Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, Phantiomaniacs. I had to leave work a few hours into my shift on Tuesday night because I was having intense abdominal pain. I was afraid it was a kidney stone. I had one interrupt my Dragon Con weekend a few years ago and haven't had one since. I am very thankful fir that.
I went to the doctor yesterday morning and he said it was almost certainly a kidney stone. In an odd way I was relieved because at least it wasn't something with a long-term impact.
I got painkillers and anti-nausea medicine. I threw up several times from the pain over the course of Tuesday night.
As I write this - at home - I still have an intense pressure in my lower abdomen. The stone is pretty close to coming out, but at least I can function again.
Anyway, enjoy today's review and may you never be plagued with kidney stones.
It’s
been a while since I’ve reviewed a MOTUC figure and I attribute
that to line fatigue. It’s a bad time for line fatigue because some
of the very best releases are coming out now, like today’s subject
– Modulok.
Actually,
it might be more review fatigue than line fatigue. I’ve reviewed
almost a hundred of these guys. And while it’s a fun line and each
figure has lots of personality, they’re pretty much all the same
figure. I mean, obviously they’re not, but after that many they
start to seem like it.
Modulok
is very much not
the same figure. Modulok is one of the very best action figures I
have ever owned. I want three.
I
would never have suspected this based on my prior experience with
Modulok, which was seeing approximately eight thousand of him on
clearance at Lionel Playworld every time I went there in the late
eighties. Seriously – there was a whole shelf of nothing but
Moduloks, marked down to $2.98 (or something). I sure wish I had
bought them all.
Nowadays
I like Modulok, as I have decided that he is Hordak’s chief
scientist and is just this weirdo that wants the unlimited budget of
the Horde so that he can pursue science. He’s amoral but kind,
hanging out in the lower levels of the Fright Zone and cranking out
weird shit.
FIRST
GLANCE
Holy
hot damn.
As
soon as I saw the plastic tray I knew this was a very special action
figure. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting out of this one,
but seeing all of these pieces blew my mind. And immediately made me
wish I had ordered two more.
PACKAGING
It’s
an old-school closed box, just like the original release. The art is
updated and the design is almost identical. It looks really nice,
even with the strong memories of a shelf full of dusty, similar boxes
sitting in Lionel Playworld.
I
do not like that they glued the sides shut rather than using a more
standard flap tucked in:
There’s
no way to avoid damaging the box, and while I normally don’t worry
about saving packaging, I haven’t been able to throw out any of the
boxes for boxed MOTUC items.
This
is a great
bio, despite it contradicting my story for Modulok. Or Professor
Modulok, as I call him. I’d watch a movie about this guy. And he
even has a pretty cool name, as opposed to many of the other dipshit
names the Masters have ended up with.
LOOKS
This
is a one hundred percent new sculpt and is one of those that is
somewhat intimidating to review. There are so many parts here. It’s
insane.
The
figure is a mixture of standard Masters of the Universe Classics
plastic and rubber. The rubber is there to make swapping the parts
out easy. Some of the connection points are painted and the paint
comes off when you use the connection points. It doesn’t make a
huge difference because they’re the pegs that go inside the holes.
You don’t really see them.
The
heads are both horrifying. One is almost kind of Mars
Attacks/Metaluna Mutant-looking. That stereotypical big-brain,
bug-eyed alien thing. It’s a great, creepy sculpt. The other head
is fucking weird. IT’s like a mix of… an Andoran, Voldemort, and
Maggie Simpson’s nemesis. As creepy as the other head is, this one
takes the creepy cake. Which is probably made from babies.
There’s
only one torso, though you can cobble some pretty horrifying things
together using other pieces. The main torso is ridged and insectile.
The lines are very angular and none of it looks anything like any
other MOTUC release. In a line of bizarre, alien figures Modulok is
by far the most bizarre and alien. There are peg holes at the
shoulders and hips, as well as one right in the middle of the butt.
