So the recent Black Series version of Yoda was…terrible.  It was 5POA, and is regarded as a harbinger of doom for the SA line.  According to some reports, it was originally supposed to be incredibly detailed (according to this blueprint obtained by Yakface), but was significantly dumbed down.  Upon release, it was met with huge disappointment among fans, and even anger among hardcore collectors.  This wasn’t supposed to be happening, but Black Series Yoda was the canary in the coal mine.  The SA line was dying, and Hasbro was killing it by reducing collector value in favor of mainstreaming the 6” line.

Fastforward to today, and we know there is light at the end of the tunnel.  The Vintage Collection is returning, and we are now able to take a look at the 5POA 3.75” line for what it will be as of Spring 2018: a budget alternative to the SA collector-focused TVC figures.  Figures from The Last Jedi line can be viewed with a bit less derision.  Not all figures need the SA treatment, after all, and sometimes a 5POA figure that “does its job” can work just fine. Is this one of those figures?

First, TLJ Yoda is a prequel incarnation of the character.  He has clean robes, a lightsaber, and generally seems more youthful than his OT self.  The figure meets the criteria of doing its job.  It stands (albeit with a very slight lean), it looks good, and it interacts well with its accessories.  In fact, it excels at this last point.  Black Series Yoda simply can’t meaningfully grip his gimer stick, but this Yoda not only grips his walking stick tightly, I actually dropped the figure on the floor and he didn’t let go of the thing.  As Cris Collinsworth would say, that is remarkable.  The face sculpt is excellent, in my opinion.  One drawback is an unfortunate horizontal mark that seems to be a result of the manufacturing process, almost as if the head consisted of a northern and southern hemisphere fused together at the equator.  It’s subtle, but you can see it best in this photo.  This may or may not be limited to my sample.  I would guess it is typical.  The coat has a nice sculpt, with convincing texture, and is removable.  However, you won’t ever want to remove it, because the sleeves are left behind, so he looks like he’s wearing a baseball shirt.  The other problem with the robe is that it does a poor job of masking the shoulders.  You can see in the photos that Yoda’s pajamas peek through the exposed space between the robe and the sleeves, so it’s not a seamless look.  Perhaps most egregiously, this Yoda is simply way too green.  For those that don’t know, I have a little bit of a color vision problem, but even I can see that this figure’s skin color is just silly, and it detracts from what otherwise might be a really decent 5POA figure.

As for articulation, it excels at the neck.  This Yoda has tremendous head movement, and you can see in one of the comparison shots that Hasbro opted to have the ball attached to the head and then fit in the socket at the top of the body.  The BS Yoda (and most other figures) has the ball as part of the neck stalk with the socket in the head.  This Yoda also has ball jointed shoulders, while the anger-inducing BS version has swivel shoulders.  The other interesting difference is that instead of having 2 hip joints like the BS Yoda, this version opted for a swivel waist and a uni-leg with 2 ball-jointed feet.  However, this doesn’t work as well as having the hip joints.  If you add it up, this figure actually has 6POA, while the BS version has a paltry 5POA.

In the comparison shot, you can see the TLJ Yoda next to the crappy Black Series Yoda.  They are from different trilogies.  One has a sculpted cloak (with issues) while the other has a fabric cloak (with issues).  This one holds the cane perfectly, and can strike a pretty good PT pose, while the BS Yoda doesn’t really succeed at a whole lot.  This one actually has more points of articulation (6 versus 5).

This figure is tough to grade.  As 5POA, it succeeds in achieving the baseline requirements for a score of 4.  It looks pretty good except for the cloak gap at the shoulders and the bright green skin tone.  The BS figure was a garbage SA figure, but if it were 5POA for $8, you’d have to choose between the aesthetics of these two figures to decide which one you think is better.  This one has it’s faults, but I think it’s better than the BS version.  That’s more of an indictment of the BS figure than a credit to this one.  Based on the sculpt, the robe texture, the ability to strike the correct pose, and the addition of the Force Link feature, as well the possibility that it is better than the “premium” Black Series figure, I give this a 5.