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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Masters of the Universe Classics - Ninja Warrior AKA Ninjor Review !!!

Even though this figure is now known as Ninja Warrior instead of just Ninjor , I'm going to refer to him as " NINJOR " , his original name, throughout this article / review . From what I understand , another toy company has the copyrights to the name "Ninjor" , thus Mattel had to take an alternate route with a similar name . Ninjor was one of the last remaining figures of the old vintage Masters of the Universe 1980s line, and here he is finally in MOTU Classics . If you have a subscription to this year's service, not only do you get Ninjor in the month of February but also a Snake Armor He-Man and Battle Armor King Hiss two pack, which I plan on reviewing over these two figures on Sunday . For now let's look at Ninjor .


Some note worthy tidbits of information to point out from the bio , is that Ninjor has great speed, skill and silence . The silence part means he can sneak up on people without them hearing his footsteps . Plus we find out that he is secretly working for Horde Prime , spying on Skeletor . I don't like the idea of Mattel going this route, making Ninjor a spy for the Horde. However if this was meant to be I feel that a Horde symbol should have came with him , just like with Tung Lashor or the Fighting Foe Men . As for the figure itself, below are pics of it out of the packaging . Also his real name is unknown . One of the few characters / figures with an unknown real name .


When I first heard the news that the cloth the original figure wore would be replaced with plastic , I was disappointed . However once receiving the figure in hand I was and still am very pleased . The plastic looks cool and so does the figure . When comparing this Ninjor figure to the original , there are several things that are missing and several things that have been changed . Here's a list of what's missing from this figure that the original had , along with changes that were made .

                       HERE IS WHAT'S MISSING from MOTUC Ninjor that the original had, along with  MAJOR CHANGES . 

( 1 ) No spring loaded right arm . The original had this feature .

( 2 ) The cloth shirt has been replaced with plastic .

( 3 ) The chain for his nunchucks has also been replaced by plastic . I'm okay with the cloth being converted to plastic but not the nunchuck chain being converted into it . I prefer the metal because of the realism it brings to the figure. However I assume that this was a cost cutting method by Mattel in production of the figure . I fully understand why they did this but still does not like it .

( 4 ) The face on the MOTUC version has red demonic like eyes, where as the original has black dots displayed for eyes .

( 5 ) We had the luxury of removing a mask to reveal a face underneath for the vintage figure, where as MOTUC Ninjor has two removable heads, one masked and unmasked .

Now let's have a look at the accessories Ninjor comes with .

As you can see he comes with a quite a few accessories . A katana sword , nunchucks , bow and arrow , an extra head , a loincloth piece and a pouch on his back used to carry his weapons . By the way , the pouch is an extra accessory that the original did not have . I like the pouch a lot, as you can see it has two hooks to hold the weapons . The arrows inside the pouch are sculpted together . Even though the loincloth piece comes with Ninjor , it really fits the look of Jitsu even more, giving him his 200X look of his staction figure .
Now for a look at this Ninjor figure with the unmasked head .

Taking a small break from Ninjor the ACTION FIGURE to talk about Ninjor as a CHARACTER for a moment . Sometimes I wonder if this guy is human . The red demonic like eyes, along with the claw like feet make me wonder this , even though he looks human . Then again maybe his shoes / boots are shaped with claw like features .
My favorite weapon that belongs to this Ninjor figure is his sword , because he can be displayed in many sword fighting poses against other figures with swords, such as He-Man himself . Plus I love how the flash from my camera gives his sword that glittery shiny look , giving off the illusion as if it's real metal . Below are three display sword fighting pics just for fun .


Finally , here's another pic I'm just throwing in for fun . If you want to create a make believe diorama home piece for this figure , then what better diorama piece to use than this Japanese dojo from the " Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon toy line ? Based on the movie with the same name .
                                                                FINAL   THOUGHTS  
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - Ninjor has the same basic normal articulation as any other MOTUC figure .

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - Once you get his knees in that proper stance, the figure stands just fine with no balance issues .

( 3 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? His sword , the black and red colors blend well together , plus is it just me or does his arms seem to be thinner than the average MOTUC figure? This is not a complaint however, I like this . It makes sense since he is a character of speed, agility and quickness . So therefore a character of these attributes should not be big and bulky . Great job Horsemen .

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? There is nothing in my opinion to dislike about this figure , he is totally cool . However I am disappointed that the nunchuck chain was replaced with plastic .

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THE  FIGURE ? Make the nunchuck chain metal , insert the removable mask and spring loaded right arm features . Then again, now that I think about it, a spring loaded right arm would interfere with articulation . However I still think it would have been cool if he had this feature, paying homage to the original figure .

( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE -  FIGURE ONLY - a perfect 10 . I can find no flaws in the figure alone .  FIGURE plus ACCESSORIES -  a 9.5 . The minus is for the nunchuck chain not being metal .

( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS -  It feels great to add Ninjor to my collection . However due to the bio , it is now confusing on what faction to display him with . Do I still display him with Skeletor and his crew , or display him with the Horde ? Decisions, decisions , but a fun decision to make under these circumstances when it comes down to toys .

4 comments:

  1. Nice review!

    I love the use of the dojo background for him. It looks great!

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  2. Thanks Barbecue17 !!! I used the dojo since it's part of Japanese culture, and since ninjas are originated from Japan .

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  3. A fantastic up date to this character.

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