Before the decapitation Yoda did to Gree back in Revenge of the Sith, the two often were paired up together during the latter half of the Clone Wars. Beforehand, the Commander was not in his signature camo-style armor with that slick green visor. I prefer the look we saw in Episode 3, but this can at least double as a troop of his. As for Yoda, we saw the ghost version utilizing this mold, and we now have a take on this figure for when he is alive. Let's take a look at this set!
Here we have Yoda in hand, opaque and with one of his two alternate head sculpts. The Jedi Master reuses the same bucks we previously saw back with the Force Ghost version of the character (which is my first encounter with the figure), and it's got the standard proportions one would expect from him. The robe being opaque does make me wish it was given the cloth wire treatment like how McFarlane does with their capes (especially with Figuarts Yoda having that benefit). The stitching is otherwise decent, but I feel his robes are a little darker.
His head sculpt is the best part of the figures with a careful attention to detail in capturing Yoda's expression, green pigment, and distinguishing the receding hairline and lips from the rest of his skin. The eyes are also less dead this time around compared to the original Yoda sculpt used in Black Series.
The articulation is the same with Ghost Yoda, with a ball joint for the head, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, rotation and bends at the elbows, waist rotation, ball jointed hips, bends and rotations at the knees, and ankle rotation. He can be posed on his seat with a cane and lightsaber hilt for when he's not in battle but wants to show you his toys. He also has his lightsaber to go with an alternate stern head, which is unmistakeably Prequel-era Yoda. The two lightsaber accessories are made as such because of fragility concerns. If only Hasbro did this from the beginning because those pegs are fragile as hell.
For a comparison with prior Yoda figures reviewed on the site, here he is with the ESB 40th anniversary version that towers over both the ghost and Prequel eras of Yoda. If I can't get the Figuarts 2.0 somehow, then this may be my definitive 1:12 scale Yoda, even if I wish he had a wired cloth goods robe.
And here we have Gree with a random 212nd Battalion clone for reference on the kind of Clone sculpt we're using. Even though we have the new tooling for the regular Shinies and 501st, these use the 2.0 version of the mold, with the difference mostly being in the materials used for the torso armor and hip articulation. The helmet on Gree looks closer the 3.0 version than the way the 1.0 looked, though it should be mentioned that the alignment for the unibrows varies from how high it low it is from the top of the visor.
Their heads are glued in place, making their helmets non-removable. A shame since most Clones began having removable helmets of late. At least we won't get his dumbass haircut.
Overall, this set makes for both a good way to get a definitive Prequel Era Yoda as well as another version of Gree, even if the ROTS version is the more desirable one. This is at least a cool way to show how he changed from his Phase 1 armor if you remember his TCW design. I hope a proper Gree does show up, even if it's with a Scout Trooper to have their heads sliced off. I wish there was a floating chair for Yoda to sit on with a flight stand, but Hasbro will likely put that in a single release at $25.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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