I
have never been aroused by an action figure, not even the Adult
Superstars Brianna Banks figure. But if it was going to happen, it
would’ve been because of a purple chick with lightsabers.
This
is the best picture I could find. From He-Man.org
I
know Huntara appeared in an episode of She-Ra:
Princess of Power,
but beyond that I don’t really know much about the character. If
memory serves she won a fan poll to get made and I’m pretty sure I
voted for her. Either that or my brain is just making up crazy toy
mythology. Again.
What
really matters is that, to me, this is an alien version of Grace
Jones from Conan
the Destroyer,
which came out the year before Huntara’s episode – cleverly
titled “Huntara” – aired.
I doubt I’m the first person to
have had this revelation, but I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere
(Perhaps Lou Scheimer mentions it in his and Andy Mangels’
excellent book, Creating
the Filmation Generation,
which I am working my way through now).
As
we discussed in Episode
33 of the Needless Things Podcast,
Grace Jones is a force of nature in Conan.
She created one of the most striking and memorable characters in the
history of fantasy/sci-fi cinema and while I’d love to have an
actual figure of her, in the meantime I’ll settle for this one on
my Masters shelves.
First
Glance
Huntara
is a great-looking figure. She has a color palette that we haven’t
seen before in the line and she is instantly recognizable as a
powerful woman. So much so that before I looked it up I assumed she
was from He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe.
I don’t mean that to denigrate Princess
of Power
in any way, but most of the characters from that show are a lot more
frou-frou than ones from He-Man.
Huntara looks like a tough chick that would cut a peacock lady in
half.
Packaging
The
standard MOTUC blister card. Maybe someday I’ll write some kind of
analysis of packaging. Just now I’m thinking about whether I prefer
generic packaging across a line like this or packaging that is more
character specific in design like Mattel’s WWE Elite Collection
(which I reviewed a number of here on the site last week).
This
is an unusual bio for the line in that it is embellished very little
from Huntara’s actual televised story. I like the idea of these
rigidly moral people. I do find it odd that they glossed over the key
plot point that Huntara and She-Ra eventually came to an
understanding and parted as friends.
Looks
The
head sculpt further reinforces my idea that this is Grace Jones. It’s
not just the overall design of the character, Huntara’s facial
features resemble the actress. The hair and ponytail look good, but I
would have preferred it if the ponytail hung straight down. Still,
the detailing is great. The paint is clean and solid. The color on
her lips and her eyeliner have very specific shapes and serve to set
Huntara apart even more than her unique color scheme.
I
dig the tattoos on the side of her head.
Her
armor is somewhat Eastern-looking, though the profile is in line with
Jones’ costume. In a way this almost feels like a 200X design. The
plated shoulder pads create a powerful profile while the rest of the
costume is impractical but cool-looking. The plated skirt matches up
with the shoulder pads. I wish Matty would use the Battleground Teela
hips for these figures with shorter skirts. I can’t understand why
they think it’s okay to have these unsightly hip joints hanging
out. And it’s not like those hips are just cut joints. They do have
a range to them. I could live without the thigh swivels if it meant I
wouldn’t have to look at them.
Huntara’s
harness has clips on the back to hold her not-lightsabers. I like
that this was done and that they even accounted for the crossing over
one another by making one clip slightly taller than the other, but
there’s a whole other issue here that I’ll get into below.
The
footwear is a weird sort of sandal/boot thing that looks odd but
works. I think I’d like these better if there were greaves on the
front and straps in the back, but now I’m just being picky. And
also – these do match the animation.
The
combination of a strong profile and a cool color scheme make Huntara
work. The lavender skin and white hair is something new to the line
and the black, blue, and bronze gear on top of that creates a look
that’s going to stand out amongst all the peacock and bee ladies.
Accessories
Huntara
comes with an axe and two laser swords.
The
swords are Twin Silaxian Stun Swords, which I found out thanks to the
internet. Again – I find it so frustrating and lazy of Matty to not
include this sort of information on the packaging. The swords are
made of soft, crappy material and mine were bent up pretty badly. I
haven’t fixed them yet because I really just haven’t had time.
And this pisses me off even more. I shouldn’t have to be making
time to fix 6” scale action figures that I paid over thirty bucks
for.
The
other problem with these is that the emitters and the blades are all
one piece, so if Huntara actually stored them on the back of her
harness like this she’d probably cut her legs off. These things are
just poorly designed. And that’s tough for me to say about
cool-looking translucent laser swords. But Matty fucked these up.
The
axe is Oo-Larr’s, which means that the only decent accessory to
come with this figure does not, in fact, belong to this character.
This weapon looks great to the point that it’s hard to believe it
came from the same people that made these crappy lightsabers. The
sculpt is fantastic, it’s molded out of a firm plastic, and the
paint apps are wonderful. This looks like a worn, well-used weapon.
Fun
Weapon
issues aside, Huntara is great. She’s as poseable as any MOTUC
female, which means she can do most of the stuff you’d want a
warrior woman to be able to do. She’s balanced very nicely and can
hold a variety of poses unsupported. Mine has tight joints that work
nicely.
The
axe is too big for her hand, though I suppose you could force it in.
There’s really no reason to since it goes with Oo-Larr.
If the swords weren’t so crummy they would be awesome additions to
the figure. I love when weapons can be stored on a figure and
can be used. If just a little more thought had gone into them this
would be an almost perfect figure.
Overall
Huntara
looks awesome. She’s definitely one of my favorite Princess of
Power figures that the Masters line has produced. The design is
striking, but then you add in my whole perceived homage to Grace
Jones and the cool factor easily doubles.
Unfortunately,
those Twin Silaxian Stun Swords are integral to the character. It
might have actually been better if they hadn’t
sculpted the clips onto the back of her harness because then I could
just give her some other weapons and not think about it. But because
of those clips I know
that she’s supposed to have these swords.
Those ugly hip joints aren't helping, either.
4
out of 5
Buy
yourself a kickass warrior woman and help out Needless Things!:
This is a very cool figure, and was one of the selling points on my subbing again. I don't think I made the Grace Jones connection, but I totally see it.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't pay any attention to the bios, but I have to point out that saying her people "pride themselves on their pure sense of good and evil" followed by her offering "her trapping and fighting skills for anyone willing to pay her high prices" seems contradictory.
Maybe they have a pure sense of good and evil but don't necessarily follow it? I dunno. How are the swords on yours? My co-host, Beau, said his were fine.
DeleteMine were bent a bit from the package, but I straightened them out with a hairdryer and they've been fine since then.
Delete