In my opinion these 30th
Anniversary figures have been a success. We only have one more to go
after Cy-Chop here and I can already tell you that unless they manage
to fuck him up really bad, Castle Grayskullman is a big
winner.
I’ll do a round-up of opinions on
them next time. For now, let’s take a look at Cy-Chop.
Cy-Chop is the creation of some dude
from the Matty design team – Terry Higuchi. Terry Higuchi is
clearly a lunatic. There are so many things I hate about Cy-Chop, but
they all come together in such an absolutely insane way that I ended
up loving the figure. It’s just the wackiest damn thing to come out
of the Masters of the Universe Classics line. That’s really saying
something for a line that includes a man with a robot elephant head
and another guy with a magical cyborg neck.
As impressed as I was with the batshit
craziness of Cy-Chop, I wasn’t sure I was going to buy him until I
hit the “Submit Order” button. I don’t like his head. I
specifically dislike those pointy cone things on top, as they remind
me of Kevin Nealon’s character in Little Nicky. I know
they’re not at all breast-like, but that’s what my brain does.
I’m also really bothered that he doesn’t include regular hands. I
mean, how does he wipe his ass with those things? Or do anything
for that matter? With the technology available to the citizens of
Eternia, I can’t imagine why this guy couldn’t have at least one
normal hand.
But when sale day came I just couldn’t
resist. I sat and looked at this goofball for a couple of minutes and
decided I would just be too disappointed if I let him get away.
Side Note:
Although I did predict that all of the 30th
Anniversary figures would be available again at some point; possibly
as soon as Black Friday. Sure enough, every single one of them was up
for sale as of last Wednesday. Even Castle Grayskullman, who “Sold
Out” in less than an hour on his sale day. I guess they had more
made really quick. Right?
Anyway, this guy came along with the
King Grayskull I was (finally) able to get that day. I can’t decide
if I want to open King Grayskull or not, but I opened Cy-Chop as soon
as I was able.
First Glance: What an
absolute fucking mess this guy is. I feel like a ten-year-old
designed him, and I mean that in the best way possible. From the
colors to the nutso combination of parts, I can’t believe this toy
got made. He is the Axe Cop of the MOTUC line (the comic as a whole,
not Axe Cop himself).
Articulation:
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – ball joint
Biceps – swivel
Elbows –pivot
Wrists – swivel
Choppers – pivots at the base of each
blade
Waist – swivel
Hips – ball joint
Thighs – swivel
Knees – pivot
Ankles – rocker joint
Cy-Chop’s ankles might as well be
pivots. Like most recent MOTUC figures, the rocker is almost
unnoticeable. The forward/back motion is fine, but the side-to-side
almost doesn’t even work. I’m not sure why this is, but it kind
of sucks.
This guy is also missing the calf and
abdominal joints, but for good and obvious reasons.
All of the existing joints work quite
well. None are stuck – which (knock on wood) seems to be a thing of
the past. All of them hold a pose well.
Sculpt: That head…
man. I don’t know. It’s very unique. It has a definite sci-fi
look. Almost like something out of Metropolis. But it’s
scary in its dullness. And I just don’t like the cones. The
execution is competent though, so when you take the issue of personal
taste out you can’t really complain. It isn’t straight-up bad,
it’s just so odd. That almost looks like Panthro’s jaw. I think I
could like it more, but I’ll get to that in the Coloring section.
Cy-Chop uses Roboto’s chest shell,
but the insides are actually… insides. Well, sort of. It looks like
there’s a pile of intestines at the bottom, but there’s some kind
of disc up top. It’s really weird and off-putting and I like it. It
reminds me of Mutagen Man, one of the greatest action figures of all
time. If there is any justice in this world, we will get a new
Mutagen Man figure in the current TMNT line.
The figure has Beast Man’s legs and
upper arms. This is also very odd. I guess Higuchi went with those
for the texture, but it makes me curious as to what Scychor
(Cy-Chop’s name pre-cyborging) looked like. But the hairy
appendages work. Not in a way that makes sense or works for the
character, but in a way that adds to the insanity of the design.
The forearms are Roboto’s and I love
how they are done. That’s also for the Coloring section.
