I
think I’ve made it pretty clear that I am not the most
knowledgeable guy when it comes to She-Ra and all of her flowery,
fruity pals. I didn’t watch the cartoon when I was a kid because it
was for girls and… well, that’s pretty much the whole story. I
knew about the Evil Horde because they were so much cooler than
Skeletor and his goons, but I couldn’t tell you much about the
heroes of Etheria.
This,
of course, did not stop me from writing over 20,000 words of a Doctor
Who story that just happened to take place on Etheria. But that’s another
story.
For
instance – it does not take a Wikipedia search to understand that
Castaspella is a magic user. I’m pretty sure even Skeletor’s
henchmen could pick up on that.
I
introduced Casta into the story right before I lost my inspiration to
write and as a result she was one of the characters I was excited to
see as a figure in the Masters of the Universe Classics line (I never
used Netossa or Frosta – if I had I might not have eBayed them).
In
my narrative Casta was a fair-to-middling sorceress. Nowhere near the
level of Shadow Weaver, but definitely more competent than Orko
allowed himself to be seen (don’t get me started on my portrayal of
Orko).
Anyway,
I’m happy to have her.
First
Glance:
The blue and yellow coloring is extra super-heroic. I like it because
it makes Castaspella stand out amongst the other figures.
Articulation:
Castaspella has most of the standard MOTUC female articulation.
Head
– ball joint
Shoulders
– ball joints
Biceps
- swivels
Elbows
–pivots
Wrists
– swivels
Waist
– swivel
Hips
– ball joints
Thighs
– swivels
Knees
–pivots
Ankles
– pivots
Between
the long hair and the disco collar you would think the head wouldn't be very posable. You'd be wrong.
Castaspella
has new calves. The swivels were eliminated to accommodate her
unique boot design. I’m okay with that. Those boot-top swivels are
the most disposable of any of the MOTUC points of articulation.
Two
joints that I hate to see missing or downgraded are the ankle
rockers. Unfortunately Casta doesn’t have them. I’m honestly not
sure why, as her feet seem to be the standard female boot design.
All
of the joints on my figure are solid and tight.
Sculpt:
Castaspella has a new head and… what? Torso covering? I still don’t
know whether to qualify this as Sculpt of Flair, let alone what to
actually call it. She also has new forearms and calves.
The
head has yet another big and interesting hairdo. Some may debate over
whether these figures should have rooted hair or sculpted hair (or as
I suggested there should be two heads with each figure from the
Princess of Power series), but I think the Horsemen do a great job of
creating unique styles for a line of figures that, over the course of
time, all ended up sporting what could best be described as “Rat’s
Nests”. Casta’s is tall enough to make Lt. Moxie Magnus
proud.
Her
face conveys wisdom and kindness, which is appropriate for a magic
user oriented toward the light. I like that her expression is a
little more serene and neutral, as opposed to some of the other
ladies that might be smiling or angry.
The
new forearms sport some unique bracers that look very magic-y.
Castaspella’s lightning bolt motif is sculpted in with a nice round
gemstone sort of thing near the top. Her right hand is an open fist
and her left is not exactly a spellcasting hand. I mean, that’s
what it is supposed
to be, but it’s more closed than I would like. Also it’s made of
really soft rubber.
The
new boots also feature the lightning bolt, though it’s actually a
cut-out at the top of the boot. It looks really cool and is
definitely worth the loss of the boot-top swivel.
The
rest of Castaspella is all standard female MOTUC parts, down to her
ugly hips. Thankfully her skirt is long enough to conceal them.
Coloring:
Casta sports a light skin tone with the usual washes.
Her
hair doesn’t have the washes of some of the other figures, but
still looks good.
Her
face detailing is perfect. The eyes have eyeliner and the irises and
pupils are centered. Her eyebrows match her hair and are straight.
The lips look good as well. I like the dark hue that goes with her
hair. Also, I am very slightly uncomfortable talking about action
figure lips. Let’s move on.
The
newly sculpted parts have nice matching colors. The base yellow
matches everywhere and the gold trim looks great. The blue leggings
don’t have any detail, but they look good.
All
of the paint on my figure is tight and applied well. There’s no
splotching or slop. I have to give Mattel a lot of credit for getting
on the QC for their paint apps. The only real gripes I seem to have
with these figures lately all have to do with design choices. The
actual execution of the figures seems to have improved greatly. Let’s
hope 2014 continues that trend.
Flair:
Castaspella has a new top and skirt. Apparently I have decided the
top goes here.
And
that top is pretty awesome. It has a big ol’ 70s disco collar that
is part of the shoulder straps. The trim is really cool and has a
sort of trapezoid sticking up in the middle with a circular
gem-looking thing in it. It’s just a neat way of making Casta’s
outfit look more unique. The sculpted lightning on the front is part
of her motif and is the main reason she looks a bit more superheroic
than other characters in the line.
Well,
that and her belt. Or skirt top. I’m not clear on what the deal is.
But it’s another lightning bolt and it looks awesome. The skirt
itself has a great sculpt with tons of folds. The shape bells out a
good bit and is long enough to cover her unsightly hip joint. Due to
the wide bottom it also doesn’t interfere with leg posing.
Accessories:
Castaspella comes with two magic effects and a shield.
The
shield is the same one all of the POP characters have come with and I
am way
over it. This one is cast in a translucent yellow, so at least it has
that going for it.
The
first magic effect is a disc that clips onto the figures waist and
can sort of spin a little bit. It’s a neat idea but it looks kind
of stupid and doesn’t work all that well. I would have preferred
some jagged edges rather than the perfect circle we got.
The
other effect is a ball that fits over the figure’s right hand and
has lightning or fire or whatever shooting out of it. It looks
awesome. It took me a minute to figure out exactly how it fit on, but
I got it and it looks rad. And there are a couple of different ways
it can interact with the figure and look cool.
These
are totally okay accessories, but I could’ve lost the big disc and
the shield and gotten a better spellcasting hand and been happy.
Packaging:
The standard MOTUC blister card. I love the blister and this is
probably my favorite modern toy packaging. I think the best thing
about it is that Mattel has kept the design consistent through the
life of the series. That does not often happen. Granted, I open all
of my figures, but for the folks who leave them in the package it
must be nice to have one line that actually all matches.
There’s
a bio on the back as well that isn’t entirely silly:
“Enchantress
Who Hypnotizes”. Well, that answers that. I thought her hair was
sort of a light chestnut, but clearly she’s a redhead. I also find
it interesting that she is “Special friends with both Angella and
Frosta”. What the heck does that mean, exactly? And should I have
not gotten rid of Frosta?
Value:
Definitely worth the price, but not so much once you add shipping.
Overall:
This is one of the few POP figures that I had any real desire to see
and I am pleased to say that Matty did a great job with her. A few
minor gripes aside, I don’t think they could have done much better.
4
out of 5
Castaspella
will likely be one of the pricier releases to pick up on the
secondary market. If she has name recognition with me, chances are
she’s going to be a really big deal with POP fans.
-Phantom
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