Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Zodac by Dean René Middleton

It’s time for a bit of a retrospective look at the Masters of the Universe Classics Zodac figure. And I must admit that I when I first saw the pre release photos of this character I was particularly underwhelmed. The images of Zodac that were displayed on Mattycollector.com only served to stir up some of the memories I had from my childhood of walking into toy shops only to discover that many of the more desirable Masters of the Universe characters had already sold out, leaving only countless Zodac figures and weapons packs on the pegs.




As a direct result of those experiences, even now whenever I heart the term “Peg warmer” an image of that 1980’s Zodac figures face is usually the first thing that springs to my mind.

So when Zodac finally went up for sale on Mattycollector.com, I had some serious doubts and reservations about actually ordering him. For the most part I’d been really impressed with all the figures that had been released up to that point, but something about Zodac just didn’t feel right to me.

But even so, after a casual 45 minutes or so of procrastination [the previous figures Faker and Mer-Man had sold out in around an hour] I decided to order him. And when he arrived to my surprise I was not at all disappointed with him.

Zodac is very strange and quite unique in the sense that as a stand alone figure it cannot be denied that he is easily the most lack lustre of the MOTUC line up, and this has always been the case with the original Zodac from the 1980’s line.

However Zodacs real strengths are exposed when he is displayed within a context. And by that I mean if he is positioned alongside other characters such as the Heroic Warriors or Evil Warriors. That is where I feel that the figure really starts to shine.

Realistically, Zodac is probably the prime example of what the Masters of the Universe toy line was originally all about, in terms of having the power to create ones own world and acting out their fantasies with these characters. So Zodac is really what you make him. If you enjoy thinking up your own stories and mythology when looking at the MOTU figures, then the chances are that you will be able to appreciate this character greatly.

But if you enjoy the MOTU mythology just the as it is directly presented by Mattel, then the chances are that you will find this character considerably lacking in terms of overall excitement and visual appeal. And to realise that many people would feel that way is not very surprising, since as one of the original 8 figures released, Zodac has suffered from a criminal lack of character development.

His brief appearances in the Filmation cartoon made him appear as distant and morally ambiguous, which I personally as a kid I found hard to understand with such clear cut portrayals of good and evil being displayed by many of the other characters. Again this was directly contrasted by the way that it actually described him on the original card back as a “Evil Cosmic Enforcer”.

Furthermore his powers and abilities and overall purpose in the MOTU world was never really touched upon in the Mini Comics that were packaged with the original figures either. In fact the only story where Zodac featured a prominent role was in the short lived 4 issue DC comics story arc. And as a result of all of this, I think it has had a detrimental impact on Zodacs more wide spread appeal.

But even so, I do feel that he is actually a very good action figure. While not as visually stunning as characters such as Man-At-Arms or even Tri-Klops, Zodac does feel like a genuine part of the MOTUC line up.

His articulation is pretty much what we have come to expect from MOTUC, featuring around approximately 25 points of articulation. He shares the same hairy back sculpt from the Beast-Man and Stratos figures, and also has his standard Cosmic Enforcer Gun.

The armour is also removable, and I suppose this is where I think that they could have made a few improvements to the figure. It would be nice if they had incorporated some type of hook or holster which would enable Zodac to carry his gun on his body rather than in his hand all of the time.

And looking at the interesting touches that were made to Man-At-Arms, and even Mer-Mans armour design to allow for the weapons to be carried on their bodies, I think that Zodac could have really benefited from the same type of treatment.

Also, the gun itself seems to have a handle that is slightly too thin, and it tends to whirl around in his hand like a nightstick, rather than a gun.

Some fans also feel that it would have been nice if he had white gloves rather than the flesh coloured hands. Personally I don’t mind that, since I like to have Zodac in my collection as an “Evil Cosmic Enforcer”, and the white gloves may perhaps have detracted from the ambiguity of the character slightly.

But I do think that perhaps the inclusion of alternate heads with 2 different expressions that were either Heroic or Sinister looking would have vastly helped to increase the overall appeal of this character.

So Zodac is a polarising figure indeed. But I genuinely feel that he is figure that is defiantly worth adding to a MOTU collection. Because with the imminent release of the 200x inspired Zodak and the upcoming Wun-Dar figure, the Cosmic enforcers seem to be carving their on little contingent within the MOTU universe. And that will ultimately help to provide more diversity besides what we have already come to expect from the Heroic, Evil, Snake and Horde characters.

So with that in mind I would really recommend this figure to fans of MOTU in general. Because ultimately Zodac is really what you make him.

Review and Photographs by: Dean René Middleton

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Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Hordak by Patrick Garone

Our look back at the Masters of the Universe Classics figures concludes with Hordak, the “Evil Leader of the Evil Horde.” Hordak is perhaps best known as the snorty nemesis of She-Ra in the 1980’s Princess of Power cartoon. He was first released in June and sold out in about an hour, making him one of the more popular figures in the line and, thus, a prime candidate for rerelease in 2010. He is also one of the best figures released in the line thus far and well worth his $20 plus shipping and handling price tag.




