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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

March 2015 Contest . Win this FREE Mumm-ra carded ThunderCats Classics figure !!!

April Fool's Day is here, but this is no trick . For the March 2015 Contest , you can win this free ThunderCats carded 6" scale Mumm-Ra figure . A Lion-O and a Cheetara of this same line were given away and won last year , now it's Mumm-Ra's turn . I think these figures came out in 2011 if my memory serves me correctly . Here's a look at the prize .

And now here is the TRIVIA ................
                     
                     Name the characters that these fists and hands belong to . Also name the toy line each is from and the company . 



As always all contests are 30 days long . You have until April 30, 2015  to come up with the correct answers . Also as always the first correct answers win . Good luck to all !!!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Masters of the Universe Classics - Oo-Lar Review !!!

One of the benefits of having a subscription is that with a subscription you can get a free bonus figure. Seriously .Myself along with other subscribers was not charged for Oo-Lar , just Huntara , the two figures that are the March 2015 figures .On the invoice that came with the figures Oo-Lar is labeled as the ( free club exclusive ) . This is a figure I have been excited about getting because of all the extra goodies that he was promised to come with . We were originally told that he would come with a ( 1 ) mini comic , ( 2 ) an extra head , ( 3 ) and a map/ blueprint of Castle Grayskull . Only two out of the aforementioned three came with the figure, as the map / blueprint has been delayed , but Mattel has made notice that it will be available sometime soon , perhaps coming with another figure . I've already gone over Oo-Lar's back story as a figure when the figure was introduced to the public last year at the San Diego Comic Con . Here's a repeat of what I wrote about Oo-Lar's back story ...........Oo-Larr - Many MOTU fans that were not aware of this guy were confused . I visited some MOTU Classic Facebook pages where people were asking who is Oo-larr . A MOTU history lesson is in need of explanation of this character, so here it is. Back when Mattel first created He-Man in the mini comics, there was no Prince Adam, just He-Man . He-Man was originally meant to be a strong warrior from a jungle tribe and NOT a Prince of a palace . So to settle continuity conflicts , Mattel made Oo-Larr into the jungle He-Man, keeping him from being the same He-Man as Prince Adam . So when the MOTU Classics bios were done, both Oo-Larr and Prince Adam served as He-Man . The bios allowed Eternia to have more than just one He-Man, and Oo-Larr is one of them . I am excited about Oo-Larr's two heads. One is a vintage He-Man head , and I'm pleased that the other head was altered to not look to much like Adam , allowing Oo-Larr to have his own individual look . Now on to the review .


Some notable information about Oo-Larr's bio . The first part of his bio sticks to what occurred in the mini comic subtitled " He-Man and the Power Sword " . The latter half of the bio speaks of Oo-Lar in present tense, as if he is still alive . This leaves me wondering , why did he quit being He-Man ? Aging so he passed the legacy on to Adam ? And what of Battle Cat ? Is Oo-Larr's BattleCat different from Cringer ? The bio makes no mention of BattleCat . Interesting bio although there are still some questions left to be answered . Below is the mini comic Oo-Larr comes with . 
There are plenty of Easter egg like surprises in this mini comic . If you still do not have Oo-Larr and do not want to be ruined with spoilers from the mini , then do not read this part of the review . I'm warning you now that there are SPOILERS ahead ..... Here goes ..

( 1 ) When He-Man arrives back on Eternia , he is first met by a man who I think may be Detective Lubic , a character from the 1987 Masters of the Universe motion picture movie .

( 2 ) He-Man is introduced to his son Dare .He and Teela are secretly married. It is still not clear rather Dare is adopted or a biological son . 

( 3 ) He-Man is crowned King , and in his speech to the Eternian citizens you can see a few Filmation characters in the audience . 

( 4 ) We are introduced to five new Heroic Warriors -Fork Lift , Air Bag , Kay'La , Man-E-Faces II , Ram-Man II . 

( 5 ) On the second page of the story we see the figure known as Sky High in the background unmasked . 

( 6 ) Everything is designed and drawn in Filmation style, including the Royal Palace and Castle Grayskull . 

( 7 ) Scrollos, a narrator character from the UK MOTU magazines, makes an appearance at the end . 

Plus there are other surprises, such as on the front cover we see the character known as Sky Tree among others . Now let's have a look at Oo-Larr out of the packaging . 


