it means that the integrity of an action figure won’t be compromised by an action feature, then we’ll gladly accept it as is. Many of the Wookiee weapons are bronze and brown colored and the same is true for the cannon. It’s nice to know that Hasbro remained faithful to color and style of the weapon even if they didn’t match the scale. Yoda is an ideal candidate for The Saga Collection's The Episode III Heroes & Villains Collection. He was great in the Revenge Of The Sith line and it's nice to see him again. There will be better in the future, but this will suffice for now. Oh, and he comes with a miniature hologram figure if you're into weird pack-in premiums too!