Anyway, as far as the regular paintwork goes, I’m happy with the deeper purple, similar to the TRU Skeletor and the dark washed crossbones on his chest. His face could be a little better, as his goatee extends up over his bottom lip. One thing that continues to drive me nuts with the line is that I can’t simply remove any excess paint because the heads are molded in the color of the armor and painted. Keldor’s head is purple under all that blue paint.
Keldor came with the one accessory that’s uniquely his: the acid vial, used in his backfired attempt to kill/disfigure his brother Randor. The vial is molded in a light clear green with purple paint to distinguish its container. Though I suppose he could throw it at Randor, I view it as more of a prop than an accessory anything and I love that. At $20, with what has to be at least three times the planned production that MSRP was given to, and all the reused pieces, I would love to see more props in the line. Simply put, we can’t get enough stuff with these figures.
Oh yeah, the swords. And here I was getting all excited about the vial… Keldor comes with two half-swords. I’ve been critical of the half swords many, many times, so I’ll try to not go off on that tangent too much. This is our second purple “B” half and the first time we’ve gotten the “A” half in that same color. I do have to admit that these two halves go together better than any other pairs I’ve had so far in what must be a miracle attempting to halt my criticism. I’m glad, but not impressed. These swords only look good from one side, when they’re pretending to be full swords, and they don’t stay in the hands well because they’re flat on the back. Since my sword miraculously stays together, he’ll either be handling it that way or he’ll be trading his cape away for Skeletor’s full sword on my shelves.
Should this have been in the sculpt section? Probably. But it fit better here, so you have to bear with me. My Keldor has lost his cape to Skeletor. I wasn’t planning on doing that, but having them in hand, Keldor is giving me a young adventurer vibe and I don’t think the cape suits him whereas it is perfect for a veteran sorcerer. That’s how it goes.
Anyway, the cape is nicely done, the folds at the bottom can be lined up with the calves so that it flares out or it can be pushed to the left so that it sits like the wind is blowing it a bit in that direction. The hole for the neck is large so that the swords can still be placed in the holster on Keldor’s back.
Overall, Keldor is a nice gem. I don’t know if I was overcome by the sword issue or initially not wowed by the high level of reuse, but when I got him opened and photographed, I started singing a different tune. I really like the head sculpt and the bright blue/deep purple color scheme. Sure, he’s going to have to get some swords donated to him from somewhere, but he’ll make do until then. Swords aside, I think the only other missed opportunity here was a screaming/burning head. That was such a grisly, but fun, detail on the 200x figure and it’s a shame the 4H didn’t get a classic crack at it. Still, Keldor is a fun figure and while I do prefer Skeletor to be straight-up evil, I have a feeling Keldor will be patrolling my shelves looking for evil ass to kick (Marzo, anybody?) and hitting on Evil-Lyn with that smile.
FIRST!
“He’s gone from a simple idea inferred by a mini-comic to a more fleshed out character that left that one inference on the table, and in MOTU Classics all that came before has been combined with a history fraught with misfortune. It’s okay though, because through it all, Keldor’s still smiling.”
Priceless. I laughed out loud for this one.
Your overall tone in the first portion of the review hits the appeal of this figure right on – this one’s about charisma, and it’s all in his new head. Without it, he’s just a cheap repaint with the wrong swords.
As for his conversation piece with Brother Randor in pic #2, I think that arrogant pelvic thrust makes “Randy” look WAAAAY more evil than his poor misunderstood brother. Schmuck…
You beat me! LOL
Glad I made you laugh!
And my apologies on the pelvic thrust. I told Vault he may have to do a new “8 Things…” column on inappropriately posed figures in our reviews! I was too focused on the cowboy hats (they are wearing them, though I ended up pshoping them to look pdded in) that I didn’t bother to check for obscenity. 😀
You know your site is moving up in the world when people are excited to get the first post. ^^
LOL.
That’s pretty sad when you have to psyche yourself up to buy a figure because the figure itself sucks. xD
Being a completist is hard? 😛
“I know it’s just a kid’s toy line, but I think about these things…” hahahahahaha best quote ever! Don’t worry, I think about stuff like that too! Keldor is pretty cool, in a line of generally cool figures!
One of us! One of us! It’s good to know that I’m not alone in my random ponderings of sociology, pyscholgoy, & biology in fictional universes…
Great review!Funniest part was that Keldor and Hordak armor joke.I know wich movie you had taken from that joke and that movie is still awesome XD.
