The Figuarts Yoda figure (from Revenge of the Sith, but really, this was his look throughout the prequels…) is about the size of your thumb and twice as expensive. That is assuming you, like me, purchase thumbs off of the black medical market. I’m making a necklace.
I’ve long since believed we needed more Jedi figures from the prequels. Mace and 16 versions each of Obi-Wan and Anakin don’t really cut it for me. Bandai obviously felt my pain and released Yoda. We don’t know a lot about the tiny Jedi Master. He was 800 years old when he died, I think. It’s possible he was rounding. We don’t know the name of his species or where they come from. We don’t know if his race is now extinct or just in hiding. There was a female member of his race on the council in The Phantom Menace, but we never saw her again. I am thinking she was probably only 600 years old, got pregnant, and had to resign.
There probably wasn’t any pregnancy leave a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
That leaves us with Yoda. The first time we meet him in The Empire Strikes Back, he’s pretty much a crazy person. Sure, we can all pretend he was playing a three-dimensional game of chess with the savior of The Republic, but that almost makes it worse. He was pretending to be insane so he could punch Luke’s droid and throw away his meal replacement bar? Dick move, Yoda. Full-sized dick move.
I remember one of my friends at the time felt that Yoda looked ridiculous in Attack of the Clones during his lightsaber fight with Dokuu.
“How can he go from needing a cane to walk, to flipping around the room?”
I calmly explained that in order for it to make sense, consider in this scenario, that the Force is a child. Yoda is that child’s action figure. It isn’t Yoda flipping around, it’s Yoda utilizing the force to move his body.
Then I ended that friendship. I won’t stand by while handicapped short folks are put in a box. Unless it’s the kind of box a mime can’t get out of, because all non-mime people have to do is walk through it. It only stops mimes. It’s science.
However, we shouldn’t judge Yoda on his behavior in his 800’s. That’s a pretty rough age for all of us, so imagine 700 years of short jokes? No thanks. I am on year 46 of the nose jokes and it’s all derivative. Let’s judge the diminutive Jedi Master not on his desire to live in a swamp, but rather how the council and the Republic fell on his watch. Or we could just talk about the Figuarts Yoda figure.
What’s in the Figuarts Yoda box?
The first thing of notice with the Figuarts Yoda figure’s box is that it is oddly shaped for a Bandai box. More rectangular than square. It’s hip to be square, y’all. Unless you’re Yoda.
Inside we find the figure himself.
We get three different cloak display options. Sitting.
Neutral
Action.
We get three sets of Yoda hands. Neutral.
Lightsaber holding.
Force push.
We get three almost unique headsculpts.
I say almost because one is just a side eye’d version of the stock head.
The third, his eyes are closed in Force Concentration. Or pooping.
He comes with his Jedi Council seat.
He has a lightsaber, of course.
Finally, when he isn’t kicking Sith ass, he has his cane to help him around. The cane fits snuggly into a tiny notch in the palm of his additional cane hand.
A couple other close ups.
What doesn’t work with the Figuarts Yoda figure?
There really isn’t a lot to complain about here. My only real gripe is that his arms don’t butterfly enough for me. We pay a lot for these figures, so when I want my Jedi Master to hold his lightsaber with both hands, I shouldn’t feel like I am stressing the figure to the point of snapping.
What works with the Figuarts Yoda figure?
Straight up honesty time: I love the Figuarts Yoda figure. Sure, a soft, wired cloak would have been my preference, but with the three different robe options, it helps to dissuade my need for soft goods.
The Jedi council chair was a stroke of genius. We’ve never seen anything like this in a Bandai Star Wars figure before, and it totally sells the illusion that Yoda is sitting. Just a wonderful implementation on Bandai’s part.
The cane inserting into the hand? Another stroke of genius. Simple things go a long way with this man-child.
I was not prepared for the articulation and range of movement this little guy has out of the box. Additionally, he has a solid center of gravity that makes posing a lot easier.
Finally, the face printed likeness is dead-on in regards to his prequel appearances. This one figure will get you through all three movies of posing with no issues. I took a swipe at the side eye’d face earlier, but it’s actually my favorite of the three. It just looks cool.
Should you purchase the Figuarts Yoda?
Maybe you’re one of those prequel haters I stopped talking to in 2005. If so, you can avoid this figure. For the rest of us, this figure is a must-have. As a Star Wars fan or an action figure fan, this fella is fantastic. I honestly cannot believe how much I like this figure. Easily in my top five list right now. If you want to pick him up, try here:
- Xavier Cal Customs and Collectibles (as of this writing)
- eBay
An unfinished Bandai model kit Yoda, the Figuarts and the Archive Black Series on the right. 
As this is about to publish in a few hours, I had to laugh. When I wrote this review a few weeks ago, “Baby Yoda” wasn’t a thing in my life. Now I feel as if I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my love for this new, tiny, green entity in my life.
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