Thursday, June 1, 2017

"Do or do not. There is no try." Bandai Star Wars 1/6th scale Jedi Master Yoda Model Kit Review

This was part of my April 2017 haul (posted on my toy blog HERE)

Yoda first appeared in the 1980 Star Wars film "The Empire Strikes Back". In the original films, he trains Luke Skywalker to fight against the Galactic Empire. In the prequel films, he serves as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and as a high-ranking general of Clone Troopers in the Clone Wars. Following his death in "Return of the Jedi" at an unknown age that surpassed 900 years, Yoda was the oldest living character in the Star Wars franchise in canon, until the introduction of Maz Kanata in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

Grand Jedi Master Yoda is among the oldest and most powerful known Jedi Masters in the Star Wars universe. Series creator George Lucas opted to have many details of the character's life history remain unknown. Yoda's race and home world have not been named in any media, canonical or otherwise, and he is merely said to be of a "species unknown" by the Star Wars Databank. Yoda's speech syntax has been analyzed and discussed by academic syntacticians, who found it somewhat inconsistent, but could extrapolate that it has object–subject–verb word order.


Having gotten the Bandai 1/6th scale Star Wars Stormtrooper Model Kit which turned out to be quite impressive with full articulation (see the full action figure review posted on my toy blog HERE and HERE as well as comparison pictures with Hot Toys 12-inch Stormtrooper HERE), I decided to try my hand at this Bandai Star Wars 1/6th scale Yoda model kit.

Scroll down to see all the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.


There are two sizes included, the 1/6th scale version and a 1/12th scale version. The 1/12th scale Yoda is pretty much a statue when assembled but the 1/6th scale version does have some articulation.


The picture below shows how the assembled Bandai Star Wars 1/6th scale Yoda Model Kit looks like. He comes with two head options, one has white hair and the other head has no hair. He also comes with two eye options, one has him looking straight ahead and the other set of eyes makes him glance to his left (see the pics below). IMHO the head sculpts are quite well done. Unfortunately I do not have the painting skills to enhance and improve further on the look. I'm sure anyone with some painting skills will be able to make this Bandai 1/6th scale Yoda look even better.


Model kits do not work in the same way as 1/6th scale figures with outfits. 12-inch figures have basic bared naked bodies and are dressed just like a real person with layers of clothing to look the part. Model kits are made up of parts which include their outfits and are simply connected together to form the whole, as in this case. The joint lines or seams can be covered up by adding putty and then painting over them for a seamless look. The seams on the Bandai Stormtroopers are less obvious and their construction and assembly cleverly hides the joint lines. Not so for 1/6th Yoda.


Here's Yoda striking a pose with the alternate head and eyes. It's the same model kit but posed differently. It's a matter of popping the head off and putting the alternate one in. The lightsaber is included and requires some assembly. There are stickers included that you are supposed to use to stick on the lightsaber to achieve the black and silver color scheme but they don't work. After much frustration, I ditched the stickers and painted in the silver parts with a silver paint marker.


This is the 1/12th scale Yoda that is included with the Bandai Star Wars 1/6th scale Jedi Master Yoda Model Kit. While the 1/6th scale Yoda appears to be from the prequel films, this 1/12th scale Yoda is from "The Empire Strikes Back". The eyes here are stickers and once again, I'm quite impressed with the sculpting. It needs some paintwork to complete the look.


Here's how they look together


And the pictures below show how they look with other Star Wars figures. Bandai 1/6th scale Yoda at 11 cm (4.25 inches) looks undersized when placed with all the other 1/6th scale figures. Yoda doesn't look to be of the correct height. Looks like a miss for Bandai this time around.


1/12th scale Yoda at 6 cm (about 2.5 inches) looks even smaller but I don't have any 1/12th scale Star Wars figures to compare him with.


Related posts:
Y is for Yoda - review of Star Wars Electronic Ask Yoda toy (released in 2004) posted HERE
Other Yoda figures / statues that have been previewed previously - check out the link HERE

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