Toy Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Filmation Icer By Mattel

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.

I felt like a big ol’ chump when I signed up for the Filmation sub. I didn’t even know who Icer, Shokoti, and (other?) were, but they looked like really cool figures and I knew I wanted them. Icer was translucent (remember – my second favorite gimmick after glow-in-the-dark) and Shokoti looked cool and had that crazy-looking little Cthulu monster. So I signed up. Because I am a big ol’ chump.

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:

1. It is translucent
2. 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
3. This is the best Destro face sculpt I have ever seen

All of Icer’s furry bits are absolutely ludicrous given that he is a man made of ice. Why does he need to keep warm? And even if he did need to keep warm, are those leftover accessories from a Playboy photoshoot called “She Cold” really going to get the job done?



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