I’m not necessarily a fan of She-Ra
and never have been. Right or wrong, it comes down to the fact that
it’s girl stuff. Yes, it all fits right into the Masters of the
Universe mythos and you could even argue that there is barely a
noticeable difference between the He-Man and She-Ra cartoons. I don’t
dislike that side of the Universe, I’m simply not inclined
towards it.
That being said I am not at all opposed
to these characters showing up in the Masters of the Universe
Classics line. There are some truly great designs that make for
awesome toys. If the Four Horsemen can nail them, they are solid
additions to the MOTUC shelf. Both She-Ras are cool and Catra is one
of my favorite female figures. Okay – wait – we haven’t gotten
a whole lot of Princess of Power figures, have we?
Bubble Power She-Ra
Catra
Bow
Adora
Swift Wind
Tallstar
Starla
Jewelstar
Shadow Weaver
I’m not including the male Horde
members because they were part of the boys’ toy line.
That’s not actually a very impressive
representation. Three figures of essentially the same character, a
dude that could well fit in with the regular MOTUC line, and a three
pack of little-known throwaway characters. If I were a POP fan
I’d be pissed.
There was a time when I had quite a few
debates with DCW Hooligan Little Pond over the execution of these POP
figures, but she must have just gotten disgusted with the whole thing
because I haven’t heard from her here in a while now. I still think
extra heads with rooted hair would have been an excellent thing, but
of course Matty is always moaning about how little money they have.
Uh huh.
Okay, so onto Frosta. There are three
categories of Princess of Power characters – ones I actively want,
ones I’m okay with, and ones I do not want. Frosta is one I was
okay with. Just because I’m thinking about it, here’s my list:
Actively Want
Octavia
Glimmer
Castaspella
Mermista
Queen Angella
Entrapta
Scorpia
Okay With
Sea Hawk
Double Trouble
Do Not Want
Arrow (sorry – I don’t want to pay
Beast prices for a horse)
Flutterina
Peekablue
Perfuma
Spinnerella
Sweet Bee
I didn’t include Kowl or Loo-Kee
because I feel like they should be accessories, but I wouldn’t mind
seeing them. And the forthcoming Netossa is firmly on my Do Not Want
list, but too bad.
Anyway, I’m cool with Frosta (HA!).
She has a solid design and isn’t too goofy for me.
First Glance: Lots of new
parts here. Her cape and hair do not appear to be translucent as they
were (and still are) on the Matty product page. Still, she looks
pretty good. Is it me or is that a villain face, though? Or maybe
another type of face…
Articulation:
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – ball joint
Biceps – swivel
Elbows –pivot
Wrists – swivel
Waist – swivel
Hips – ball joint
Thighs – swivel
Knees – pivot
Ankles – rocker joint
In keeping with the recent MOTUC
releases, Frosta’s ankle rockers are barely noticeable as such.
All of her articulation works quite
well as far as the range of motion and ability to hold a pose. I was
once again impressed by the movement of the shoulders on the female
MOTUC buck. There are many lines where you wouldn’t be able to
achieve a pose such as this:
So good job on that one, Horsemen.
Sculpt: Her thighs are
so massively ugly I was shocked. Matty used the newer female
articulation on her. Unfortunately, her skirt is cut in such a way
that it is clearly visible. I don’t understand this at all. The
skirt is limiting the movement in that area anyway, so why not just
use the Battlefield Teela legs? And not only is there an ugly
discontinuity in the shape of her thighs, they used white plastic for
the joint so it sticks out even worse.
Frosta has a new head, new thighs, and
a new (chest).
As with all of the female MOTUC
figures, Frosta’s hair looks great. It has the same fullness and
appearance of motion that the rest do, but without looking too
active. Like, it’s not all swept off to one side or anything. I
feel like the Four Horsemen are really taking the look of your
collection together on a shelf into account when they design these
figures. No sculpt or detail contradicts any other figure enough to
cause a problem. For instance – there isn’t one guy with a cape
blowing off to the left and then a girl with her hair blowing to the
right. I like the detailing of her little bangs, as well. Her face
looks mean. I feel like this is an angry face better suited for a
villain. As a matter of fact, I was in the same boat with Frosta as I
was with Cy-Chop – due to their looks and my unfamiliarity with the
characters I was confused about their alignments. I was on the verge
of putting this chick up on eBay because I disliked her face so much.
Then Mrs. Troublemaker pointed out that
it might just be the first example of action figure Duck Face.
She thought the face was fine (if a bit
Ducky), so I’m keeping her (Frosta, not Mrs. Troublemaker – wait…
both. I meant both).