And now for the big, new things – the
claws. Or choppers. Or mega-scissors. Whatever. They’re just too
darn big. It’s absurd. If you’re in a battle and have the ability
to cut a guy’s legs, arms, or head off that should be enough.
There’s no reason to have appendages large enough to bifurcate a
man at the waist. Especially when you can’t even stand with your
arms hanging straight down. The size of these things is just
overkill. That being said, I’m fine with it. Clearly, Higuchi sat
down with this design and decided to go “Full Retard”, if you
will. The actual design of the choppers is great. The fact that
they’re articulated and functional is great. Plus they’re sturdy.
I was afraid we were going to get some flimsy, rubber blades. But
these things are pretty firm. Each blade has a full range of
movement. Mattel didn’t impose any unnecessary limits on the amount
they could open. There’s just enough detailing on these that they
look cool, but not so much that they’re overwrought.
The choppers detach from the forearms
easily and can be switched out with most of the other arm accessories
from the line – Trap-Jaw’s, Roboto’s, and Spikor’s.
Coloring: I particularly
like Cy-Chop’s overall color scheme. The orange and the blue work
well together and the blue tint on the chest casing is a nice
difference from Roboto’s. The problem is that his color scheme is
heroic. It took me actually sitting down and writing this before I
could remember that Cy-Chop is a bad guy. Just looking at him, he
looks like a hero. Yes, his giant blades of doom might contradict
that, but hasn’t everybody seen Edward Scissorhands? I think
this guy would have looked great in black, green, and silver. And he
also would have complimented his best pal, Kronis (Trap-Jaw).
So the head is a bland hunk of crap. I
don’t know what happened here. At least the lower portion of his
face could have been painted. Or some detailing on his helmet. This
is easily the worst thing about the whole figure and it feels like
laziness or a cost-cutting measure rather than a design choice.
The interior of the chest looks good –
the parts have different and distinctive colors.
The blue furry parts are detailed about
like Beast Man’s, with some shading to bring out the sculpted fur.
Cy-Chop also has the requisite colored toenails, which are always a
nice touch.
The forearms look great. I love that
the design calls for blue going down into the circuitry to give the
visual idea that the orange parts are grafted onto Scychor’s arms.
It’s a nice touch and something that could have been overlooked.
There are some nice touches of color on the orange portions and
overall I feel like these forearms are the most exciting portion of
the figure.
The choppers look very good, with
plenty of detailing and a variety of colors to keep them from looking
like big, silver hunks of crap. You know – like his head.
Flair: Cy-Chop’s belt
and loin cloth are basically Trap-Jaw’s but with a Horde crest on
the belt. It looks good. The loops on the side are kind of pointless,
but I like the shape of the belt a lot. It works. The pieces are
pained well, with shading on the furry parts and nice, tight coloring
on the Horde crest. This is one of the places where black would have
been better. It just seems so weird that all of the other Horde
members have black and red crests and this guy’s is orange and
gold.
Accessories: Nothing.
Not a sausage. I fell like this guy should have come with a pair of
hands. I would bet money that was the original intent and Matty cut
them out (pun sort of intended). I think this is the first MOTUC
figure since Stratos that has not come with any accessories and I
think that’s bullshit. It’s not like each appendage is even
different. The choppers are the same sculpt. Boo, Matty, boo.
Packaging: It’s the
regular MOTUC blister card. Still neat and still effective. Here’s
his bio:
And this is where they really got me.
They made this goofball pals with my favorite MOTU character –
Trap-Jaw. I couldn’t very well pass that up.
Value: $28.70 (including
shipping) is too much for this guy. He seems like he has a lot
of value-added stuff, what with his huge choppers and the chest, but
that’s all a bunch of flash drawing your attention away from the
lack of paint apps and accessories. Don’t be fooled.
Overall: (That's Horde Prime's left hand) Ch-Chop is a
mess of design. I like him on my shelf, but I also like bootleg toys
a lot. He’s a terrible value and, quite frankly, one of the biggest
gyps of the whole line. He probably deserves a “2”, but I really
do like looking at his silly ass.
3
out of 5
You can go to MattyCollector right now and buy one. They’ve stated they had a
whole separate budget for the 30th Anniversary line and
I’m thinking they made a shit-ton of these things.
-Phantom
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