This primary-colored goof has been
sitting on a shelf in my office since the day he arrived over a year
ago.
I don’t know exactly what my problem
was with the Heroic Lord of Blustery Days, but I just did not want
him. So when he arrived I took him out of the white mailer box, got a
picture, and promptly listed him on eBay.
And then after seven days listed him
again.
And seven days later, again.
2011 Masters of the Universe Classics
figures are nigh impossible to move on eBay because every citizen of
the planet Earth had a subscription. My dog had a
subscription. So unless you are willing to take a deep loss on your
figures, you’re not getting rid of them. I am not willing to take
such a loss. I’ll break even, but I’d rather have the most ugly,
stupid, ridiculous figure ever sit on my shelf for at least a year
than lose money on a MIP toy.
I finally accepted a few weeks ago that
I would never be able to get rid of Sy-Klone, so I opened him up.
I don’t know what my big problem was.
Once I had that guy in my hands I appreciated what was going on. He’s
kind of goofy, but so are 80% (or more) of the Masters of the
Universe characters. That’s a big part of why I love them.
First Glance: At first I
really didn’t like him. But once I opened him up I changed my mind.
Honestly, Sy-Klone is pretty neat. The problem might actually be that
I am kind of a judgmental dick.
Articulation: Sy-Klone
has all of the standard articulation. I really wish they could have
figured out a way to make his torso spin, or at least make his waist
joint loose enough so you could do it manually.
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – ball joint
Biceps – swivel
Elbows – pivot
Wrists – swivel
Abdomen – pivot
Waist – swivel
Hips – ball joint
Thighs – swivel
Knees – pivot
Calves - swivel
Ankles – rocker joint
For a figure from early 2011, this
guy’s joints are all pretty good. Then again, I’ve been luckier
than some on that front. I think loose ankles and a loose knee or two
have been my worst problems. The DC Universe line gave me a lot more
trouble.
Sculpt: Lots of new
parts on this guy, and I’m not entirely sure where some of them
could be used again. His head, biceps, forearms, belt/trunks, and
calves are new.
His head looks like a space samurai,
which is a cool thing to look like. The head and the helmet are
permanently attached but separate sculpts and that adds a whole lot
to the look. His face kind of just looks like a blue He-Man face,
which marks the first time I have felt that a face in this line was
less than distinctive. It’s fine because the rest of Sy-Klone is so
unique, but a little surprising.
His torso is obviously new and special.
It’s basic shape is the male MOTUC style, but there’s a huge lump
in the front to house his… uh… radar chest. As you can see in the
picture, this is exactly as weird as it sounds. Sy-Klone has a weird backpack thing that I really like. The clip where his rotary tool or whatever attaches is kind of ugly when the tool isn't there, but whatever.
The arms are nice. I really like the
airfoils or whatever that are attached to the upper arms. The tops of
the gloves are great, as they feature rings to compliment the helmet
and the boot tops. I like how retro-sci-fi this guy is.
His trunks are new (I think) and look
solid. They work with the look of the rest of the figure. He has a sort of Saturn-looking thing on his belt that I like.
The boots are ringed at the top like
the gloves and the helmet. It’s a nice sculpt and they’re much
more distinctive than they were on the old figure.
Overall, the shape of this guy is
great. I really like the samurai/50’s spaceman theme Mattel was
going for. He reminds me a lot of Daimajin. I guess not so much
because he resembles the daikaiju, but because he’s a weird-looking
samurai dude. Based solely on sculpt Sy-Klone is pretty great.
Coloring: But then
there’s the colors.
Obviously the blue is good. This guy
flies around the sky and stuff, so blue is a natural. Well, that and he's a Gar. The red is okay
as well. It’s a natural contrast for blue and makes those rings pop
really well. But the yellow is atrocious. It’s so bright and bland
at the same time. These huge swaths of yellow are what turned me off
of the figure. Try to picture this guy if those yellow parts were
grey or silver. See? How much more awesome does he look?
Just like the other MOTUC figures,
Sy-Klone has shading that isn’t as apparent in pictures. It saves
the yellow from being a deal-breaker.
The other thing that saves this guy is
the awesome lenticular sticker on his chest. I say “sticker”, but
this is a thick piece of decoration. I was a little concerned about
whether or not his chest radar would stay put, but it is definitely
in for the long haul. It looks really nice and functions well.
Flair: Sy-Klone does not
have any extras to speak of. His torso – called a TECH Vest in his
bio – is a sculpt rather than an add-on.
Accessories: Sy-Klone
comes with a cosmic shield and a battle ring.
The shield is fine. It looks kind of
aerodynamic and looks like something this guy could throw, Captain
America-style, in a pinch. It a new shield that fits the character as
opposed to just being He-Man’s shield painted yellow.
The battle ring is just damned strange.
It’s too big to be believable as a hand-held weapon and it just
looks weird no matter how you attach it to Sy-Klone’s back.
I can’t help but feel like he
should’ve come with an actual weapon. I know what he has reflects
the old figure, but I was just a little disappointed that he didn’t
have a blaster or something.
What’s important is that the figure
can interact with these accessories like he is supposed to and he
can. The battle ring fits in his hand or on the mount on his back
perfectly and the shield clips onto his arm. I am not a big fan of
the clip-on shields. You’re stressing the clips on the shields and
potentially damaging paint on the figure. I’ve got to think there’s
a better way to design these.
Packaging: It’s the
regular MOTUC blister card. Still neat and still effective. Here’s
his bio:
Seriously? So this guy completely
failed his duty and let his stones get destroyed and the Masters were
all like, “Well clearly you’re Masters of the Universe material!
Join up, broseph!”
Value: $28.70 (including
shipping) actually seems like a slightly better value for Sy-Klone
than some others. He has a lot of new parts and what in my mind
constitutes a bit of an action feature in his chest radar. Still
overpriced, but closer to being a reasonable deal.
Overall: I still hate his
yellow parts, but the rest of Sy-Klone is pretty great. There’s no
way we’ll ever see a color variant like I suggested, so I’ll just
hang onto this one. Maybe I’ll paint him someday.
4
out of 5
Sy-Klone is perfectly fine and not a
bad addition to the shelf if you can stand the yellow. Since he’s a
2011 figure I bet you can get him for next-to-nothing.
-Phantom
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