New on the packaging for Hordak is a sticker that identifies his sub faction, The Evil Horde. He is given a spacey “real name,” Hec-Tor Kur. So for those of you wondering, Hordak’s first name is Hector. Okaaaay. Interestingly, there is no mention of She-Ra anywhere in his bio and it seems the MOTUC Hordak draws heavily from his minicomic origins and, especially, the 200X storyline in which he briefly appears as Skeletor’s phantom mentor who had been banished to Despondos after an encounter with King Grayskull in ancient Eternia. This makes me wonder how Mattel will work in the other Princess of Power characters into their unfolding Masters of the Universe Classic continuity. We should find out more in January, when Adora is released.

Like the other MOTUC figures, Hordak uses tooling from previously released figures, although he has a good amount of new pieces. Hordak has new feet boots and hands and features the return of the long loincloth of King Grayskull, which must have been all the rage back in the day.

The paint is rather understated, with reds, grays and creams being the dominant colors. There are some nice metallic details like bolts on the armor and an iron-looking paint used for the belt and a segmented frame around the hood.

Hordak also features a new armor system which only covers his chest and leaves his abdomen exposed to allow for the “ab-crunch” joint to be used. This was The Big Controversy, prior to the Mossman Flocking Controversy and the Teela Articulation Controversy. I personally don’t think that this removable half-armor makes or breaks the figure, although it might have been better to have sculpted abs like they did with He-Ro. Attached to the armor is a red cape, sculpted out of soft plastic. In a first for a Hordak figure, the hood is sculpted as a separate and removable piece, which allows independent movement of Hordak’s head. In addition to the above armor pieces, there is also a removable bicep band with the Horde logo painted on it. Hordak is pretty much covered in Horde bling from head to toe.

Hordak has always had a very cool and distinctive look to him. I’ve read that his head was originally inspired by an African witch doctor’s mask. Hordak was given a makeover for his 200X appearance was far more evil and angular-looking. The head sculpt on the MOTUC figure seems to be a hybrid between the classic head and the modern head. It is very much right in the middle of those two designs. It is much meaner and scarier-looking than the 1980’s version, yet not quite as nightmarish as the 200X head design or the staction figure. There are lots of nice details such as little folds and warts sculpted onto Hordak’s head.

Aside from armor-related accessories, Hordak comes with three other accessory pieces. The first is a nod to his 1980’s weapon, a Horde Crossbow, although sculpted in black plastic as opposed to the white of the vintage bow. There is a surprising amount detail to this bow and it almost looks as though it would be able to fire a projectile. The second accessory is a small bat-like creature that can perch on Hordak’s arm, which recalls his 1980’s “bat shield” or his companion Imp from the cartoon. Finally, Hordak comes with a large staff straight out of his appearance in the MYP series episode “The Power of Grayskull.” It’s great to have this accessory, as this version of the character is much more of a sorcerer like his appearance in the 200X continuity, than the techno-villain from the Filmation series.

Hordak is a great addition to the line and part of the upward trend in quality and value that we have been getting all summer from the Masters of the Universe Classics line. Hordak, Man-At-Arms, He-Ro and Tri-Klops have all been great figures that have been loaded with cool accessories and armor. Hordak is definitely in my top five list of MOTU classics figures thus far and if you haven’t already got him, be ready to pick him up in the likely even that he goes on sale again.

Patrick Garone
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Toy Review: SDCC Ghostbusters Classics Egon with Slimer (Mattel) by Dean René Middleton

SDCC Ghostbusters Classics Slimed Egon Spengler with Translucent Slimer

So, the Ghostbusters classics line is off to a start with the release of the SDCC Slimed Egon Spengler with Slimer figure. And much like any self respecting Ghostbusters fan I was eager to see what the figure would be like. And to be fair, it is actually pretty good.




First of all the packaging is great. The art work is spectacular, with both Zuul and Vinz Clotho looking menacing on the box art, with the spectre of the Staypuft Marshmallow man looming on the horizon. This was great because anyone who remembers the poster that used to be included in some o f the 1980’s Real Ghostbusters toys will remember a very similar pose was adopted by Mr Staypuft which really helps to hammer home that nostalgia factor.

The box can also be resealed which is nice. Some Mint on card collectors may be unhappy about this, but I think it is great because although I am primarily a loose collector, I do retain packages for particular figures. And yes, I am actually one of the crazy few who still has the packages for all his 80’s Ghostbusters toys even though I opened and played with them at the time. So, personally I feel it’s great to be able to tuck the figure away back inside the box when it is not in use.

Now, a lot of people have mentioned that the Egon figure actually looks lot more a bit more like Dustin Hoffman, than it does Harold Ramis. And after examining the figure, I think I can see why such comparisons may be drawn. And personally, I think that is down to a simple issue, and it’s to do with the Neck.

