I
know that the feeling isn’t universal, but I am delighted to
finally have Oo-Larr.
From
He-Man.org
That’s
a powerful image. This jungle guy is leaving home, armed with nothing
more than a crude spear and his furry underpants, to find his
destiny. And that turning wave to his friends and family is just epic
– the start of the hero’s journey. This is part of why I prefer
minicomics He-Man to Filmation He-Man. I’m just not a fan of Prince
Adam. I like this brave version more.
I
also like that when you strip away the boots, gauntlets, belt, Power
Vest (a descriptor that I will never agree with), and sword, this is
still obviously He-Man. It’s the shape and the look of the guy that
defines him.
I
haven’t made my way through all of the minicomics archived on
He-Man.org yet, but I’m working on it. And to me, this is the start
of He-Man. My collection wouldn’t be complete without him.
Side
Note: Wun-Dar is the only hole in my collection. He’s not the only
figure that I’m missing, but he’s the only figure that I have
to have
that I’m missing. And when I say missing, I mean I have missed
buying him for a decent price twice now. The first time I simply
passed on him because I didn’t want to spend forty-five bucks. The
second time I literally missed him by a couple of minutes because we
went and grabbed something to eat at a con just one booth shy of the
guy that had a Wun-Dar. When I got back there was a guy buying
Wun-Dar and one other figure for sixty bucks.
ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGH.
First
Glance
His
cankles are a little ridiculous, but otherwise he’s perfect. This
is exactly the Oo-Larr I wanted. He’s so angry.
I love overly angry action figures.
Well,
as long as they’re variants or extra heads and I have a neutral
expression one as well. You know how I am.
Packaging
It’s
the wonderful Masters of the Universe Classics blister card, which we
might only have a few more months of, depending on how Matty decides
to handle 2016. Honestly, if they want to drop the prices a couple of
bucks and stick the things in bags I’d be fine with that.
Of
course, this is
Matty we’re talking about, so it’s much more likely they’ll
stick ‘em in poly bags and leave the price the same. And increase
shipping.
Oo-Larr’s
bio confused the heck out of me. I had to read this three or four
times to figure out what the heck it was supposed to be. I get the
part where he leaves the jungle, but then all of the stuff trying to
incorporate the various Power Swords gave me a headache.
Looks
This
is essentially naked He-Man, which some people don’t seem to be too
impressed with.
There
are new forearms, calves, and feet and I’m sure plenty of folks
would have preferred that tooling money be used elsewhere. Not me,
though.
The
head perfectly captures the minicomic depiction of He-Man. The longer
hair looks great, as do the “angry eyebrows”, which are angrier
than regular He-Man’s eyebrows. Regular He-Man looks like he’s
about
to fight. Oo-Larr looks like he is
fighting. The shorter bangs and flatter head give him a more
primitive appearance in keeping with his “jungle man” origins.
The
core of the body is the same MOTUC buck we’ve been seeing for
years, but the fact that there’s so little extra junk on it makes
it seem fresh. It also highlights just how nice of a sculpt this is.
It’s really the perfect “better than human” body. It looks
human enough, but every part of it is exaggerated. Except for the
freakishly tiny hands.
His ankles turned out a little better than initial pictures, but still pretty freakish. Those are some Hillary Clinton-esque cankles right there. I have to admit, though, that when taken in with the rest of the figure they aren't bad at all. It's only when you zoom in on them that they looks so deformed and weird.
The
loin cloth is also new, or at least the absence of a belt on the loin
cloth is new. I like the idea that the top of this is what’s under
He-Man’s belt. Think about that – we’ve
never seen this before.
This is a major revelation.
And
we had better savor it, because quite frankly there’s not much more
to say about this figure.
Accessories
Oo-Larr
(and boy am I sick of typing that user-unfriendly moniker) comes with
a spear, a sword, and an extra head.
The
spear is the one pictured in the minicomic panel above. It looks
awesome. Lots of sculpting and lots of paint. I love how the head is
ridged and looks like something hewn out of stone by primitive man.
The spot where it is attached to the haft seems oddly narrow, but
shhh.
Okay,
I don’t know what this sword is. I try to be as genuine as I can
about these things and only refer to my own knowledge, but I really
want
to know what it is. And it annoys me to no end that Mattel won’t
identify these things on the packaging. My guess is that this is
Skeletor’s minicomics sword, but I’m going to go and look it up
now…
Okay,
I was wrong. It’s some sword that was laying around in the
Goddess’s cave. Which I should have recognized since it’s from
the same minicomic as that panel above.
The
extra head is killer.
This is what the Masters of the Universe Classics He-Man head should
have looked like in the first place as far as I’m concerned. Until
I had this I didn’t really realize how far off-spec that original
head was. This is going on my He-Man.
Not
included was Oo-Larr’s axe. This came with Huntara, who I’ll be
reviewing tomorrow. Some people seemed upset about this, which I
don’t understand. Oo-Larr is the Club Exclusive, so it’s not like
you’re getting him solo. I mean, unless you want to spend a
fortune. And if you want Oo-Larr that
badly you’re probably subscribing, which is why I think he’s a
great choice for the Exclusive.
Fun
This
guy has the same great articulation as all of the Masters Classics,
except for the calf swivels that are usually located at the tops of
the boots. For me that’s not a problem.
That
articulation makes the figures a lot of fun to pose and play around
with. You can achieve plenty of cool looks and for as bulky as these
sculpts are, you can still do a lot. All of the joints on mine are
tight and functional. This is something I haven’t even thought to
mention in quite some time because it hasn’t been an issue in a
couple of years. I only mention it now because a Ric Flair figure I
just picked up is looser than a girl backstage at an indie wrestling
show.
Between
the accessories and the interchangeable heads you’ve got a lot of
fun and options here. This is one that won’t stay on the desk for
months, but will be messed around with as long as it stays there.
Which, now that I think about it, might be
months
because I’m going to have to redo some shelves to find somewhere to
fit him.
Overall
I’m
as happy with Oo-Larr as I could be. I feel like the Horsemen and
Matty surpassed my expectations on this one. I didn’t know we were
getting the axe with Huntara (which, granted, is not part of this
figure) or the excellent extra head with this guy. He looks awesome
and I’m delighted to have him. I almost want to buy another Battle
Cat just so I can take the armor off and have this guy with a bare
Battle Cat. Or maybe repaint a Battle Lion. Because I always
get around to repainting things.
4
out of 5
I’m
going to provide a link, but obviously there’s no way you should
pay whatever they’re charging on Amazon for this guy. Find him at a
Con if you really want one:
I was really wanting this figure for the same reason as you, because I prefer the mini comics origin to Filmation. This is just a solid figure all around, from his articulation to paint job to accessories. Although the sword went straight to my new King Hssss, the primitive spear looks fantastic (so does the axe which got stuck with Huntara).
ReplyDeleteThis is another example of how a MOTUC figure can come out when there is a design team that gives a crap.
As happy as I am with this guy, I do have to admit that he requires his backstory for me to be that satisfied. If not for that I'd totally be making fun of him. Not for the quality, but for the naked caveman with a spear thing.
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