Abstract: Reduction of tris-cyclopentadienyl rare-earth metal complexes of the form, (C5Me4H)3Ln [Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy], allowed for the isolation of rare-earth metals in the +2 oxidation state. The metal ions in these complexes adopted unusual 4fn5d1 electron configurations with a notable exception for Dy which adopts a 4f10 configuration based on EPR and UV-Vis spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Reaction of these complexes (La, Ce) with tert-butyl isocyanide generated paramagnetic species which feature multi-line EPR spectra at 298 K and 77 K. Reduction of heteroleptic complexes of the form, (CpX)2Y(Anion) [CpX = C5Me5, C5Me4H; Anion = N(SiMe3)2, OC6H2tBu2-2,6-Me-4], generated dark blue solutions with EPR and UV-Vis spectra consistent with Y(II). These heteroleptic complexes are the first examples of C5Me5-containing complexes of yttrium(II).