It’s awkward and weird and I’d really rather not discuss it. But
you can plug any of the various items into the… butt hole.
Or
you can twist it around and… well, look:
Not
that I recommend anybody try this.
Here’s
a thing that bothered me, though it is true to the original figure –
Modulok comes with three sets of legs and only two sets of arms. That
leaves one set of legs with no corresponding arms and it is driving
me crazy.
You
have the purple insect-style arms and legs that are very cool –
probably my favorite. They have a sort of carapace design and meaty
joints and ridges and stuff. They look pretty gross.
There are also the more robot-looking legs with the green highlights.
Those are kind of boring. I suppose the plain red arms go with those.
Not because they necessarily match, but because they definitely don’t
go with the spiky insect legs.
The
spiky insect legs look great and have one of the best textures of
anything I’ve seen in the MOTUC line. They’re irregular and
unique and so good that I wouldn’t mind a whole figure that looked
like this.
Then
there are the extra parts. There are two different insect butts and a
connection thing to extend the insect butts out and allow for a third
set of legs. You know – if you’re into that. There are also two
double sockets for legs or arms and one double socket for the heads.
Though you can really use anything for whatever. These double socket
pieces look really good. They’re meaty and creepy.
Modulok
doesn’t appear
to have a lot of paint going on, but what’s there is well done and
does a great job of highlighting the sculpt. The brainy head just has
black and white on it, but the black and white look great. The same
goes for the green and black detailing on other portions of the body
– there isn’t a lot, but it’s well done and highlights certain
parts. This is a case where just a few colors served to make a very
interesting and consistent figure.
Every
bit of Modulok screams excellence. It’s clear that the 4 Horsemen
put a lot of thought and love into this one.
ACCESSORIES
Modulok
comes with two blasters that can be put together to make one blaster.
It’s made of rubber, but this is the one occasion that calls for
it. It makes the connection points more secure and easier to use and
the rubber is solid enough that the guns aren’t floppy.
Modulok
can hold it in several of his hands (that was a fun sentence to think
of) and can assume a number of cool gun-wielding poses.
Modulok
didn’t need to come with any more accessories, but I’ll say this
– if Matty released a Weapons Pak full of various multi-part
accessories for this figure I would buy it in a second. Swords,
spears, larger blasters – there are all kinds of possibilities. I
suppose Spy Monkey should get on that. Or maybe they already have. I
dunno.
FUN
It’s
possible that this figure is more fun than any other I own. The
possibilities for creating crazy monsters is almost endless. All of
the connection points are interchangeable, so there’s no idea that
you can come up with that can’t be done. Unlike many modular toys
that may have certain points that don’t connect, Modulok is
completely compatible with himself. It’s been on my desk since I
opened it and there haven’t been many occasions where I was sitting
there and failed to pick it up and mess around with it. I don’t see
it going on my Masters shelf any time soon.
Modulok
is so damn good that I really, really
want two more. I want a shelf of Modulok monsters. If I find one for
anything approaching a reasonable price during con season I will buy
it.
OVERALL
This
is one of those rare figures that I would recommend to any toy
collector, whether they collect the Masters line. It’s an excellent
example not only of toy engineering, but of a successful update to a
classic action figure. This is a great piece for any fan of toys,
science fiction, or horror. BUY ONE!
I’ll
be very surprised if I buy a better toy this year. Though one was
just announced that has the potential to beat ol’ Moddie; depending
on the price point.
5
out of 5
Despite
earlier claims to the contrary, Matty has been offering older figures
again. It’s possible that Modulok will show up in some form again
on the site. But I wouldn’t wait for that. Try to find one at a
local con and pay a little more than MSRP. He’s worth it. Or you
could just do something crazy and order it from some seller on, say,
Amazon…
This seems like a really awesome figure, I don't collect MOTU but love your reviews! I've wanted to pick a few figures up but this one might be high on my list if I see him at any cons.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is just a great toy.
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