Review: Admiral Yularen
Posted by Huw,
This year's May the Fourth promotion minifigure is Admiral Yularen (5002947). For your edification I've taken a couple of photos of him and asked our resident Star Wars expert CapnRex101 for more information about the character and his opinion of the minifig. You can read this after the break.
Admiral Yularen will be a familiar name to fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in which he directed Anakin Skywalker's battle fleet from the command bridge of the Resolute. The character also appeared very briefly in Episode IV: A New Hope during the Imperial conference scene, by which time he has become a Colonel in the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB).
The brevity of his appearance in Episode IV might make a surprising addition to the selection of Star Wars minifigures, although I suppose it may simply be an excuse to give us a white Imperial Officer's uniform. I certainly appreciate the acknowledgement of the cameo and am pleased to have another officer for a conference aboard the Death Star. It is worth noting that the polybag is incorrectly named by TLG as this older Yularen is not an admiral. However, I suspect they simply chose the name he was most recognised by and therefore labelled him as an admiral.
The minifigure is perfect in my opinion, with a detailed head print and accurate torso design, both of which are brand new and could be very useful. The hair piece is an excellent choice for the character and has only appeared in white in two other sets, so is still quite rare. There are undoubtedly plenty of Star Wars minifigures I would like more than this one which have yet to be made, with Beru Lars and Wuher the bartender springing to mind. Nevertheless, this is a superb representation of Yularen as he appears in Episode IV.
The minifig is available from shop.LEGO.com from today until Monday in the USA and until next weekend in the UK and Europe with qualifying orders.
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18 comments on this article
LuvKernow - I actually will use the face and hair to make Gilad Pellaeon, but I've designed my own Grand Admiral Torso stickers, which I'm going to apply to a City robber torso. For those who don't care about the correct Rank Badges / Insignias, it's even easier of course. Still, I think we should get Thrawn. Eternal shame be on LFL for erasing those characters...
Colonel Sanders
The hair piece looks like it is very badly molded. Not what I would expect from TLG.
Superb minifig, but I thought he was in a grey uniform not white !! I am getting too old for lego !
Will still get this MF though.
Boring minifigure + weak character = pass.
Thank you for the review! I just wonder in what timeline this minifig is supposed to fit. He is called Admiral (a title he has during the CW) but his uniform and age clearly points at the DS meeting, where - as you said - he was a Colonel. Just wondering.
And yeah, Wuher would have been amazing. Still nobody in my Cantina to serve drinks. And it is a desert planet!
As Clive1987 says, give him a chicken leg piece and it's Colonel Sanders without his glasses on, albeit also with an imperial uniform. Not as interesting as the prototype Boba but it 'is' a new character in minifig form. I'd personally like to see more Podracing drivers. Even if you detest Episode I, which seemingly most people do, there's no doubt that the Podracing is a great sequence. But yes, there are other characters I'd like to see as well...
Great character and a great one to have with Kalus from Rebels.
As others have said, this minifig conjures up thoughts of Palleon's head on Thrawn's body and I would love to have it, but don't have a big purchase in me right now. Still, very cool to get a look at him.
A lacklustre effort.
I'm very happy lego Produced this figure, because like LuvKernow and Ephseb said It let me finally create a 'proper' Grand Admiral thrawn minifigure.-
http://starwhat.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Thrawn1.jpg
OK the face ain't quite right but he'll do.
I absolutely agree that Aunt Beru or Wuher would have made far superior choices, but it's still a great minifig that I never thought I'd see.
uh... wasn't Ben Tarkin the guy in charge of Anakin's fleet?
@TheRancor: the podracers would make a great microfighter release set.
Got mine stored in a little minifig display case from a second hand lego store after I went to thel real lego shop
I personally don't think Aunt Beru is 'cool' enough for a polybag release... There are still many more characters and species that could be released though. Unfortunately, I think the new movies will probably influence future polybags and so we'll all be left 'wanting' lots of OT characters not yet produced in LEGO form :-(
There are no Star Wars sets that are feasible for me right now so I guess I won't be getting this poly, which is a shame because I love the look of this minifigure. Personally I'm waiting for a Prune Face minifigure ;)
The Admiral's wig looks to be the same mould as Count Dookoo.