While I think that the head sculpt is an exceptionally good likeness of Harold Ramis, it seems that the neck is rather short. The result of this makes it look as though his head is slightly sunken into his shoulders, hence the "Dustin Hoffman effect" [no offence Dustin]. And one of the distinctive attributes about Harold Ramis Egon Spengler portrayal and the subsequent stylizations in the Real Ghostbusters media was his tall, and long features. Unfortunately those attributes seem to be a little bit lost on this figure, due to the short neck.

The actual slime that is on Egons uniform is not too overwhelming. I must admit, I had some big reservations about investing in this particular figure once I heard that there would be an unslimed version of Egon at some point in the future. However, no solid release date has been set for that variant, and I decided to take my chances with this version.

And I was not disappointed. The slime is very subtle, and in many ways I think that it actually helps to give points of visual to detail to the costume, which may perhaps have looked a little lack lustre without it.

Egons glasses also look better in person than the pre release photos that I saw of the figure. And they also contain little lenses which is great. They appear to be permanently fixed to his head, which is good, since there is no danger of them falling off and being lost, which is usually the case with characters who wear glasses.

The Proton Pack itself is very solid, and has a lot of sculptural detail. The good thing is that it really is very solid, and doesn’t seem to have any small detailed parts that would chip off or break off easily. It is really well painted, and looks very authentic, much like the version shown in the film.

The downside to the proton pack is that it cannot be removed from the figure, and this has raised doubts in many collectors minds about the future possibilities of an Ecto-1 vehicle being made to support the figures, because if you can’t remove the proton packs, how would they be able to sit in the vehicle?

Although with that being said, it is actually possible to sit Egon in the 1980’s version of the Real Ghostbusters Ecto 1, if you gently remove the Black seats. It’s a tight fit, but he looks pretty good inside it, and again, it makes me hope that Mattel does indeed produce an updated and in scale Ecto-1, because it really is such an iconic movie vehicle.

Sadly the Nutrona Wand is not sculpted out of the same solid plastic as the Proton Pack, and often ends up looking very limp since it bends far too easily. I also feel that it should have been slightly longer, because the tip of the nozzle seems to sit very close to the edge of Egons hand.

Now, perhaps I have a little bit too much of an overactive imagination, but looking at the Neutrona Wand in his hand, it’s difficult not to think that he would burn his hand off when using it. So perhaps an extra few millimetres in length could have helped a bit in this area.

Other features that I think would have been nice perhaps would have been a set of interchangeable gloved hands. Now, perhaps I’m a stickler for detail, but I don’t ever remember seeing Egon use his Neutrona Wand without having gloved hands in the first movie. In fact, I think the only time he ever used it without gloves was during the courtroom scene in Ghostbusters 2. But the point is that, to me he feels a little incomplete without the the gloves on. I suspect that others may feel differently, but he just doesn’t strike me as being fully suited up and ready for business.

The Slimer figure also turned out much better than I had expected. The translucent plastic effect works really well, and from a side view he looks very much like the way he look in the Sedgwick hotel scene in the first film. He is articulated in the same way as the NECA version from 2004, but is slightly smaller in scale, and some fans may actually prefer this aspect.

The Slimer figure really turned out well, and is actually one of the highlights of the SDCC Egon figure. The only things that I felt were perhaps a little weak on the Slimer were the dark black lines around the eyes and mouth. The actual painted parts eye and mouth are great, but the additional dark comic book looking lines do not look very subtle, and kind detract from the figure slightly.

Egon stands at around 5 ½ Inches and features all of the standard articulation seen in other Movie Masters figures, which includes approximately 24 points of articulation. This is great because it opens up avenues for interesting and varied poses.

But for $20 figure SDCC Egon also falls slightly short in the accessories department, which has always been a problem for Movie Masters figures. To be fair Egon doesn’t really have any real accessories of his own, because the stand belongs to Slimer.

So Egon is left with nothing to make him more interesting when removed from the package, since the proton pack is a permanent fixture. Again, this is where I really feel that either the inclusion alternate gloved hands, a P.K.E meter, a detachable trap or an attachable proton stream would have significantly increased the lasting appeal of this figure. As it is, he is pretty much just standing quietly in a corner waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.

Although, with that being said, I have had a considerable amount of fun positioning my Egon figure alongside my existing NECA Ghostbusters toy collection, and he fits in exceptionally well with those figures. To be honest, that was my primary reason for wanting these Ghostbusters classics figures, because the NECA line from 2004 had such a promising start, but unfortunately was cancelled before the 4 Ghostbusters themselves were released. And its great to see that Mattel have effectively picked up the slack, and are producing such highly detailed and realistic looking versions of the Ghostbusters after all this time.

So as a result it is actually a bit difficult to fully formulate an objective opinion on this figure at this present point, because there is no real context or frame of reference in which to properly judge him. When the Ray figure is released on October 15th it will be a good opportunity to see exactly where this line is going, and how the figures fit together as a collection.