This is a great action figure. Like Huntara , all of his joints seem very tight . No loose knees , loose ankles , etc . Oo-larr also makes a little bit of MOTU history as he becomes the first bare foot human in the franchise . However he will not be the last , because Queen Grayskull , when she arrives later this year, will also be barefoot . Also for you customizers out there, you can easily transform this guy into Tarzan with the right head sculpt . Speaking of heads , here's a look at the second head placed onto Oo-larr's body . 
Even though this extra head came packaged with Oo-Larr, it does not belong to him . If it looks familiar to you, then you already know it belongs to the original He-Man . The 1980's original He-Man figure. Below are some comparison shots of the original 1980's head next to the MOTU Classic original He-Man head . 

As already mentioned, the above MOTUC head is NOT Oo-Larr . This is supposed to be Adam as He-Man . Now rather you prefer the original 80's He-Man figure as Adam or Oo-Larr , that is for we the fans to decide . Now for some comparison shots of Oo-larr's original face compared to Adam's . 

The pic to your left is Oo-Larr as He-Man , and the pic to your right is Adam as He-Man . Do you notice the differences between Oo-Larr and Adam ? I notice a few . Oo-Larr has a different shaped face, it is more angular and thinner whereas Adam's face is more fuller . Oo-Larr seems to have a wider mouth , longer hair and a flatter head . The eyebrows and eyes are the same color but are shaped differently . It appears that the color and style of their hair is what they mainly have in common . Most everything else there are differences instead of similarities . So this comparison proves that it was not a bad idea for Mattel to make these guys into different characters after all . Now for a look at Oo-Larr's accessories . The ones he came with and the one that he did not come with . First here are the ones that he came with . 
There you see the extra head , a very long and cool spear that you see Oo-Larr with in the He-Man and the Power Sword mini comic , and a neat sword that we have been told has been seen with Teela . Now for an accessory that also belongs to Oo-Larr although it did not come with him . It came packaged with Huntara instead. Here's a pic of Oo-Larr displayed with his axe in hand . 
The axe looks cool . I love how it looks used . You can see the dents and chips in the blade, as it looks like Oo-Larr has had many uses for it . For chopping wood, fighting against wild animals, etc . this axe looks like it has been through it all . And the flash from my camera even almost makes it look like real metal . Excellent attention to detail by the Horsemen . 
                                            FINAL  THOUGHTS 
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - Oo-Larr has the same basic regular articulation as any MOTUC figure . 

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - There are no balance issues. The figure stands perfectly . 

( 3 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? Although the figure is super cool , it's not just the figure but all of the extra goodies that he comes with . An extra head , a mini comic ,and some cool weapons . 

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? There is nothing that I dislike about this figure . 

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THIS  FIGURE ? The figure itself is okay however it would have been nice to get the Grayskull blueprint that was originally promised as an extra bonus item . 

( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - A Perfect 10 . Like Huntara I see no flaws with this figure . 

( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS - The only thing that disappointed me about Oo-Larr's arrival was that he did not come with the Castle Grayskull blueprint that was originally promised . The good news is the blueprint will arrive at a later time . However everything else is nice. The mini comic is a short good read with some nice surprises, I love the extra head and the pre-historic caveman like weapons . Plus it feels good to add another character to be known as He-Man to the collection . 

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Masters of the Universe Classics - Huntara Review .

Here we have another Filmation character in the month of March , Huntara .If you have a 2015 Club Eternia subscription, then you know that she comes packaged with Oo-lar , a figure I plan on reviewing later this weekend . Huntara is originally from one episode of She-Ra , titled "Huntara ". This is easy to remember since her name is also the title of the episode.  You can view the one and only episode she is in on Youtube . Here's a link to that episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kHr1iWz69U . Now before I move on to the review, I want to pause for a moment and give a shout out to the 200X MOTU Classic mini sub being a success . The goal was reached and we will finally be getting figures of  Veena AKA Queen Grayskull, Evil Seed among others . Now on to the Huntara figure .


Huntara's bio definitely sticks 100% all the way with everything that happened in the cartoon episode . Nothing has been changed or altered . Now let's have a look at Huntara out of the packaging .


This figure is outstanding . I've taken pictures of her using the flash on my camera and without the flash so you can see the details better . I love everything about her . The ponytail is soft and bendy . I also love the fact that all of her joints seem to be extremely tight . I like this a lot . No loose ankles or loose knees . Her shoulder pads are also bendy . Her gold wrist bracelets do provide somewhat of a nice shine when displayed under good lighting , and I love the two sockets on her back that you can store her swords in . Speaking of swords , her's remind me of light sabers from Star Wars because of the translucent light bluish color . They even glow like light sabers in the cartoon , the toy ones have no glow effect however they are still cool . Also , the swords are the only accessories that come with Huntara that actually belong to her . There is another accessory , an axe , although it is meant for the fellow toy mate she comes mailed with , Oo-Lar . Speaking of Oo-lar's axe , I'll talk about the axe in his review and not in this one, since it is actually his axe anyway . Now for some pics of Huntara being displayed with her swords while they are in the sockets on the back .


