I
may have allowed myself to get sucked into Masters of the Universe
Classics, but my favorite versions of Eternia’s denizens actually
come from the 2002 He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe
cartoon.
Since
I’m essentially done with the Classics-style figures I decided it
was time to fill in some holes in my 200X collection. I put a lot of
effort into collecting the line when it was in stores, but it’s as
famous for poor distribution as it is for excellent sculpts, so there
are a number of figures I still want that I couldn’t find back
then. As of this writing, here’s who I(and what) I’m missing:
- Battle Fist
- Battle Ram Chariot
- Battle Station
- Castle Grayskull
- Evil-Lyn
- Faker
- King Hssss
- Moss Man
- Panthor
- Roboto
- She-Ra
- Venom-Spitting Khan
- War Whale
- Zodak
That’s
not a bad list and for the most part you can find toys form this line
for fair prices. I’ve even found complete loose samples over the
past couple of years.
Up
until Joelanta a couple of weeks ago Teela and Rattlor (called The
General) were missing from my collection. One of the dealers had them
carded. I waited until Sunday because one of the nice things about
collecting older toys is that there’s no rush. Just as things were
closing up I made an offer and they took it.
If
you don’t know, the last day of a con is almost always the best day
to buy. If you’re looking at an item that you know you’ll be able
to find later it always pays to do your dealing then. I’ve talked
people down to half of their asking price just because they don’t
want to haul things back home or to their stores.
Of
course, you’re also running the risk that the thing you want will
be sold or the dealer might pack up early and not even be there for
most of the last day. But like I said – with older mass-market toys
that’s a risk you can usually afford to take.
I
can’t remember how I got the figure, but I have Snake Teela from
this line. It’s a neat, canon variant with an excellent paint job,
but I have been annoyed for years by the fact that I had that one and
not the regular Teela. Now I can finally let that go and find
something else to be annoyed by. Such as my new disdain for Marvel
Legends.
FIRST
GLANCE
This
is a striking figure. The red hair with the white tunic and metallic
gold trim and armor make for quite an eye-catching design. This
figure has so much more personality than the Classics Teela.
PACKAGING
I’ve
always felt that the 200X blister card looks extremely busy and
cramped. Most of that is due to the trilingual labeling, something I
never like on toy packaging because it presents a whole bunch of
extra stuff that is not relevant to my toy purchasing. But I get why
it’s there and, as you know, I don’t care too
much about packaging anyway because it’s all going in the trash.
The
blister covers not only the figure, but the brand logo. This creates
a neat look that makes the product seem a bit fancier than just a
logo printed on the cardback. More on that logo in a bit.
The Action Chip is something that I had completely forgotten about this line. Many
of the figures had chips that would activate a sensor in the Castle
Grayskull playset and trigger various sounds. I’ve never heard any
because I don’t own this Grayskull (yet), but I’ve always been
fond of this simple technology. I think Playmates’ Simpsons toy
line might have been the first to utilize it effectively. I had a
huge number of toys from that line. The interaction worked well and
the sound was about as high quality as you could expect. The Phantom
Menace figures
also had that Comm Tech thing. I never bought a reader because I just
didn’t care. If you don’t know, Episode I isn’t the most
quotable movie ever.
The
back of the box features some standard fare and a huge clutter of
words.
Alright,
let me get the pose out of the way first.
I’ve
always said that I prefer that figures be in neutral poses. I’m not
usually a fan of “dynamic” or “action” stances. Teela’s
pose looks pretty neat in the box, but once you get her out of there
it’s kind of strange. It looks like her forefingers should be
extended, like she’s in mid-“Heyyyyyy, whazzup?” Her torso is
also sculpted in a turn, so when it’s centered over her waist her
boobs are slightly askew. You can’t ever get her facing forward
quite right.
All
of that is by no means a deal breaker and honestly, after Teela has
been on the shelf a few months I probably won’t even think about
it. But it is awkward.
Teela’s
face is a little sharper than the animated version, but it looks
great. Again, there’s a lot more character here than on any other
version of the character. The hair is a combination of head sculpt
and separately sculpted attachments. It’s wind-swept, but not
obnoxiously so. I dig it. The paint is fantastic. The colors are
vibrant and the application is clean. Teela’s tiara and earrings
match the color of the rest of the gold on the figure. The facial
features are crisp and animated, giving her the same bemused
expression as the cartoon Teela.
The
torso consists of a base sculpt with a separate soft plastic piece to
form the collar and upper torso. This creates a nice effect where it
looks like the figure has clothing and armor as opposed to it all
just being one sculpt. Teela’s skirt is also soft plastic. It
matches the other parts and hangs low enough to cover the hip joints;
not that that would be an issue with this figure since the joints
blend nicely into the sculpt.
The
back is packed with sculpted detail – there are tassels hanging down from
the soft sculpt, as well as a loop to store Teela’s sword. I like
the sculpted rivets in the plating. I am amused by the butt-shaped
leaf on her butt.
Teela
is sporting highly detailed bracers and arm bands on both arms. The
sculpting is great and the paint is applied well.
Teela’s
knees match her boobs, which is funny. This figure’s entire
below-thigh situation is vastly superior to the Classics Teela. The
kneepads are awesome, but the entire design on the boots is great.
They’re still kickass, but more feminine. Does it make sense that
she keeps her pouches on her right foot rather than her belt? I
dunno, but it looks cool and compliments the asymmetry of that is a
hallmark of this iteration of Masters of the Universe. A little paint
there might have been nice, but that’s Mattel.
I
want to reiterate how much I love the bright, metallic gold coloring
on this figure. It stands out beautifully on the shelf and makes
Teela remarkable among a line of remarkable figures.
Teela
comes with a staff, a sword, a shield, and a Masters of the Universe
sticker.
I
mention the sticker because for kids, getting a sticker with an
action figure is rad. For me, it is also rad. I love little extras
like this.
Teela’s
sword is comically huge. This actually comes in handy, which I’ll
get into below. The sculpt is excellent and the hilt is very pretty.
Another case of kickass femininity. IT has three colors and is a heck
of an accessory.
It fits in either of the figure’s hands and the loop on the back.
It fits in either of the figure’s hands and the loop on the back.
Shields
that don’t belong to Captain America or aren’t made of lasers are
generally kind of junky. This one is just another clip-on shield, but
it has some nice designs on the front that are just fancy enough to
keep it from feeling plain.
Mattel
wasn’t setting any standards with articulation in this line, but
the figures are still superior to the original MOTU line. Teela has a
neck swivel, hinge/swivel shoulders, wrist swivels, and hinge/swivel
hips.
There
is also a swivel at the waist, but it is there to utilize the
throwback “swivel attack” feature that the old figures had.
There’s more of a gap there than I would like because of this
feature. It isn’t bad, but it’s noticeable and I’d rather have
a clean joint that that feature.
The
hip joints don’t work all that well because of the cheap plastic
used there. It’s soft and doesn’t move well. That’s okay,
though, because Teela won’t stand up unless you have her legs in
exactly
the right position. Because of her pose, she has weird balance. The
easiest way to get her to stand is to put her sword in its storage
loop. That balances the weight. Of course, the problem with that is
if you have her holding the sword she is way off balance.
Regardless,
this is a figure designed with fun and aesthetics in mind. It’s
nothing I want to leave on my desk to mess around with during podcast
recordings, but it has enough going on that I think kids would like
it.
If
you’re collecting 200X Masters figures, Teela is a must-have,
regardless of quality. Fortunately, aside from a few small decisions
that I don’t agree with this is a very good figure. Definitely my
favorite Teela in my collection now.
4
out of 5
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