So all in all, this is a very good first attempt and certainly an item that Ghostbusters fans, both young and old will be very pleased to invest in.

The figures are usually available through Mattycollector.com for $20. Unfortunately Egon is now sold out but if you act quickly he can still be found for reasonable price on eBay. The next figure in the line will be Ray and he goes on sale on October 15th at Mattycollector.com

Review and photographs by:
Dean René Middleton
Staff Reviewer




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Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Mer-Man by Patrick Garone

Our look back at Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Classics line brings us to April 2009’s figure, Mer-Man, Skeletor’s Ocean Warlord. Mer-Man was the first of the line to have his production numbers increased and he was offered in two unique shipments both of which sold out in under an hour, which makes him one the fastest-selling figures in the series. With his popularity, it would be logical for Mer-Man to be offered for sale again in 2010. Let’s hope he returns, because Mer-Man is arguably the best figure in the MOTUC line.




Like many other figures in this series, Mer-Man is given a goofy name in his bio, Squidish Rex. Out of all of the silly names created for this action figure line, this one takes the prize. The rest of the bio is pretty unremarkable and seems to allude to the Icons of Evil: Mer-Man comic which provided some back story for the character during the 2002 line.

Squidish is the first figure in the MOTUC series to come with a bonus head. His packaged head is a slightly updated version of that of his 1980’s figure, which also used for the vintage Stinkor. I’ve never been a fan of this head as it always seemed too feline. The bonus head resembles Mer-Man’s original package art and, later, his 200X design. Kudos to Mattel for allowing us the option of displaying our Mer-Man which ever way we like. I’d love to see more of this in the line for characters that had a distinct 200X appearance (Buzz-Off and Stinkor come to mind). The alternate head has a great sculpt, with big glassy-looking eyes and those great head-fins that really help to sell the aquatic nature of this character. The rest of Mer-Man is largely a repaint of Skeletor, with the “monster feet” and the scalloped forearms, both of which work better here than on Skeletor. His left hand is sculpted open with fingers splayed out in an apparent reference to his 1980’s package art. I like this open hand a lot and it makes for some really evocative poses.

Mer-Man’s accessories very skillfully help disguise the fact that he shares 80% of his body with Skeletor. One of the nicest inclusions is a sort of fishy-looking piece that goes around his neck as an add-on which helps distinguish it from the basic Skeletor body. He also comes with an update to his classic ocean armor, complete with weird fish/bowtie/belt buckle, here a part of the chest armor. Mer-Man also includes his “corncob” sword (which fits into a special sculpted holder on the back of the armor) and a trident inspired by his 200X incarnation. Due to his open left hand, Mer-Man can only hold one item at a time.

The paint on Mer-Man is pretty good but also the one area of the figure where I find fault. When Mer-Man was first unveiled, he was painted in a soft blue-green, which I thought was a fantastic color and between the great sculpt and the great paint job, I was knocked out by this figure and he was the one I was most excited to pick up. This paint scheme is still visible on mattycollector.com. However, as he came closer to release, the color was changed to a glossy dark green (and to be fair, the final figure also has a nice dark wash on all the armor and shin guards and gauntlets that he didn’t have on the prototype). And while I don’t dislike the final color, the prototype color was a lot nicer and I really hope Mattel considers re-releasing Mer-Man in this color when they get around to selling him again.

Despite my personal gripe with his paint job, Mer-Man is my favorite Masters of the Universe Classics figure to date and he is likely the best out of the series so far. With his fantastic extra head and his abundance of accessories, Mattel and The Four Horsemen showed old Squidish Rex a lot of love and attention. So far, Mattel has been tight-lipped about their re-release plans beyond Skeletor in December, but I would bet that won’t be too far behind him. If you absolutely cannot wait, this is one of the few figures in the series that warrants paying the inflated prices on the secondary market.

Patrick Garone
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Toy Review: NECA Street fighter IV Chun-Li Toy review by Dean René Middleton

NECA Street Fighter IV Round 2: Chun-Li

After what had seemed like almost 10 years of uncertainty, Capcom finally delivered the “4th” chapter in the Street Fighter saga to fighting game fans worldwide. It was released in the first quarter of 2009. And although the game has become a huge commercial success and put the Street Fighter franchise back into the public eye, there were many mixed and varied opinions by long time street fighter fans as to just how credible Street Fighter 4 actually was as a sequel.





Many of the hardcore players felt that it was a step backwards in game play from other titles such as 3rd Strike or Alpha 3, while on the other hand, there were just as many fans who loved its more traditional “back to basics” game play mechanics. I was one of the people that fell into the first category, and as a result, I completely failed to get swept up in any of the Street Fighter 4 hype.

