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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 . 

2 comments:

  1. Fun but simple figure as he should be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That he is. I also noticed something about him that I forgot to mention in my review . It looks like Oo-Larr has sunburn . This makes sense since he's from a hot humid environment .

    ReplyDelete