Vault Review: MOTU Classics
30th Anniversary Cy-Chop

One of my favorite things about the MOTU Classics line is the inclusion of new characters.  So I was pretty excited about the 30th anniversary sub-line when it was announced.  I’m actually a bit sad that it’s almost over, and I hope something like this shows up again before MOTU Classics ends.

Cy-Chop was created by Mattel’s Terry Higuchi and is the next to last character in the 30th Anniversary line.  Although this character has a very distinct look, I personally think he fits in rather well with the rest of the Masters of the Universe.

Cy-Chop’s design is a bit all over the place.  His arms and legs are made up of blue Beast Man parts, which give us hints as to what the character looked like before the accident destroyed the majority of his torso.  I never really considered having a blue Beast Man-like character before, but I love how the colors look on the furry texture and would definitely buy a figure of Scychor before the accident.  I think he’d look pretty good paling around on my shelf with Kronis.

Cy-Chop’s head is an entirely new sculpt.  It has an interesting robotic design that’s a stark contrast to his more animalistic extremities.  The design itself is also pretty interesting and reminds me a lot of the old Microman toy line, especially when coupled with his translucent Roboto torso.  The addition of the robotic bits and organs inside his chest was definitely gives him his own feel though.

Instead of hands or claws, Cy-Chop sports two giant robotic scissors.  I love the random insanity that is sometimes injected into MOTU, and Cy-Chop’s scissor hands may take the cake for being the craziest.  The mad scientists that put him together saved his intestines, so I’m assuming he still needs to eat and go to the bathroom but I don’t know how.  The scissors are also so long that he has to bend his arms, so you know he probably trips over them.  Not to mention how unsafe it is to run with scissors that big!

Cychop’s paint job is more complex than you’d think.  His arms and legs are molded in blue with a tiny bit of black shading.  His inner mechanical bits and intestines have been painted in pinks, grays, and gold, definitely making it easier to see them through the translucent blue chest.  Cy-Chop’s head is all silver with the exception of his metallic blue eyes.  That same silver and blue was used on his scissors, giving them a nice cold mechanical feel.  The one aspect to his paint that really threw me at first was the bright orange on his belt and forearms.  It clashes with the blue, but in a good way that makes the figure stand out.  Continue to page 2…

54 thoughts on “Vault Review: MOTU Classics
30th Anniversary Cy-Chop

  1. Let me see if I can sum this figure up: FH made a figure designed with Edward Scissors arms,Strongarm face & Beast from X-Men legs with a see thru chest that still has his organs–WTF man they could have done better. The last 2 figures they design in the 30th Ann. series are a joke but since there part of my favorite toy collection I was force to buy 2 of each. Good review as always.

    1. terry said multiple times that this figure is an homage to the 1970’s japanese toys he collects: Microman (Micronauts) and Henshin Cyborg. The color scheme, clear chest, and visible organs, are clearly a reference to the Walder villians in the Henshin Cyborg line, and the head is a clear throwback to Acroyear from Micronauts. Its very cool to see a Mattel toy reference a Takara/Hasbro product 😉

    2. I actually really like the homage. I think it adds another unique character to MOTU that’s not just another muscle man.

    1. Actually, his horribly disfigured penis was replaced with a small set of pruning shears. So not a big deal, really.

      1. Just a small set? His (presumably human-sized) hands get replaced by humungous scissors of death but he’s only permitted a teeny tiny cyber-dong?

        No wonder he’s pissed off.

    2. Actually, he has guts, so as Vault says, he must need to eat and excrete . . . so how the Hells does he wipe? I pity the poor Horde Trooper on TPS Report Duty.

  2. I do like the look of him. Just wish his scissors weren’t SO big. Just like Fisto’s big sword. Too much exaggeration, even for MOTU.

  3. This is the worst fig in the 30th line, IMO. The color scheme is pukey looking, the scissors are way too big and he should only have one, and I hate the Micronauts looking head. Since I bought the sub I need to do SOMETHING with this guy though. Been trying to think if there’s an alternate head from a previous fig that would look good on him.

      1. That’s what I was thinking actually. I’ll also chuck one of those hands and replace it with one of Roboto’s.

    1. you could sell the thing?

      personally, i think repainting the head would help, as would putting a complimentary wash over the fur… something either dark blue or black. and of course, a coating of clear orange or gloss wash would make the elbow/forearm armor pop better

      1. I don’t think I trust myself to attempt any painting. 🙂 But the color suggestions seem like they’d help.

    2. Easily among the worst figures of the whole line IMO.

      Hurts my eyes to look at him. I hope he gets buried and forgotten.

  4. I wasn’t hugely excited for Cy-chop when he was revealed but now that I have the figure in hand, I’m surprised by how much I like him. I guess he’s just such an outrageous conflagration of parts that he kind of breaks the barrier of goofiness around him. I do wish he had alternate parts besides the scissors though, or that they weren’t so big; I can see why they went with both hands being that way though, as one would make him too similar to Trap-Jaw.