But just last weekend, while out doing my usual hunt for new and interesting toys to add to my collection, I noticed that the second wave of NECAS figures based upon the Street Fighter 4 licences were in stock and sitting on the shelves. The second wave consists of Akuma, Guile and Chun-Li. I had already seen the first wave of these figures which consisted of Crimson Viper, Ryu, and Ken, and I was less than impressed, since I had been a follower of SOTA’S 15th Anniversary Street Fighter line of figures. And one of the problems that I had with the SF4 game in particular was the art direction, especially in terms of its depiction of the series mainstays Ken and Ryu. And so although the SF4 wave 1 figures appeared to be extremely faithful to the original design style of the game, they simply failed to appeal to me and capture my interest.

But however when I saw the 2nd wave of these figures, this Chun-Li figure in particular really appealed to me, so as a result she ended up in my toy collection. So, how does she hold up?

Well, in the packaging Chun-Li looks great, hence why I bought her. She comes in the familiar NECA player select clamshell package, and the figure is clearly visible and is packaged sensibly. And this means that there is little room for bent legs or warped joints, which is always a plus.

The back of the box features a few of Chun-Li’s vital statistics [no, it still doesn’t list her weight after all these years] and it has the names of the other characters that are available in the wave. To be fair, I must say that I did like the packaging for this figure a great deal. The colour scheme is nice, and it does tie it in directly with the Street Fighter IV theme.

Outside of the packet the Chun-Li figure is simply awesome. I don’t really know where to start, because she really eclipsed my expectations and reservations that I had when buying her.

So, I guess I’ll start with the hips and legs. Anyone who knows the character of Chun-Li will probably be familiar with the way that her legs have been depicted by the various Capcom artists over the years.

And this is an aspect that I feel had yet to be truly realised in a super articulated action figure of this character for some time. The SOTA toys 15th Anniversary Chun-Li figure while being very good also fell a little bit short in this department, by giving the Chun-Li figure very skinny legs, which were relatively the same size of Cammys.

But this time round the sculptors at NECA have gone all out and really nailed the wide hips and powerful legs that make Chun-Li, CHUN-LI.

There is a small compromise for this stylistic representation though, and it is that proportionately speaking her upper body is very short in comparison to the length of her legs. But personally I feel it really works well and is not really noticeable to the untrained eye, due to the length of the blue skirt that hangs down from her waist. It’s a very clever optical illusion and I feel it works very well.

Chin-Li’s face is also fantastic and is sculpted to a very high standard. Her face looks powerful, but at the same time very feminine which is exactly as it should be. I mean, she is the “strongest woman in the world” after all.

And the paint is also excellent. I took the time to examine a number of the other figures on the shelves, and the Paint apps appeared to be very consistent from the selection that I saw.

In fact, the overall paint quality on the figure is just superb. The tones of the colours are just right, especially on the legs, and it reflects the colour scheme and shading style of the SF IV game exceptionally. And remember, this is a complement coming from someone who isn’t exactly the biggest fan of the SF IV art style.

Chun-Li also features a selection of interchangeable hands, and there are 5 of them in total. This is great because they have very strong pins which allow you to remove and replace them with ease, without the fear of the pins snapping in the process, which is a common fault with these types of removable hands.

Chun-Li’s famous spiked Bracelets are also removable, which is another nice bonus. In total the Chun-Li figure features around 35 points of articulation [it says 31 on the box, but she actually has doubled hinged elbows and knees]. This is fantastic because she has all the joints to recreate the vast majority of her most famous poses. And all of the joints are very discrete and are well hidden and do not detract from the overall cohesiveness of the figure.

Well, all in except for one area. Come on, with such a glowing review I'm sure there had to be at least one small negative. And there is, and it comes down to the way that the area underneath Chun-Li’s blue skirt has been handled.

It’s difficult to talk about such an area without sounding like a bit of a pervert but I’m being serious here. When I lifted up the skirt, I noticed that the whole crutch area looked a little messy, with many visible joints. And the length of the T joint between her legs seemed very long and was sticking out in the middle of the crotch area.

I have spent some time thinking about this, and I can understand why this approach was taken, since due to the way that Chun-Li’s thighs ride up so high from a side view, this is probably the only way that it could have been done, while retaining the stylised powerful leg look. But at the same time, I think that the T crotch piece could have perhaps benefited from slightly more refinement. And that they also could have sculpted a slight line to show the divisions of the gluteus maximus.

But to be fair, that is a very minor issue in a sea of positives. Chun-Li Stands at approximately 7” tall, so unfortunately she does not fit in with the previous 6” SOTA line too well. But this is a fair deal. This figure looks fantastic, feels very solid, was well painted and defiantly justified its price tag.

While I doubt that I’ll be getting all of the figures in this line I will certainly keeping my eye out for my favourites. It’s a bit of a shame that we probably won’t be seeing characters such as Alex, Hugo, Gill, Dudley, Guy or Cody in this line. But based on the strength of this figure, I really hope that NECA gets to produce all of the characters from the other Street Fighter games at this level of quality.

So to sum up, all I can say is that if you love Street Fighter then I’m pretty sure that you will love this figure.

