I
checked out pretty early on New
Adventures of He-Man.
I bought a couple of the figures because I was excited about the new
designs and articulation, but I don’t know that I even made it
through a whole episode of the cartoon.
Since
I don’t have much to say about Mara given that I wasn’t even
really aware of her existence until Matty announced her as a figure,
I’m going to run down the New
Adventures
releases thus far (click on the name for my review):
Optikk
– For some this guy might seem like an odd choice to kick off New
Adventures
releases, but to me he was perfect because Optikk is an armored
eyeball and I think that’s friggin’ great. He’s a figure that
got me excited about some of the stranger and lesser-known characters
early on in the line, which was important to Mattel keeping me as a
customer in subsequent years.
Icarius
– I rated this guy well and he came with a head that looks like
Kurt Russell, but in the end he bored me and I sold him. He’s a
great sci-fi figure, but on the shelf next to all of the monsters,
mutants, and living skeletons of the Classics line, he’s just some
blue dude.
Slush
Head
– What a great weirdo! Bendy tentacles would have been nice, but
this is still an awesome figure that I totally would have bought even
outside of the context of the Classics line.
Karatti
– I hated
Karatti at first. I don’t know exactly why. I think part of it was
that I was suffering from severe Trap-Jaw leg fatigue, as many
Classics subscribers were. Now I like him and I’m glad I didn’t
get rid of him.
He-Man
– While nothing will ever truly beat the original He-Man design, I
think this is the best He-Man figure in the Classics line. Matty did
right by us with this one. I can’t dispute the folks that didn’t
actually want
a New
Adventures
He-Man, but once you get past his show being terrible this is an
awesome figure design packed with tons of accessories.
Hydron
– He’s a water guy! Of course I love him! Seriously, though –
Matty did a solid job on this guy as well. I was a little burned out
on the line at this point, though (or at least on reviewing the line)
and didn’t cover Hydron.
Flogg
– His weapon looks stupid, but this guy is solid, too. Not my
favorite. But he’s okay.
Skeletor
– Skeletor is great. I love his head and the incorporation of his
cyborg parts. His torso is too thick, but whatever. Lots of these
guys have pudgy torsos. I wish they didn’t, but it’s not exactly
one of Matty’s greatest sins. Plus, he came with that awesome
battle damaged Faker head! Despite the quality of this figure I was
still in a slump and didn’t review him.
She-Ra
– She-Ra, however, was so good that I had
to review her. She’s one of my favorite figures of the entire
Classics line.
And
that brings us up to date with Mara.
FIRST
GLANCE
Mara
looks like a mix of Buck Rogers and John Carter designs to me. Her
clothing is very much like a sexy space suit, but her gear looks like
Martian warrior princess stuff. I know a lot of folks aren’t crazy
about her, but I really like the combination and find it to be
perfect for Masters of the Universe.
Those
are some brutal bangs, though. Not as brutal as the ponytail,
obviously, but I’ll get to that.
PACKAGING
The
MOTUC blister card never disappoints.
I
didn’t bother to read the bio because I’d rather not know how
dumb this character actually is. I caught the phrase “Queen of the
Mytes” when I glanced at it and don’t want to know any more. In
my head she’s basically He-Man’s Dejah Thoris and that’s enough
for me.
LOOKS
I’m
not a fan of the super long ponytail with the mace at the end, but
there’s not much to do about it. It is sectional and I’ll get
into that, but I just had to address this thing to start because I
don’t love it. As I mentioned above, the bangs are pretty awful
too. Mara has terrible hair, so it’s good that the rest of her is
so awesome.
The
face on mine is great. Some folks got derpy eyes. I didn’t. The
paint on my figure is very good. As a matter of fact, the eyes in
particular look great. I dig the weird tiara/earmuff/ponytail holder
arrangement, too. It almost looks like a thing Frazetta would put on
one of his warrior babes.
Mara
has the most unique costume of any of the women in this line. Pretty
much every other female has some sort of skirt and/or bodysuit thing
going on, but Mara has some excellent space gear worthy of StarCrash
or Battle
Beyond the Stars.
Maybe not quite Barbarella.
Although now that I’ve said that, I feel very strongly that we need
a line of Barbarella action figures. Just not from Mattel. Sorry,
Mattel.
Anyway,
I dig Mara’s top. It looks like it might be a uniform. The
asymmetrical design is cool and the shapes on the shoulders are
definitely left over from the 80s. The collar is awesome, too. It’s
a turtleneck designed by someone that hates wearing turtlenecks.
Mara’s
belt and… uh… trunks… have a new design and look good. They
don’t have the diaper-like look of some pieces like this and
thankfully Matty finally decided to use Battleground Teela’s legs
again. These are so much better than the standard women’s legs in
this line. I can deal with slightly less posability if it means we
don’t have those ugly joints showing.
All
of the armored pieces are cool. The gold and purple looks great.
Overall Mara’s palette is something of an eyesore, but to me it’s
necessary to get over what her character is. The blue and white
portions have that Star Trek look while the armor is straight up
Martian Warrior Princess. And the asymmetry present throughout the
design is great.
ACCESSORIES
Mara
comes with a shield and a sort of pike thing.
The
shield is an odd shape and looks pretty cool. The paint is great, it
clips onto her arm nicely, and it doesn’t feel like it’s too
small like the other women’s shields do.
The
pike has a spiked ball on one end (that matches the one at the end of
her ponytail) and a blade with “China” stamped on it on the
other. As I’ve mentioned before, I hate that “China” stamp and
find it utterly unacceptable. Otherwise this is a great weapon that
the figure can hold in one or both hands. I dig it.
FUN
For
the most part you can count on the Classics figures to provide as
much articulation as you want. Even minus the thigh and calf swivels,
Mara can achieve plenty of poses and can fight like a warrior
princess (or whatever). Rocker joints on the ankles are long gone, so
I’m not even counting those.
The
ponytail has two removable pieces – the bottom portion of the hair
and the spiked ball at the end. The whole thing looks kind of odd and
stiff and I honestly would have preferred two entirely different
ponytails – this one and one that looked more natural and less like
something a fourteen-year-old designed. But it is fun that you can
switch this one around and is definitely another example of Matty
over-delivering.
OVERALL
Mara
is great. She has a couple of features that are too 90s to be good,
but overall she’s a unique and awesome addition to the Classics
line – one of those figures that I never would have asked for but
am glad to own.
I
can’t honestly say you should seek her out, but if you’re a
subscriber I’d imagine you’re happy. Unless you got the derpy
eyes.
4
out of 5
Buy
one from Amazon and help Needless Things pay the bills!:
I really liked Mara. She definitely is one of the better figures in the Club Eternia sub this year. The 200x sub has been all win, however.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I think it's the best of the sub-subs by far. But I have a pretty strong 200X bias.
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