    A pre-op Scythor would be neat as well just because the Beast Man parts in such striking colors really looks nice. Maybe that can be the touring exclusive next year?

  5. He should have included Roboto or Horde Prime hands to swap out.

    Other than that, I’m not feeling any regret in passing on him.

    1. You know, I wonder how his feet look on Skeletor. I’d like to get as close to a Millennium Skeletor as possible, and I would need non-monster blue feet for that. The only problem would be the molded fur…

        1. I don’t paint or dye my figures so I wouldn’t be able to do that, but you are right. Those would work a lot better.

  6. Cy-chop ended up being much better than I expected minus those GIANT scissor hands. A pack in pair of hands would have really made this guy much better, thankfully I found someone selling cast Horde prime hands so my Cy is rocking those now.
    Great review!

  7. He would have been one of my absolute favorites when I was a kid, if he actually existed when I was a kid.

  8. Is that red fan(?) from Hurricane Hordak?

    so the original look would be Aqua-Beast-Man?

    He’s the Horde’s answer to Roboto and Trap-Jaw?

    Since he has no heart and has furry limbs, is he the love child of Tin Man and the cowardly Lion? from The Wiz?

    even Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles are like, “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaayum, you ugly!”

    feel free to cut in at any time, I could go on and on and on….

    1. What’s the table from? It appears to have blood splattered on its legs, I’m guessing it came with the DST Frankenstein.

  9. I’ll withhold final judgment until he’s in-hand and sporting one of my Rattlors’ Horde arm-bands, but I gotta say, I’m not holding out much hope for liking this guy much, excellent review and funny comics aside.

    In the Ultimate Battleground (because there can be only ONE Ultimate Battleground, because “ultimate” means “last”), I see Cy-Chop going after Trap-Jaw for some revenge, and then Trap-Jaw bites his massive scissors off, as Cy-Chop can’t wield them very quickly. Then Trap-Jaw shoots him through the see-through torso with his Lasertron just before Spikor sneaks up behind the staggering cyborg and shatters the guts-quarium with a one-two from his trident ram and thagomizer club. Broken into several pieces tenuously held together by laser-scorched digestive tract, wires, and nerve cords, Cy-Chop expires twitching on the Eternian soil.

    And then gets eaten by ants.

    The imagination is truly a wondrous thing. };D

    1. Wow, pretty descriptive, and awesome. Love the idea of Trapjaw and Spikor taking down this guy in such a brutal fashion.

  10. Eeh thinking over the idea of seeing a pre accident version would be really cool. Just gotta hunt down two trap jaws. Idea to me on the hands/scissors. If had a pair of normal would make itvas they morphed into the scissor look.

  11. Count me as one of the apparent few who think this guy (and *most* of the 30th Anniversary line) is a WIN. I don’t find him any more absurd than the most outrageous vintage characters, and his colour scheme–while not especially Horde-coordinated–is unique among a line that boasts many vivid combinations and patterns. My top reason for loving him is probably one that a lot of folks are seeing as a drawback: the blatant reference to MicroMan/Micronauts/Henshin Cyborg. I didn’t grow up with the vintage Takara toys, but I was blowing tons of dough to acquire their modern counterparts from 2004-2007. It’s neat to have a similar figure in the larger, chunkier MOTUC scale/style, and I don’t find him any more out-of-place than any other characters who aren’t sporting a sword-and-sorcery motif.

    1. Personally I don’t like him, but I agree with you. This guy is no more goofy than a lot of the other characters we grew up with and loved.

  12. Great review and pics as usual, Vault. Cy-Chop looks like he could have easily fit in during the middle and later periods of the vintage line. An excellent love letter on Terry’s part to the toys he grew up with.

  13. I really like Cy-Chop. He’s totally insane. I think the “choppers” are too big though and I only have one on his arm – I have given him one of Horde Prime’s hands.

  14. But Mattel has already made references to Hasbro Lines before… The whole POP Horses thing was riding on the coattails of the Original My Little Pony! The Rock Warriors and Meteorbs were riding the coattails of Transformers! (I know that the orbs were the Japanese tamagoras, but they transform and junk!)
    Not a fan of this guy… If he was a Giant sized enemy of the Cosmic enforcres, maybe I’d open up to this guy… (The Cosmic Enforcers would need a Giant Robot to fight him and keep the Japanese influence on him!)

    1. That would be hilarious! Now I need to buy more figures to make the Mighty Morphin Zodac Rangers…

  15. I have to confess… I saw him live and in person last night at a friends and I don’t hate him as much as I thought I would. If the scissorhands were just a smidge smaller and he came with swappable hands, I think this guy would be awesome.

    1. I definitely agree. I liked him way more than I thought I would. The scissors are a bit too big, but at least they’re swappable. Hopefully we’ll get some hands for him in future Weapons Paks.

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