Review and Photographs by:

Dean René Middleton
Staff Reviewer






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Toy Review: NECA SDCC April O’Neil by Dean René Middleton

The 2009 San Diego Comic Con [SDCC] presented a plethora of exclusive action figures from many of the leading companies. This year one of the most noteworthy offerings came in the shape of the April O’Neil figure by NECA for their comic book styled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line.




This figure has been along time coming. The NECA TMNT set was originally released in 2008 to widespread critical acclaim. However, subsequent figures in the line have resided in what can only be described as development limbo leading many toy collectors to speculate that the line was in fact dead in the water.

With the exception of the 2008 SDCC mouser 3 pack, there had not been any other action figures released to help substantiate the TMNT toy line, however there were a few photographs shown of some of the prototypes of the upcoming figures to be released later that year, which included April O’Neil, the Shredder, standard and elite versions of the Foot Soldiers and also an Ultrom. All of the figures were sculpted to resemble the original Eastman and Laird comic book style and looked fantastic. Turtle fans were excited, but the “fall 2008” release date came and went with no further figure releases.

So, finally at the 2009 SDCC the April O’Neil figure was released, and being a fan of the 4 previously released TMNT figures I felt compelled to track this figure down.

In the packaging April comes in the familiar Clamshell which is synonymous with most NECA releases, such as the figures in their player select line. The packaging is quite attractive for what it is, and the figure is well presented and protected in the case. Mint on card collectors will be pleased about this since she fits in seamlessly with the clamshell packed individual turtles, as well as the SDCC 2008 mouser 3 packs. The side of the box features a nice sketch of April as she appeared in the original comic books. One aspect about the packaging that I thought was great was the little mouser drawings underneath her name, complete with the “Cratch / Chit” sound effects written in. It was a nice subtle touch which really took me back to the feeling of experiencing the original TMNT comics.

Out of the packet April stands at around 5 ½ inches high, which is very respectable. She fits in perfectly with other 6” action figures. When stood next to the NECA TMNT figures she looks only slightly taller than them, but this is fair enough since I’d never imagine April to be exceptionally tall. So when positioned in context I feel that April looks to be of an average adult female height when next to the Turtles and this is perfect.

April was also sculpted by the widely respected Four Horsemen Studios, and she looks fantastic. She retains the same comic book styling that the Turtles had, but at the same time looks very credible and not too stylised. It was always going to be interesting to see how the style choice would be applied to the human characters in the line and April is a great demonstration of just what is possible. Her face is clean and perhaps somewhat understated, but when combined with the stylised heavy black outlines around the eyes and lip area, it really stands out. The hair is also very detailed and has multi layered effect that helps to give April her distinctive character.

Since this figure is based upon the comic book, April appears in her all blue version of the jump suit. NECA had promised to deliver Yellow and Green jumpsuit versions of this figure later in the year. But for now, the SDCC exclusive is the blue version. The colour works well, and I’m very pleased with it. Again the comic styling is evident in the crease lines of the jumpsuit. April doesn’t have a great many points of visual detail on the jumpsuit, but, overall the simplicity works well for her. She has a very feminine looking body and the points of articulation are very well hidden, considering how “plain” the jump suit looks.

April has around 20 points of articulation. Which is a fair amount and as I mentioned before, each point is exceptionally well hidden on the figure. She has a cut joint at her waist which allows for waist rotation which I was very pleased about, since she does not have any ab crunch articulation of any kind. So it was a fair compromise in this instance.

An area that I did feel that the figure suffered though was in the leg articulation. April features a type of ball + hinge articulation at the top of her legs which is similar to her shoulders. But the problem with this joint is that it does not allow her to raise her leg in a straight line directly in front of her. This feature, combined with the fact that there is no thigh cut to allow for leg rotation means that April is totally incapable of any practical seated pose.

Well, she can sit down, but it really does not look very feminine at all if she is seated, due to the fact that her legs are splayed out at such a ridiculously wide angle. This was a major let down for me, especially since Aprils hands appear to be sculpted in a way which gives the impression that she is operating a computer terminal, and she would look great seated in front of a desk. That type of pose is simply not possible with this type of figure articulation unfortunately.

So, with that being said, April really is only capable of standing straight up, so her pose ability is severely limited. She also lacks a street scene display stand that the other figures came packaged with. While not a major issue for me, it may come as a disappointment to those who were looking to extend the existing diorama street scene that the Turtles came packaged with.

On the plus side the accessories that April does include are excellent. She comes complete with 2 Mousers. These are great for both those who missed out on the 2008 SDCC exclusive 3 pack, and those who did manage to get them. The mousers in this pack are a slight improvement over last years offering since this time they feature articulated jaws. The sculpting on the Mousers is excellent and even features a great deal of detail inside their mouths. One mouser is packaged in a damaged state, and unfortunately, the leg cannot be re attached to the figure, but this is not really a major problem because I’m sure that there are many people who would be able to find a suitable work around for that issue if they felt motivated to do so.