The torso sports a great new mold that
is distinctive and has a nice amount of detail. The Horsemen have
worked the frosty theme into this figure very well.
Same goes for the new thighs. The tops
of the boots look good and have a very nice, distinct separation from
the thighs.
Apparently Frosta’s forearms are
reversed like Stinkor’s were. While I do agree that it is
completely unacceptable that this sort of thing just keeps happening,
I can’t tell. Not really. They look fine to me. Matty is putting
together some sort of apology in the form of a gift. I have to wonder
how they can justify not doing the same thing for Stinkor.
All of the joints – except for those
hideous thighs - are worked into the figure very well and don’t
disrupt the aesthetics.
Coloring: The color
scheme is fantastic. It’s obvious – blue, light blue, white –
but it looks very good and the paint apps are applied well.
The hair isn’t as translucent as the
product picture, but it does look cool. It’s just see-through
enough to look neat in the light. Her Duck Face is painted well, but
I feel like she should have had blue lips. Maybe a dark blue.
Actually, white eyeliner would have been cool as well. I think
there’s a lot more they could have done with the face to make
Frosta look cool and not giving her Duck Face was just the first
step.
I’m okay with the white being a bit
grey. I’ve been collecting toys basically since I was a kid and do
you know how many white action figures I own? Well, me neither, but
they’re mostly yellow, which is nasty. I’d much rather have a
light grey figure that was supposed to be white than a yellow figure
that was supposed to be white.
The details and accents are all tight
and well done. I particularly like the detailing on the… I guess
I’m going to have to call it a bustier. I mean, that’s what it
is. But whatever – it looks good. I think Frosta is one of the most
successful figures as far as the Horsemen portraying a consistent
theme.
Flair: The cape is not
translucent at all (it is in the production photo), which is a massive disappointment because
translucence is second only to glow-in-the-dark on my list of Awesome
Action Figure Gimmicks. I do love the shape of the cape. It looks
like a Bat-Family cape, but also evokes a frosty theme. The little
clasp at the neck is nicely done as well.
The new skirt piece looks really good.
I love the design and the cut and it is another one of those things
that makes Frosta so distinctive. Thanks to the shortness and
positioning of the cut it doesn’t interfere with articulation as
much as it could have, but it also reveals those ugly thighs. The
skirt isn’t the problem, though – the thigh joints are. It was
just a bad decision.
Accessories: Frosta
comes with a really awesome staff and a really awesome shield. Why am
I so excited to be getting two good accessories? Has Matty abused us
that much this past year?
The shield is neat and I don’t think
I knew we were getting it. It is not pictured on the product page.
Obviously I love the fact that it’s translucent, but the design is
actually quite nice too. I'm surprised it works as well for Frosta as it did for She-Ra with only a color change. It fits perfectly onto the figure’s
forearm and just generally looks cool.
The staff is rad. The top portion that
looks like it spins does. Not smoothly, but it does move. I was
hoping one flick of the finger would set it going but you kind of
have to keep flicking it. The sculpt is nice, with the vanes
resembling ice and the little studded business in the middle. I think
I’m a little disappointed that the actual staff portion doesn’t
have more detail, but overall this is still a nice piece.
Packaging: It’s the
regular MOTUC blister card. Still neat and still effective. Here’s
his bio:
I find the name Mackenzie to be very
odd for Etheria. I also don’t feel like that’s the face of
somebody who is “sweet, kind, and loyal to her allies”. At best
it’s the face of someone who is “fourteen and posing for a
Facebook profile picture”.
Value: $28.70 (including
shipping). Frosta is middle-of-the-road for the line. Not many of the
MOTUC are worth that price, but some come close. Frosta is
acceptable, but not great.
Overall: This is another
figure that pisses me off for coming so close to being great and just
blowing it. The face is a design choice. I may not agree with it, but
I can’t call it a problem. But those thighs are just awful. If you
are looking down on Frosta from above, she looks great just standing
on the shelf, but once you get up close the figure is disappointing.
Throw in the forearms and there are too many problems. Yeah – the
forearms don’t bother me, but they’re still errors. Worse,
they’re errors that have happened before.
3
out of 5
I’m sure you can snag the Ice Empress
of Etheria on BBTS or eBay. It’s not like they’ll ever make a
better one, so if you’re a Frosta fan go ahead and buy.
-Phantom
I agree not a fan of the pop but I still want scorpia,glimmer,entrapta, mermista,and castadpella to complete the rebellion as I've started the collection now.
ReplyDeleteWell, we know Castaspella is coming now, and she looks great. I agree that Mermista, Scorpia, and Glimmer are necessities. Can't wait to see how those turn out. Tune in this Tuesday for my review of Netossa.
Delete