Thoughts on the MOTUC Reveals

The Four Horsemen were kind enough to provide some glorious high-res studio shots of the MOTUC reveals from SDCC, so here’s my figure-for-figure thoughts on each one.

Demo-Man > Easily my favorite reveal among a lot of awesome reveals. Not only does he have a highly detailed, almost entirely original sculpt that’s dead-on to the artwork, but he comes with a bad-ass scimitar, a huge flail, and two extra heads, including an Alfredo Alcala-style Skeletor head, which will placed on my “default” Skeletor as soon as Demo-Man arrives. I’m not sure what the deal is with the other skull, though it reminds me of the Evilution Demon.

The Sorceress > At long last! Once again we had to wait years to get this central character, but at least she’s on her way. There’s been a lot of discussion about the blue on her wings, as they were entirely orange on the inside on the cartoon, but I prefer the blue myself–it’s an improvement.

Flipshot > The second New Adventures of He-Man character to make it into the line, the Four Horsemen once again did a great job of making him fit the Classics look. He’s had a surprisingly strong reception for an NA character–many fans are calling him one of the best reveals–and that’s mostly due to the Horsemen’s great job on the design.

Shadow Weaver > The long-demanded, Filmation-owned character finally gets an action figure. Mattel pulled one hell of a rabbit out of a hat by scoring the Filmation rights, and kudos for them for immediately getting Shadow Weaver out there.

There’s been a lot of complaints about her being the subscription figure. Given how much trouble Club Infinite Earths is having getting subscribers, however, I have to wonder whether it isn’t a shrewd move on Mattel’s part. Furthermore, I suspect the majority of Shadow Weaver fans are diehards who would be buying the subscription anyway. I mean, she’s a female character from She-Ra who never even had a vintage action figure. If I wasn’t a completist on MOTUC, I’m not sure even I would have wanted her (though she does have a cool design).

I know there are going to be people who disagree with me on this, of course. Just as I know there will be people who order a subscription and then cancel it as soon as Shadow Weaver arrives–which, personally, I think is a shitty thing to do, and why I think Mattel should put the incentive figures at the end of the sub year.

Fearless Photog > Holy crap. I mean, holy CRAP, right? Fearless Photog? We live in wondrous times, folks–wondrous times. I can honestly say I never thought Mattel would make this guy. Yet here he is! And he looks fantastic. I’m curious to see whether his bio says he was a member of Marlena’s crew.

It bugs me that FP and the other five “original characters” won’t be part of the subscription. More than ever, Mattel has to offer an opt-in option for subscribers on these items. I get why they don’t include new items like vehicles or beasts the first year they appear–presumably because they’re not sure what the price points are going to be–but they know how much figures are ($20), and can easily add them to the subscription.

Fisto > This pic doesn’t show the alternate head with the headband, the big belt, and–best of all–the giant sword. You may recall a fan making and selling a custom giant sword back in the Millennium era–that fan was none other than Joe Amaro himself!

Anyway, he looks great and has some nice accessories.

Snout Spout > MOTU’s lovable elephant man returns. I’m curious to see how posable his trunk will be (I’m sure it’s been said somewhere). I’m guessing it’s bendy, i.e., rubbery with wires in it.

I don’t have a whole lot to say here…I mean, it’s Snout Spout. He looks good. He’s an elephant man.

Kobra Khan > Another MOTU mainstay gets his Classics figure. Not pictured is his alternate head with the full hood. Nothing too drastic here, design-wise–just a classic MOTU character.

Draego-Man > Leave it to the Horsemen to create one heck of a badass figure. The SDCC pics differed slightly in that the shield had clear plastic orange flames around it and some sort of flame-whip, which I certainly hope are included with the final figure. But setting all that aside–how incredibly badass is this figure? And his name–it’s more Warrior Beasts than MOTU (which is cool with me–I love WB).

My one criticism, if this can even be considered a criticism, is that having a red dragon-man does steal a bit of Granamyr’s thunder. Maybe Draego-Man’s origin will somehow tie in to Granamyr to explain the similarity.

The Star Sisters (Jewelstar, Starla, and Tallstar) > …yeah. Look, I’ve made an effort to appreciate the POP characters in MOTUC, such as Adora and Catra. But I’m finding it hard to warm up to the Star Sisters. They’re very POP, in a way that Adora, Catra and Shadow Weaver aren’t. And apparently they only showed up in a single episode of the cartoon in an incredibly brief, toy-advertisement-style cameo. It seems much of their cult popularity is owing to the fact that, like Shadow Weaver or Fearless Photog, the toys the episode advertises were never actually made…(dramatic pause) UNTIL NOW.

I realize I sound like a five-year-old boy saying all that pink is a bit of a turn-off, but, well, it kind of is (oh, and girls are icky). If I’d had my druthers, Granamyr would have been the sub item and the Star Sisters the optional item, but I must accept that I am not in possession of my druthers. Welcome, Star Sisters.

The Wind Raider > First off, I’m a little disappointed the first vehicle isn’t the Battle Ram, which we’ve already seen a sculpt of. It’s my second-favorite MOTU vehicle (just behind the Talon Fighter). But that’s OK; I suspect it was a bit too large, and the brand managers couldn’t sell the Mattel execs on something that big without testing the waters with something smaller first.

The Wind Raider is a good test. The workhorse of the MOTU fleet, it probably has the most cartoon appearances aside from those flying sleds from the Battle Ram. I’ve always thought the colors were a bit drab, but the sculpt looks fantastic. What’s more, I suspect the pics don’t do justice to how big this thing must be.

And the fact that Mattel got the original box artist to do the new package’s art is just the icing on the cake.

Overall, 2012 looks like it’s going to be an amazing year for MOTU fans. Let’s just sit back and enjoy it.