So, all in all, I would very much recommend the April O’Neil figure. Aside from the lack of thigh cut rotation joints on the figure, and the missing diorama display base there really is very little to fault. She is a fantastic compliment to the existing Turtles. And for those who are more familiar with the 1980’s cartoon there is a Yellow jump suit version on the way. Hopefully if the April figure proves to be a success, NECA will continue to release the Shredder and the Foot soldiers to help fill out this line in the not to distant future.

Dean René Middleton
Staff Reviewer

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Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Faker

Our look back at Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics line continues with Faker, The Evil Robot of Skeletor. Faker was first available at the 2009 New York Comic Con and then later on mattycollector.com where he sold out in a matter of hours. Thanks to a truly spectacular paint job, Faker is one of the stand out figures from the MOTUC line. As one of the earlier figures in the series, it is likely we will see him reissued at some point in 2010, assuming the sales of the reissued He-Man and Skeletor go well.




Despite his intriguing appearance, as a character, Faker has always been a bit underdeveloped. In his sole appearance in the Filmation series, he was showed as being a virtual duplicate of He-Man, without the weird blue skin and red hair sported by his action figure. Faker was very briefly introduced in the 2002 series as a robot built by Man-At-Arms when Prince Adam was captured by Skeletor. He was to have played a major part in the third season of show before it was canceled. His package bio borrows heavily from what we can suppose is the 2002 series bible and, yet, the mystery of his bizarre appearance is not addressed.

I’ll admit, this was not a character for which I was excited. To me, issuing such a blatant repaint so early in the line was a big disappointment. On top of that, Faker was never a character I liked due to his inexplicably silly appearance (How exactly was he supposed to fool anyone into thinking that he was He-Man?) So it was to my complete surprise that Faker has become one of my favorite figures in the line.

Being a repaint, he shares the same body with the earlier He-Man figure and he has armor that is from Skeletor. He differs from He-Man in the “tape-deck” application stamped on to his chest, much like his earlier figure. Where Faker shines is in his amazing paint job on both the figure and his accessories. While he is blue, he is a different shade from Skeletor. Faker is painted a funky, eye-popping electric blue. His boots are painted a deep purple with black bands. His gauntlets and belt weathered silver that really pops against the blue skin and the purple loincloth. The head sculpt that I disliked so much on He-Man here works a lot better. The angry beady-eyed stare is far better suited to a pissed-off robotic clone of He-Man than to the most powerful man in the universe, himself.

For a repaint, Faker actually comes with less accessories than He-Man. He comes with Skeletor’s armor, an orange power sword and a half-sword that connects with that of He-Man. Fortunately, the excellent painting is not limited to the figure itself. The Skeletor armor is mostly painted orange with a dark wash to give it a nice weathered appearance. My favorite part of this figure is the cross-bones at the front of the armor, which are painted a bronzy shade of orange. The same metallic color is used for the sword blades.

Masters of the Universe Classics Faker is a great example of how a new paint job can take an already good figure to the level of a great figure. Faker is much more than a simple repaint. While he is not going to be fooling anyone into thinking he is the real He-Man, Faker is certainly one of the best figures released in the line so far.

Patrick Garone
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Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Tri-Klops

The latest figure in Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics line is Skeletor's three-eyed minion, Tri-Klops. Tri-Klops went on sale on the 17th of this month and sold out after a few days, a bit longer than it had taken for the previous few figures but rumor has it that Mattel had increased their production again as of this month. Tri-Klops has always been one of the visually interesting characters in the line and that's no different in his new incarnation.




Like many characters in MOTUC, Tri-Klops is given a kooky "real" name, in this case it is Trydor Esooniux Scope. No wonder he turned to evil. Like many of these little bio details, this name is inspired by some obscure bit of Masters of the Universe lore, here the name assigned to the character in the original series bible, T. E. Scope. His bio seems to be a nod to both his mini-comics appearances and his origin story from the Icons of Evil series that accompanied the 2002 show. Strangely, the bio neglects his role as the chief inventor and technician for Skeletor from the 2002 series despite packing him with the Doomseeker accessory. I enjoyed his depiction in that series because he was the most competent and loyal Evil Warrior and sort of the antithesis of Man-At-Arms.

This is one of the Masters of the Universe Classic figures that really does take some influence from the 2002 line. While the body is a directly inspired from the classic figure, the head is a good mix of details of both versions. Especially under the visor which looks as though he is wearing some kind of tight-fitting cap that wraps around his head and under his jaw as opposed to the knob-like pate on the original figure. But he also has the high-cheek bones and facial expression of the original figure. What's very awesome about this figure is that there is sculpting directly beneath the visor where you can see Tri-Klop's eye implants, not unlike how they appeared when they were briefly visible in the 2002 series. The visor itself is a bit of a mixed bag, and while its not as tall and Playschool looking as the original visor, it seems a bit on the big side. The eyes are quite big, with the red and green being my favorite, with the green looking very jewel-like from a distance. The blue eye is my least favorite, as the paint scheme and color are uninspired. On my copy, the paint around all three eyes are a bit sloppy up close.

