Review by Chris (edited slightly), from his review of the Cave of Evil Special Action Figure Set, on 01/07/2020.

We finally have a super articulated Original Trilogy Yoda.  True the elbows are the dreaded swivel elbows, but super articulation is defined by the amount of articulation and not the type.  The body is borrowed form the VC20 Episode III based Yoda.  It is married to a new, and frankly outstanding, head sculpt. Its right hand can securely grab the included gimer stick.  Placing the open left hand on top of the right hand while the figure leans on the gimer stick allows the figure to achieve the iconic OT pose.

I can’t bring myself to ever give a perfect score to a figure that employs swivel elbows, even though ball joints don’t offer much mobility on shorter limbs as evidenced with the knees on this figure. Nonetheless, the habit of swivel elbows to pop apart is not acceptable especially when it happens inside the sleeve of a soft-goods robed figure.  Much sighing ensues.  This is close to the definitive OT Yoda, but only manages a 9 out of 10 due to those cans elbows.

Added by Bret, 05/31/2022

I don’t have much to add here.  Frankly, this is really the first time I’m closely examining this figure, as I hadn’t opened the Cave of Evil set for a while after acquiring it, and once I did, I promptly yeeted the three figures into their storage bins.  For the purposes of this gallery, I needed to take a closer look at that first release.  I was pleasantly reminded of how much better the figure was than I had anticipated when the set was first announced. As Chris pointed out, other than the swivel elbows, which honestly is just annoying more than anything actually detrimental to the figure itself, it’s quite excellent.

This release is pretty much a repack.  The only notable differences that I was able to discern are that the robe is a tad shorter this time, and the eyes are a bit more “alert”.  Other than that, you carded nuts get an 096 Yoda to check off, and everyone can access this iconic character for a basic figure price instead of shelling out much cash for the Cave of Evil set.  This Yoda is pretty close to definitive.  The only things I would prefer differently would be ball jointed elbows, a little better material for the robe, and a snake accessory as an homage to the Kenner figure.  I would probably rate this figure an 8, but I’m not stuck on that enough to change Chris’s original 9/10 score.