As you can see Huntara looks cool no matter how she is displayed . Rather she has the swords in her hands or in the hooks on her back . Even though everything is nice about this figure including her accessories, there is one accessory that is missing that does not exist that she should be packaged with . And if you've seen the episode she is in, then you already know what I'm referring to .  The pic below ...............
When we are first introduced to Huntara, her face is covered in what appears to be a shawl or a mask . The toy did not come with this piece . It would have been nice if it did . Either as an extra head or just the piece by itself would have been nice to have . Maybe we can hope for a Huntara masked head in a 2nd or 3rd wave of " The Heads of Eternia " series , if the "Heads of Eternia" goes beyond one wave that is . The pic you see above was taken with my camera off of Youtube . I hit the pause button and snapped the pic . Speaking of Huntara the cartoon character , how about a comparison shot of the toon and the toy ?
Do you notice the differences and similarities ? I'm just going to point out the differences , which are not many . There is no need to point out the similarities since they are all noticeably visible for the eyes to see. Here are the differences ...
( 1 ) The bra piece is a different color. On the toon it appears to be a dark blue or purple whereas on the toy it is black .

( 2 ) The Horsemen sculpted the black crotch piece on the figure whereas the toon does not have one .

Those are the only differences between the toon and the toy. Everything else is 100% accurate . However I'm okay with these things, the little changes do not bother me . The purpose of the comparison shot is to show that not everything is 100% accurate . For those of you whom may be bothered by it and want every little detail to be 100% accurate , you can always customize the figure or have a customizer do it for you . To make the figure look 100% like the cartoon , all you have to do is paint the bra piece the color it is in the toon and remove the crotch piece , along with painting the shorts underneath the same color as the toon .

Now for another comparison of a different nature. I'm comparing the figure to a real life person . Grace Jones as her " Zula " character from the Conan movie series of the 1980s .
 Why Grace Jones ? Well for starters , I've read some comments on the message boards on He-man.org where some fans claim this figure/ character reminds them of Grace portraying her Zula character . Now before I go any further , no one here is making fun of the lovely Grace Jones, including myself . I think Grace is an attractive lady and so is Huntara , so this comparison is not trying to be negative or funny . It is here to point out the similarities between Grace's Zula character and Huntara .I do not think that Huntara looks like Grace in the face, but there are similarities in the two characters . They both have mohawk type hairstyles and their outfits / costumes are similar , plus they both have muscular bodies and they both are warrior women . Grace Jones could have easily played this character with some pink body paint when she was younger .
Now while the above pic is not meant to be funny , however the one below is .
As already mentioned , the axe belongs to Oo-lar even though it comes with Huntara . I will add a little humor to the posts every now and then , to keep things light hearted and not too serious . Also as already mentioned Oo-lar will be reviewed later in the week .
                                                    FINAL  THOUGHTS 
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - Huntara has the same basic regular articulation as any MOTUC figure . I'm still wondering why the female figures do not have an ab crunch , however not having one does not take away the coolness from the figure .

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - The figure stands fine with no balance issues .

( 3 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? - How accurate it is to the cartoon . Her swords, her sword hooks , her costume and gold bracelets. Also love the mohawk and the tattoos on the sides of her head .

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? - Nothing . There is nothing that I dislike about this figure .

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THE  FIGURE ? - Include an extra masked head or the mask piece, hoodie, shawl or whatever we prefer to call it with the figure . Despite the missing mask I'm still proud about this figure .

( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - A PERFECT 10 !!! A flawless piece of art done by the Horsemen .

( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS - Huntara was originally a character I did not care about having an action figure of before the figure itself was introduced to the public . Once I saw pictures of the figure my mind and thoughts about her quickly changed and I'm glad it did . Now not only is she not just one of my favorite MOTU Classic figures, but one of my favorite figures period, regardless of toy line .

Friday, March 20, 2015

Let's make Masters of the Universe Classics Club 200X happen !!!

If you want to see all of these figures in your hands one day , then you must subscribe by this upcoming Monday , March 23, 2015 . Please help spread the word so we can get these figures . Go to Matty Collector at www.mattycollector.com for details and to subscribe . Just look at what we could get if the sub goes through .