Tri-Klops comes with removable armor which recreates his 1980's look. There is an off-center sword holder in back and three sculpted daggers that on my figure were painted metallic green as opposed to the silver in the photos on mattycollector. The orange paint on the armor is a little thick and sloppy on mine. Tri-Klops also comes with his trademark green sword complete with hand guard (even Stratos can hold it!) Like many of the other swords in this line it is two toned, with a forest green hilt and a metallic green blade. The final accessory to come with the Evil Spy of Skeletor is the above mentioned Doomseeker, although it is strangely painted to match Tri-Klops and not in the 2002 chrome.

Thanks to what was always a strong and interesting design, and great sculpting Tri-Klops is one of the better figures in the Masters of the Universe Classics line. You wont see him around for a while from Mattel, but he's definitely worth checking out on the secondary market for purchase or trade if you missed him. If you are a true fan of Masters of the Universe, you are going to want to have this iconic villain.

Patrick G
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Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Skeletor

Skeletor, Masters of the Universe’s Overlord of Evil was released in January of this year as part of the Masters of the Universe Classics line. He lasted about a week and half on mattycollector.com. True to their word, Mattel will be re-releasing Skeletor on December 15^th as a bonus figure along with that month’s regular figure, King Randor and December’s other bonus figure, The Green Goddess. So, if you missed out on old skull face the first time, be ready to pick him up in December.

Skeletor’s bio is perhaps the most controversial to date. As with the others, it mixes and matches aspects of all of the previous continuities. The bio alludes to the battle between Keldor and Randor that took place in the pilot of the 2002 series, and Keldor’s subsequent turn to Hordak for assistance as depicted later in that series. The bio describes Hordak fusing Keldor and an extra-dimensional being called Demo-Man to create Skeletor. According to Mattel’s later statements, Demo-Man was an early name for the character that would become Skeletor and it is connected to the earliest descriptions of Skeletor’s origins when he was supposed to have come from another dimension. My theory is that Demo-Man is Scare Glow, or perhaps Scare Glow is another product of this union. Either way, Mattel has indicated that we will find out more about Demo-Man in Scare Glow’s bio.

As with He-Man and Beast Man before him, Skeletor is very much an update of his 1980’s incarnation with added detail and articulation. Like MOTUC He-Man, Skeletor is a high quality figure that is somewhat limited by its slavish need to replicate the 1980’s action figure in almost every detail. For me, this holds the figure back in two areas: the silly “monster feet” and the head sculpt. Other than the fact that the old figure had the three-toed feet, I don’t know why Skeletor can’t have a pair of boots like most of the other figures. As an exercise, switch heads and accessories between Skeletor and Faker and see how much cooler he looks (although Faker has a sick paint job). While I appreciate the paint and detail on Skeletor’s face, I really hate the bonneted appearance of the hood. I would have liked something a little more cowled, with a looser look to it. He should look more like a mysterious sorcerer and less like an old lady on a rainy day. Again, this seems to be an automatic visual reference to the 1980’s figure. I understand that this is Masters of the Universe Classics, but that doesn’t mean that the line exists to recreate the original action figure series. They should feel free to mix it up a bit visually. MOTUC is supposed to encompass the entire history of Masters of the Universe. Personally, I am really looking forward to getting Scare Glow so that I can stick his head on Skeletor’s body, although the resulting figure may end up looking like Bedtime Skeletor.

The Overlord of Evil comes with a ginormous Havoc Staff with lots of nice detail, if monochromatic. He also comes with a full power-sword and half sword that combines with He-Man’s half-sword. Skeletor’s swords are two-toned just like He-Man’s, although this case in purple. The metallic purple looks extremely cool and I would have like to have seen some more of it on Skeletor’s armor. It would have been nice to have the crossbones painted in this metallic color in the same way that they are metallic orange on Faker’s armor (also sick).

The paint on the body and armor is a little underwhelming. You are pretty much getting three colors here: blue, black and purple, although there is a nice wash on the muscles. Where the paint really pops on this figure is in the face. There is a sort of mix of vivid acid green and yellow that really works well with all of the little chips and cracks and organic details sculpted on. One of the reasons that I hate the bonnet so much is that it is really holding back the rest of this amazing detail that you might be able to see otherwise. The face makes this whole figure work. Photos don’t do it justice, you really need to see it.

I’m not aware of any serious quality issues with this figure, although the joints on mine were pretty loose. This seems to be a recurring problem within this line. The reissue should be largely the same as the original, only with a tighter hand grip on the left hand.

Although he’s not may favorite figure in the line, it is great to have this high-quality version of Masters of the Universe’s most iconic villain. Again, this is one of those figures that you have to have in your collection (seriously, he’s management. You can’t have Mer-Man and Beast Man running things). If you came into the line later, or missed out on him in January, you can finally get your hands on Skeletor on December 15^th at mattycollector.com.

Patrick Garone
Staff Reviewer

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