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Introduction
While the modern Masters of the Universe series from Mattel is winding down, it's not quite done yet. They've breathed a little life into it with the Filmation style figures, and the October release was the beautiful but dangerous Evil-Lyn. Her MOTUC figure remains one of my favorites, so I was very interested to see how this 'old school' style would turn out in hand.
She was originally $20 for those with a subscription, or $25 for
those buying on opening day. Matty
Collector was the place to pick her up, but now the secondary
market is your only bet.
Packaging - ***
I've rave about the packaging before, so there's nothing new
here...almost nothing. The package remains an interior box with an
exterior slip cover. The exterior cover shows the castle door
closed...when you remove it, the box has the die-cut window where
the door was, a great design concept. Whomever came up with that one
should get a cookie.
But I docked them a full star this time for the inexplicable use of
some tiny - very tiny - plastic ties on the hands, feet, and one
accessory. Why they would use them is beyond be, since a) the figure
is a collector market figure, not a mass market toy that sits on a
shelf at a big store and b) there's no way the figure can possibly
move within the bubble even without them. The tray is designed to
wrap tightly around the legs, arms, and head, and the long, wide
cape is almost impossible to slide through the bottom of the
tray. Even after you cut the little plastic ties, it's a real
chore to pull her out, making it a complete waste of time and money
to add the ties. Of course, that also takes away the collector
friendly aspect of the package.
Sculpting - ***1/2
If you don't recall what dear Lyn looked like in the cartoon, here's
an excellent
reminder. Mattel has actually provided two portraits, with the
alternate one covering
her hat-less look as well.
The underlying sculpt is good, with appropriately large eyes and sharply defined cheekbones. The large lips and small nose, along with the heavily arched eyebrows, give her a Disney villain look, and the detailing is sharp and consistent.
The body is also quite cartoon accurate, although I do have one nit to pick. The collar seems to big to me, standing up higher than I think it should. Still, the costume is an overall quality match to the old show.
The second portrait, missing the crown, is ever so slightly bigger than the normal head. That gives it a very slight bobble head look, although it's nothing extreme. It also has a slightly softer, friendlier expression, something that's probably surprising to a lot of collectors. I wouldn't go with this second portrait as a normal thing, but it might be worth it to pick up a second figure just to have both on display.
She stands great on her own of course, and with the crown on, comes in at about 7 1/4" tall. The left hand is sculpted into a cool magical pose (which works perfectly with the crystal accessory), and the right is sculpted to hold the included scepter.
Paint - *1/2
Ouch. This is one sloppy, poor paint job, head to toe. It's bad
enough that the underlying sculpt, which as I said I think is quite
good, can be hard to discern through the slop.
Both head sculpts have a much darker skin tone than the rest of the figure, and the obvious clash with the color of the neck is eye catching even in hand. The lips, eyes, eyebrows, and hair (crown) lines are weak on both as well. There's stray marks, like the white spot on the forehead of the hat-less version, and over spray is apparent, like on the black on the top of the crown. Edges are poorly defined, and even the simply lines of the costume are wavy and weak. This is one of the worst paint jobs I've seen in awhile.
Articulation - ***1/2
She has all the usual MOTUC female articulation, plus the improved
rotating hinge wrists and the hinge/rocker ankles. To go with those
ankles and wrists there's the ball neck of course, along with
rotating hinge shoulders, cut biceps, pin elbows, cut waist, ball
hips, pin knees, and cut calves, all which work great.
The weight of the rubber cape, which is not removable, does make posing a bit trickier however. It doesn't restrict the articulation as much as it restricts the types of poses, thanks to the need to compensate for the weird center of gravity.
Accessories - ****
I already pointed out the extra head sculpt - Regular Readers know
how much I love an extra portrait. This one isn't prefect, but
they swap easily and it is a cool look for her.
There are two additional extras. She has her short scepter, complete with black orb. It fits neatly in the right hand, and can work with just about any pose.
She also has a large hunk of crystals, pulled straight from a rocky base. This hunk has a sculpted bottom that fits perfectly on the uniquely sculpted left hand. It's one of those nice touches you've come to expect from Mattel (and the Four Horsemen) on this line.
Fun Factor - ****
The paint might be poor, but this is still a really fun toy. I
wish the action figures Mattel produced for other licenses were this
well designed. Can you imagine a great movie Batman line with this
level of articulation?
Value - ***
I'm hoping the awful paint isn't the result of the low prices we're
seeing with these. It very well may be the case though, as
keeping these at $20 - $25 can't be an easy feat.
Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.
Overall - ***
If I were grading this figure on sculpt and paint alone, I would
have dropped her another half star. I do think there's a solid
Filmation sculpt hiding in there, but the awful paint work
overshadows it. I haven't seen this kind of slop on the other
Filmation releases, so I have to say it surprised me.
But sculpt and paint isn't all there is, and they did do a great job with the accessories and articulation. Those features helped to pull her back up to an average score, although with the right paint job I think she could really shine.
Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - *1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***
Where to Buy
Obviously, Matty
Collector was the place to grab her originally. Online options
include these site sponsors:
- or you can search ebay for a deal.
Related Links -
The Filmation style figures include Trapjaw,
Beastman, and Evil Seed.
I've covered a metric ton of MOTUC figures prior to that including Evil
Seed, Scorpia,
the wall
display units, Blade, the huge Castle Grayskull, Lord Dactus, Icer, Octavia, Snake Face, Jitsu, Ram Man, Mosquitor, Castle Grayskullman, Rattlor, Mekaneck, Sir Laser-Lot, the cool Griffin, Slushhead, the excellent Draego, Kobra Khan, Sorceress, Demo-man, Fearless Photog, Snout Spout, Wind Raider, the large Megator, the giant Tytus. Leech, Icarius, Clawful, the Faceless One, Catra, Sy-Klone, King Hssss, Vikor, Buzz Off, Grizzlor, Roboto, Gygor, Chief Carnivus, Whiplash, Orko, Count Marzo, She-Ra, Optikk, Evil-Lyn, Moss Man, Trap Jaw, Adora, Scare glow, Teela, Man-at-arms, Hordak, Zodac, Faker, Mer-man, Stratos, Webstor, Tri-klops, and starting out with He-man, Skeletor and Beastman together in one
review.
You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and
text by Michael Crawford.