Just last week I was talking about how
burned out I was on Mattel’s subscription figures. And it was true.
But then I got this really solid
run of Masters of the Universe Classics (notice I am not including DC
figures) consisting of Octavia, New Adventures He-Man, Clamp
Champ, and the first figure of the new Filmation subscription –
Icer. Now I feel kind of dumb. Because I am glad to have all of
these, as you’ll see over the next week as I review them.
But I have to say – now that I’ve
got Icer in hand I don’t feel quite so chumpy. Because Icer
is pretty darn cool (pun intended). And translucent.
First Glance: His furry
head fringe is just cracking me the heck up. I love the head sculpt
and did I mention he’s translucent?
Articulation: Icer has
the basic Masters of the Universe Classics articulation, but with a
very specific improvement. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Head – ball joint
Shoulders – ball joint
Biceps - swivel
Elbows – pivot
Wrists – swivel
Abdomen - pivot
Waist – swivel
Hips – ball joint
Thigh - swivel
Knees – pivot
Boot tops - swivel
Ankles – rocker
I was afraid that Icer’s fancy head
fringe might interfere with the positioning of his head. It doesn’t.
He can look almost directly up and down a decent amount. The head has
full rotation as well.
I don’t know if Icer is actually
designed differently or his plastic is a bit more flexible or what
the deal is, but his arms can actually hang straight down at his
sides – a first for this line. It almost looks like the shoulder
pieces have a bit of leeway to pull out of the torso and facilitate
the pose. As you know if you have been reading my MOTUC reviews, I
LOVE IT.
Icer has full-on rocker ankles. They
have a great range of motion that is not impeded by his furry raver
boots. I’m glad Mattel is doing whatever it is they’re doing to
make sure these ankles work properly now. I didn’t appreciate them
until they stopped working last year. Now I’m glad they’re back
and I never want them to leave again.
All of the joints on my figure are
great. Nothing was stuck and they all hold poses.
Sculpt: Icer has the
good ol’ He-Man buck, spiffed up with an awesome new head and some
furry accoutrements.
AND HE IS TRANSLUCENT.
He’s molded from a more rigid (and
translucent) plastic than the regular MOTUC figures. I played with
him a good bit and did quite a few poses for photos and I didn’t
detect any of the structural weaknesses that I heard the Goddess has.
Everything felt sturdy.
The new head sculpt is freaking awesome
for three reasons:
- It is translucent
- It has a furry fringe that looks like it could be some weird variation on a Mr. T haircut, but is actually the front part of a hood even though this guy does not have a hood
- This is the best Destro face sculpt I have ever seen
No they are not.
But I love ludicrous, so I think all of it is just great. And the furry parts are done quite well. The sculpt of the fur looks great and is actually a different texture from any other fur we have seen in MOTUC. It looks thicker, like it is from some beast that would live in frigid climates.
Coloring: So simple, and
yet so darn awesome. The figure base is cast in a translucent blue
material that looks perfect. The arms and legs don’t quite
match the torso, but it doesn’t matter to me.
There is white flecking (Speckling?
Spattering? On second thought, let’s not use spattering…) all
over the body that creates the illusion of ice. The overall effect is
awesome. This guy is really going to look great and stand out on the
shelf. Or in the night club.
The furry bits are pure white with a
bit of shading to make them more interesting to look at. His eyes are
also pure white, which is oddly disturbing. I dig the light blue and
metallic blue on the belt. All of the paint apps are well done and
the parts that are detailed rather than highlighted or flecked are
tightly applied.
Accessories: Icer comes
with an icicle and the Staff of Avion.
The icicle looks really cool. It is a
translucent blue with white flecking like Icer. I particularly like
the natural, uneven shape. The problem is that the white flecking
scrapes off rather easily. Like, when you put the thing in Icer’s
hand:
Dammit.
The Staff of Avion is, thankfully, a
more rigid plastic than many recent accessories. Unfortunately the
dum-dums at Mattel didn’t think to put all of the ugly crap on the
same side. So we have the despised “CHINA” stamp on one side:
And a bunch of this mess on the other:
Dammit.
Packaging: The standard
MOTUC big ol’ blister card.
There is, of course, the standard bio
on the back:
Well no wonder he looks like Destro.
That’s pretty much the Weather Dominator story.
Value: Icer was absurdly
expensive. The figure itself was $25. The shipping was $9.90. If I
ran across this figure at regular retail I would not pay thirty-five
bucks for it. I really like Icer, and he’s closer to being a good
value than many other MOTUC figures, but he still doesn’t quite
make it. I’ll be much happier next month when my Filmation figure
is shipped with the rest of my overpriced garbage
Matty stuff.
Overall: I love this guy.
No way is he worth five bucks more than The Creature, but I
really do like him. The Four Horsemen took a character who pretty
much looks like a big lump of stupid and made him look rad. Well,
maybe not rad. But definitely ready to get down at the rave.
4
out of 5
I don’t even have a guess as to what
the production numbers or supply might be on the Filmation figures. I
mean, I’m sure it’s more than Matty is acting like, but I don’t
know by how much. If you want Icer – and you should – check out
eBay first. I remember some folks that didn’t like him when he was
shown, so you might be able to snag one. If not there’s always
BigBad.
-Phantom
Man, I didn't even catch how much his face sculpt looks like Destro, but you're absolutely right!
ReplyDeleteIf it wouldn't be ludicrously expensive to do so I'd buy another and paint him in Destro colors.
DeleteYou and I are on the same page when it comes to GITD and translucent figures. That's one of the things I love about Onell's glyos figures (probably my favorite toyline for the last few years), they always have new GITD and translucent stuff coming out.
ReplyDeleteOn top of that, I have a particular weakness for Ice and/or Fire themed characters. So I'm getting the double whammy here. Nevertheless, I was fighting the urge to get Icer, and so far have been successful.
However, I just opened that second Spirit of Hordak figure, and now my love of translucent figures is starting to take hold. I'm going to have to more actively seek out Icer now.
I just can't get excited about all of that Glyos stuff. I read about 'em on 16Bit.com and I think they're neat, but they don't do much for me for the price. If I could walk into a store and pick up a few I might. The Outer Space Men are as close as I can get to that style.
DeleteThat's definitely understandable, they are a bit expensive. I am ok with the price because they only make a few hundred of each color they produce, and I really like the community of fans. Everyone knows MOTU has it's fair share of vocal whackos who spout a lot of negativity. You get none of that with glyos, and the owners are all around cool people who respond to emails and any customer concerns immediately.
DeleteWell, I went ahead bought a MOTUC sub for 2014, and I went with quarterly shipping. I may be making a huge mistake, but given how much I've been enjoying these secondary figures lately (NA He-man, Fighting Foe Men, Spirit of Hordak) I think I'll be able to find something to like with every figure I get.