Vault Review: MOTU Classics
Slush Head

Even though I’d never seen the space He-Man cartoon, I do remember looking through the toys at Kaybee.   The two that intrigued me the most were Optikk and Slush Head.  Guess I wasn’t alone since those were the first two villains Matty chose.

From the few episodes I’ve seen, Slush Head doesn’t seem to be the common dimwitted villain like most of Skeletor’s henchmen.  I wouldn’t call him a genius, but he does seem to have a bit of a sarcastic personality.  I really got the impression that he’d rather be somewhere else instead of serving Flogg and Skeletor.

This figure is pretty cool for a lot of reasons, but what I love most about Slushy is that he’s another perfect example of the Four Horsemen’s amazing talent to cobble together a unique looking figure out of a handful of new pieces.  His torso, arms, and legs are all Whiplash pieces, while his hands and feet are Merman’s.  Lastly, his underwear/shorts and shin armor are from Icarius.

Slush Head comes with one major new body part.  His armor, bubble helmet, and head are all new and connected to each other.  The head itself isn’t even the kind of head we’re used to getting on a MOTUC figure.  The outside part is sculpted to look normal, but the inside is hollow and made out of the same translucent plastic as his helmet.  This is to keep the water from leaking out of his helmet, and it does a really good job.

Slush Head’s paint job is pretty detailed, but most of it is subtle.  There’s a lot of darker gradiant shading on his skin, and even the blue armor pieces have been given a faint black spray to make them look a bit worn.  The armor also has intricately sculpted details that are either highlighted with silver or a darker metallic blue.

Slushy’s articulation is mostly what you’d expect from a MOTU Classics figure.  He’s got all the same old joints we’ve become very familiar with, all except one.  Slushy’s head can’t move since it is part of his helmet/armor.  There’s not even a peg to put a head on.  His armor just sits over his shoulders without issue.  Continue to page 2…

16 thoughts on “Vault Review: MOTU Classics
Slush Head

  1. I never got into the NA figures back in the day. I bought most of them on clearance and sold them off at a garage sale not long after. Lizorr and Spinwit were my favorites but there was no emotional attachment to the line as a whole. Slushy here had that watery head going for him but all you could do was turn it around. He was more like Water Globe Guy than anything else.

  2. I’m really surprised you didn’t include a photo with the helmet filled. No wonder you didn’t like the lack of head articulation!

    In my opinion, a water-filled helmet fundamentally changes the look of the figure for the better. I like the existing head sculpt, but it looks better and more bizarre when distorted by the liquid, as though it completely fills the helmet.

    Whereas I liked the head much more than you, I was very disappointed by the tentacles. On my figure, it’s nearly impossible to keep them in a raised position. There’s nothing locking them in place, so gravity causes the tentacles to droop to the ground. They’re also not particularly stable; just about anything will cause them to fall out of their pegs.

    1. I still haven’t seen a picture of him with the helmet filled with water. None of the reviews I’ve read have shown it. I don’t collect MotUC, but I do enjoy reading the reviews of them. This guy is pretty cool looking.

      1. Are most of us MOTUC collectors too fussy about the pristine condition of our figures that we won’t even fill Slushy’s helmet with water as intended? lol I’d like to see a picture of this, too.

    2. I had the same tentacle problem with mine, mate. Then I realised I had to push them further into the backpack. Problem solved!

  3. Adam, I had the same issue with the tentacles where they’d fall out at the slightest touch. It turns out they weren’t in all the way. I removed the armor and kinda twisted the tentacles into place, and now they’re in there solid as they should be.

  4. Believe it or not Slush Head is the 1st NA character I liked in that old corny cartoon but I never owned any of them until they were designed in Classics forum. Cool pics!!

  5. If you look in the customs forum at He-man.org there’s some folks who have broken the helmet so he can turn his head. There are tabs in the front and back of the helmet that are glued to the inside of the armor. They can be broken and the head and dome are free to swivel. They will stay in the armor as long as it’s on the body. The other cool thing is that breaking the tabs does not breach the inside of the dome, so you can still put water in it. It makes you wonder why mattel didn’t design it that way in the first place. Lots of folks have done it, but I imagine you have to be pretty careful. I plan to try it when I get him. The lack of head rotation was the one thing keeping me from picking him up.

  6. I owned only three NA figures when I was young, and this was one of them (the others were Optikk and the He-Man that came packed with Slushhead). I think they did a great job of cobbling this guy together, all things considered. Although the lack of head articulation is a puzzler. If they can make a turning, water-filled head in the 1980s, it surely can’t be beyond the capacity of a toy company in The Third Millennium! Still, nice to see it can easily be fixed!

    Now, to see if my bendy Doctor Octopus tentacles can be put to use on this guy somehow . . . .

  7. At first I was a bit bothered with the lack of head articulation…but, hell, he wouldn’t be the same without water! He’s just as I loved him as a kid! 🙂

  8. Just got my figure this week, and unfortunately it confirms what I was afraid of – the tentacles are reversed. They are supposed to curve forwards over his shoulders, not backwards. Congratulations Mattel, that makes two figures in one month that you’ve engineered incorrectly. A new record for your designers!

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