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Marvel Legends Infinite Series - Maidens of Might - Captain Marvel Review !!!

I purchased this figure of Captain Marvel for around $ 19.99 at a local Walmart . This is the female version of a Captain Marvel character , as the previous versions have all been male . This version of Captain Marvel is Carol Danvers , a character whom has also had other heroic aliases . She is also formerly known as Warbird and Ms. Marvel . As many of us know there are toys of Danvers as these identities also . This figure is also a "running change" , or chase figure , as she shares the spotlight with the Scarlet Witch under the subtitle " Maidens of Might " . She also comes in the exact same packaging as the Scarlet Witch .




As you can see she comes with somewhat the same "Build- a- Figure " accessories as Scarlet Witch with some alternative changes . The two " BAF" accessories I am referring to are the head and the cape . I think the head is supposed to be that of an aged Thor instead of Odin . Also , the cape is the same cape that came with the Scarlet Witch , it is just a different color this time . Red instead of blue . Now let's have a look at all of the accessories Captain Marvel comes with , not just the BAF pieces .


The pinkish purple fireball like item belongs to her , as does the extra masked head . The other accessories belong to the Build-a-Figure . As for the cape, the top pic of it is the front of the cape and the second pic of it is the back . I like the look of that axe, it has a medieval middle ages look to it . Now let's view Captain Marvel out of the packaging .



Already this is one of my most favorite female Marvel Legend figures . Plus I love this newer thicker female body mold , compared to the older slimmer body molds of the past female Marvel Legends . This is the same body mold used for the Moonstone figure .Usually female body molds normally do not have any muscle definition , however this figure does . If you pay close attention , you can see that Captain Marvel has visible muscles in her upper back . Most if not all of the older female Marvel Legends do not have visible muscles in their upper back , but Captain Marvel does . This makes sense since she is a character that possess super strength .
Another advantage Captain Marvel has over most other female figures is her short hair . How is this an advantage you may ask ? The shorter hair does not restrict head movement like the longer hair that most female figures usually have . Also I like how her hair looks as if it is blowing in the wind , as if she is flying . This look of her hair is perfect for flying poses , and flying is something she can do . However as you can see , she has no plugs / holes in her upper back like most figures do , so if you want to put her in a flying pose , you will have to use one of those flight stands that have a clip that goes around the waist .
Now let's have a look at her with the extra masked head .

I think she looks cool no matter what head is displayed on her . For those of you having difficulty in deciding which head you want to display her with , a good suggestion might be to purchase two of these figures . However if you choose to buy an extra figure because of the extra head I recommend buying a used one to save money . Plus since the masked head has a different hairstyle than the unmasked head , a mohawk compared to normal hair , you can pretend she is another character or customize her into another character . Now for a comparison shot of both heads together .
I think it is neat how the sculptors can change the look of the face with the mask , without interfering with the other facial features . By viewing the comparison it is now up to you to decide which look you like best . Now for a shot of Captain Marvel standing next to Scarlet Witch .
It looks as if Marvel has more of an athletic physique than Scarlet , which makes sense since Scarlet is a wizard like character whereas Marvel is more of a physical character . I also like the fact that she is flat footed , no high heels . The high heels on the female figures in my opinion need to go . Even though they look good, but they make standing a figure a difficult task . If the high heels continue however , I hope they longer make standing a figure difficult . I think the waistline piece on Captain Marvel is a nice item, but I think she might look better without it .
                                                              FINAL    THOUGHTS   
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - All around good articulation . Plus a bonus is that the short hair makes it easier for head movement . One question however which is ...will the ab crunch ever return to female Marvel Legend figures ?

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - Once you get her in that proper stance the figure stands perfectly with no balance issues .

( 3 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? - The hair , the extra head , the newer more athletic female body mold , the energy projectile piece that you can fit over either hand .

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? - Nothing . I could not come up with anything to dislike about this figure .

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THIS  FIGURE ? - My mind has gone blank this time . I can not think of anything that may improve this action figure . It is already perfect in my opinion .

( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - A Perfect 10 . I can not find any flaws .

( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS  - Even though this particular version of Carol Danvers is a first time Marvel Legend figure , it is not the first time that this particular character has been in the line. She is also WarBird from Toybiz and the same Ms. Marvel that came in a three pack with Captain America and Radioactive Man . However the toy is so cool it may make you forget that this is a same character in a new outfit / costume . Also you must purchase both her and Scarlet Witch if you wish to have the alternate versions of the Build-a-Figure pieces .