1/6 Hot Toys - MMS - Star Wars: Episode V ESB - Yoda Collectible Figure

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I think I have seen this before...

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View attachment 266389

overall looks great, the sculpt is what keeps it away from a perfect figure...

Obviously they sought inspiration from this masterpiece:

BTweCwl.jpg


Yoda, Mao, and Snyderverse Pa Kent. What a great super team they could have made!
 
Fatso Yoda - it doesnt look good to me and is not impulse buy at all. It looks like they took the PT look instead of the frail little gremlin from the OT.
 
He doesn't look fat to me. The body has an odd shape to it but when it's got the clothing on it looks fine to me.
 
Seeing as I have the ESB SS Yoda I was thinking of buying this and using the closed eyes sculpt on the SS body...

Sent from the Death Star communication division.

That's a great idea. I was going to put my Sideshow Yoda on eBay this weekend, but I may hold off and do some parts swapping. The only drawback about the Sideshow Yoda as a base is that the body was a little flimsy, if I recall correctly.
 
Not sure if they are native to dagobah, but I think I'll probably fly the old han exclusive mynock over yoda. Finally a use for that damn thing! At least until the unlikely release of the cockpit.
 
That's a great idea. I was going to put my Sideshow Yoda on eBay this weekend, but I may hold off and do some parts swapping. The only drawback about the Sideshow Yoda as a base is that the body was a little flimsy, if I recall correctly.

Yeah that SSC Yoda body was pretty badly put together. The one on my bought figure started to come apart and the one I bought loose actually did come apart. Had to glue to together. It was like the outer shell couldnt hold all the jointed parts inside it (separated from the shoulders then went from there.)

Fortunately ESB Yoda's not an action guy so it's not a huge deal.
 
I'm scratching my head over what to think of this release. Yoda looks great... but he could also look better. What I mean is, the sculpt doesn't quite capture his sparky personality. On the other hand, there are times when he looks solemn and thoughtful like the HS. So we are getting a great Yoda, I just wish there was a little more of his character in it, as this is likely the greatest Yoda we'll ever see this side of 2026.

I'd like to see them make him less jowelly as a quick fix; and going forward I'd like to see HT question how they sculpt things, there's something very conservative about the expressions they choose. The Mao comparison is right in lots of ways (I know it was meant as a joke) but that picture is meant to represent idealised, heroic wisdom... and that's kind of how they've sculpted Yoda. The more I collect HT the more my eye is drawn to the DX07 battle damaged sculpt, nice to see a HT sculpt that doesn't look like some kind of Communist portrait.

But yeah, still buying this and it looks great as far as it goes.
 


Sculpt looks a little better in this video to my eye. The longer the lens, the more "true" a sculpt looks to the in-hand experience and I think Budget Stark needing to zoom in a bit through the glass has corrected some possible slight distortion in the earlier pics. Still not a bullseye, but a bit less jowly and bulbous than the other pics. I'll probably still wait for in-hand responses, but this video is encouraging.

I'm scratching my head over what to think of this release. Yoda looks great... but he could also look better. What I mean is, the sculpt doesn't quite capture his sparky personality. On the other hand, there are times when he looks solemn and thoughtful like the HS. So we are getting a great Yoda, I just wish there was a little more of his character in it, as this is likely the greatest Yoda we'll ever see this side of 2026.

I'd like to see them make him less jowelly as a quick fix; and going forward I'd like to see HT question how they sculpt things, there's something very conservative about the expressions they choose. The Mao comparison is right in lots of ways (I know it was meant as a joke) but that picture is meant to represent idealised, heroic wisdom... and that's kind of how they've sculpted Yoda. The more I collect HT the more my eye is drawn to the DX07 battle damaged sculpt, nice to see a HT sculpt that doesn't look like some kind of Communist portrait.

But yeah, still buying this and it looks great as far as it goes.

Yeah, I think the issue for me with Hot Toys getting SW is that I was kind of assuming these would all be totally nailed likeness-wise, like "OMG, it's a shrunken down, living Harrison Ford!" - just because, you know, it's HT.

But I've had to get used to this reality that the majority of their SW line is going to be very nice quality figures but likenesses a little off. I guess it was silly to expect even a company as good as HT to totally nail the likeness, but they have accumulated this mythic status in many minds, and are capable of creepy realism with sculpt/apps/eyes and likenesses that do indeed look very much like a shrunken down real person.
 
...But I've had to get used to this reality that the majority of their SW line is going to be very nice quality figures but likenesses a little off. I guess it was silly to expect even a company as good as HT to totally nail the likeness, but they have accumulated this mythic status in many minds, and are capable of creepy realism with sculpt/apps/eyes and likenesses that do indeed look very much like a shrunken down real person.

I'm sure that we'll see better all-around renditions of the OT Characters in the next figure releases. What I mean is that, for example, the next Luke from either "Empire" or "Jedi" will be significantly better in likeness than the Tatooine/ST disguise versions we've gotten. Same will go for Bespin Han. I can see a lot of people selling off the current versions to pick up the newer ones or trying to "update" the older figures with the new sculpts.

We're made to suffer. It's our lot in life...
 
This does not look bad. I don't know If I will upgrade from SSC. I like Yoda, but not my favorite character. I might wait until the final product is released to make sure he is worth it.
 
Yeah, I think the issue for me with Hot Toys getting SW is that I was kind of assuming these would all be totally nailed likeness-wise, like "OMG, it's a shrunken down, living Harrison Ford!" - just because, you know, it's HT.

But I've had to get used to this reality that the majority of their SW line is going to be very nice quality figures but likenesses a little off. I guess it was silly to expect even a company as good as HT to totally nail the likeness...
Looking at their Marvel line it does not seem that surprising that the SW figures turned out the way they did. Some Marvel likenesses seem really good, but others seem off even after a couple of renditions. It's just too easy to notice the amazing ones for properties that you could care less about or maybe like but wouldn't drop that type of $$ on. Alfred is really nice, Mandarin, Rudd sculpt on the Ant-Man version of Ant-Man, and there are a number of others. But it's certainly not all of them.

As FlyAndFight said, maybe the next Han and Luke will be nicer. Given the penchant for the stronger jaw and more heroic look, I'm thinking Jedi Luke could be the best Luke sculpt. I'm happy to upgrade but until I have something better in hand or on pre-order I'll hold on to what they've released so far.

As you said in the part I didn't quote :slap, these do look like shrunken down human beings due to the paint apps and sharp sculpting, so when they nail both it's kinda like a bit of magic. The SS Luke X-Wing looks fine with the helmet on but the sculpt detail is still softer than the HT sculpt.
 
It seems like Hot Toys is somehow trying to incorporate all the various shapes and deformations of the original puppet's head throughout his scenes in the film - does that make any sense to anyone? - that could be why the weird (fat) shape of Yoda's head. I'm sure I will eventually buy the figure, as I'm a Star Wars Zombie, and this is by no means awful (and I'm a Yoda lover), I was just hoping to be blown away. Childish, yes, I know. But I believe we all hope for that in some way.
 
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