Vault Review:
MOTU Classics Mantenna

Fans of the Evil Horde hit the jackpot with this months MOTU Classics release. Not only did we get an army of soldiers to command, but we now have one of the main Generals to command them with. The amazing part of this double Horde release is the amount of work that went into both figures. It’s rare to get a figure with an entirely new body in a line with so much reuse, and this month we actually got two!

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Mantenna was always one of my favorite figures when I was a kid. I loved his bug-out eye gimmick, and that was only one of his unique features. Those giant elephant ears, four legs, and weird toothy hole mouth helped him stand out on a shelf full of freaky faces, and the Four Horsemen have done a fantastic job updating him.

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Mantenna is mostly styled after the vintage figure, but there are some design changes that keep him from looking like a straight retread. The most obvious are his four separate legs. Gone is the strange tied together look. After all these years we can finally put him in his awkward crab walk poses, and as an added bonus it kind of gives him a Filmation feel.

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One thing I’m particularly happy about is the choice of the vintage mouth. While I do enjoy the silliness in MOTU, I also love some more monstrous and intimidating features. Mantenna’s Filmation mouth is a little too Jar Jar silly for me, and I really love the vicious chthonian maw of the original toy. He actually looks like he could be a threat.

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But of course the coolest feature on the new figure is his alternate eyes. You can replace his normal bulbous peepers with two bugged out ones. They don’t stick out super far, but effect is still great. I particularly like veiny sculpt of the optic nerves that gives it a bit of a gruesome feel.

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Of course the interesting part about the swapping eye feature is how it works. Both sets of eyes just plug into the sockets, and they can even be rotated to face in various directions. But to get to the regular eyes you have to pull off the mouth. It kind of leaves him with a nightmarish face full of gaping holes. Obviously he’s not meant to be displayed like that, but it’s definitely a creepy little bonus.  Continue to page 2…

20 thoughts on “Vault Review:
MOTU Classics Mantenna

  1. You forgot “She’s a dude!” there but I’m sure there are others. LMAOF!

    Mantenna and Leech are downright the creepiest, most stomach-churning, hair-rising, characters in the whole MOTUC lineup, although Modulok is bound to give them both a good run for their money.

  2. Okay I just love this guy and the Zomtenna pic was too cool. What I call it anyway. I ponder if may be surprised this year at Christmas time.

    Cracking me up with the hard butt contest.

  3. That final pic is gold. Gold! I’m not saying they’re not all great, but that one takes the cake.

    Great review. Wish I hadn’t missed out on this guy. Now my Horde will forever be incomplete. 🙁

  4. I like that pic of Casual Friday with Randor making an appearance.

    This figure really is the best one this year. And those ankles do rock. I know Teela’s feet have the same kind of rocker motion. I wonder why they couldn’t have done this for all male feet as well.

    1. Also, I did the same thing with mine with the eyeball coming out of the mouth and empty eye sockets. It was just too creepy not to try.

  5. Love the pics! Mantenna is definitely a frontrunner for Toy of the Year. I’d say he’s also one of the top ten best figures in the line. I always loved the vintage figure, not even just because of the eye popping feature but just because I liked the colors and the ridiculous look on his face.

    Also, gotta say, that closeup pic of Mantenna on the front page is really kind of hideous. All I could think of was vagina dentata!!!

  6. Now that he is in my grubby little hands… I FREAKING LOVE HIM… Screw Ram Man! This guy right here is THE BEST FIGURE OF 2013!! Hordetober was Fantastic!! (dactus is cool, but Mantenna is Fantabulous and Radsome!!

  7. Excellent review, pics, and comics.

    One of my favourite vintage figures became one of the best figures in the MOTUC line so far. (And possibly will remain so until the very end.) Just exceptional. Can’t wait to do a Filmation-coloured repaint on his armour.

  8. Old poppy eyes has the biggest head on any figure in this line. I love how FH finally separated his legs. Cool review.

  9. He’s very similar in design to the NECA Staction. Which is no surprise. That was an awesome design.

  10. my only gripe, if i had to offer one, is the lack of accessories. that horde crossbow is decent, but i never use them, they’re just too rubbery. on the plus side, the troopers came with more gear than they can use, so i allotted mr tenna a stun baton and the craziest fighting style anyone has even seen. mantenna is a practioner of parkour… etherian parkour! it’s like terrestrial parkour, only with more eye lasers and stun batons and less hot topic clothing.

  11. Outstanding review. The Rosebud/Vader/eyepopping bit is pure genius. Not being a sub-holder for this year (I was late to the whole MOTUC party), everything stopped minutes before Mantenna went on sale so I could be sure to secure one for myself. An added bonus is that this is an awesome figure that my wife doesn’t wince from (apparently shooting the fists of Soul of Chogokin at my wife’s face have in some way made her reluctant to gaze directly at my new toy).

  12. cool looking dude, that I actually do remember from the cartoon…as a more inept lackey?
    He does look cool, but doesn’t fit in with my (non-tech/monstery) collection.

    I was hoping you would include a pic of the “jawless” Manty, since you did mention it is removable to get at the eyes. (also missing: obvious Pan’s Labyrinthe joke!)*

    had to LOL at Randor crashing the party, but the “expressions meme” wins this round.

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    *(I’m starting to wonder if you guys should make a list of “forgotten/overlooked/suggested gags” that you could run every so often? maybe bi-monthly or quarterly?)

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