I love Hordak’s face in that shot. The great thing about the 4H sculpts in this line is how well they photograph if you catch ’em. Hordak’s facial expression is perfect.
Another great example of that is in Poe’s review (linked below) where Keldor is reading the warning label on the acid vial. The expression is perfect!
How did you get the black torso on Keldor? That’s the picture where Keldor is wearing Hordak’s armor. Oh and you definately need a Shield of Deliverance – Golden Royal version from Spy Monkey Creations 🙂
I need to order some Spy Monkey stuff BIG TIME. Mattel is just sopping up all my money! I’m back to ‘relatively’ caught up on DCUCs so hopefully I can snag some of their stuff here soon!
Excellent review. Cool looking villian.
Thanks, Sy!
Nice review, Noisy! (Here’s mine, if you don’t mind me plugging it.)
A few points:
* You really hate the grin, huh? Personally I think it works. It suggests the charm that a leader has to have to lead a rebellion. Or maybe just that he’s a smug bastard. Also, it reminds me of the memorable reveal by Tony Moore from the Beast Man Icons of Evil comic (this is the only online copy of it I can find).
* For whatever reason, my Keldor holds the sword-halves nice and tight in his hands. I’ve actually found it kind of cool to pose him with them, despite the odd look of the inside part of the weapons.
* There’s no question, though, that these would have been much, much cooler: http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showpost.php?p=2371495&postcount=92
* I think the lack of the “burning” head was, like the swords, mostly a matter of the tooling budget. Every single bonus figure so far as had only one new part, be it a head or an accessory. (Zodak: staff, Goddess: spear, BA He-Man: armor, Keldor: head.)
Your links are always welcome. I actually need to go check yours out now that mine is done…
I don’t hate the grin at all! I did make fun of it, but that’s a large part of what we do here! I don’t know if it carries the expression he should have, but then again, I don’t know what his intentions are anymore. I’m really starting to look at him as a young prince / gentlemen adventurer saving damsels in distress and righting wrongs with no clue of his visageless fate. Ironically, I prefer my Skeletor pure evil with no tragedy though. I blame the greatness of the head sculpt.
The swords might be cool, but I’m utterly biased. They do fit together, so he’s got that going for him, but I still want to shake my fist at Matty for being cheap. The swords in your link would be great.
And you’re dead on about the tooling budget. Maybe if Toy Guru had just come out and said – we gave him the old swords cause he had to be done cheap, I’d’ve let it go quicker. LOL
Excellent job! I was rolling by the end!! LOL
Thanks, Mike!
Perhaps Kronis is a full-blooded Gar? So, peach + dark blue = light blue?
Entirely possible!
Is it bad I want a figure of Keldor’s Mom?
Not at all. I would personally only want a figure of her if she’s hot, though. If Star Wars taught us anything, it’s that attractive women only get more attractive when their skin colors are bizarre and unnatural.
Well, she’d have to use the Teela buck, so I think we’re safe! 🙂
And yes, that’s one of the most important things I’ve always taken from Star Wars…
Keldor: the Fresh Prince of Eternia! ; )
I may have to grab this one if he gets reissued. The potential for hilarious comics is limitless!
LOL
He’s a ton of fun. I actually had a really good month with MOTUC. I think both him and She-Ra ended up with more joke pics than not. They were a blast.
Samuron loves me! He really loves me! 😀
Is there an “aw hell no” in Keldor’s future?
Great opening on this one. And yeah Keldor’s one happy dude for being so blue. (ba-dump-cha!)
Maybe… and thanks!
My Keldor arrived at my friend’s place Wednesday, but I won’t be able to go get him until tomorrow! The wait is killing me!
I’m thinking I’ll display my Skeletor with Keldor’s body, Comic Skeletor’s head and armor. I’ll still have to buy a standard Skeletor for the whole sword and Havoc Staff.
You can rebuild him!! I’m trying to picture your creation, you’ll have to swing by and show it off once you’ve got him together.
You know what I really want, though this may belong in Vault’s article – the next Weapons Pak to give us a Havoc stuff with a painted ram’s skull on it. Either a dirty bone or a silver and dirty brown or gold horns. That’d be sweet!
I’ll definitely post a pic here once I pick up Keldor!
I agree with you on the possible Weapons Pak. I like the coloration of the animated Havoc Staff, but I prefer the MOTUC’s longer horns than the tightly-curled ones shown in the cartoon, which is why I’m glad they molded it the way they did.
I do love the look of the MOTUC staff, and I don’t even mind the slight metallic hue of the one we did get, I just would love to see that sculpt sing under some better colors!
I have high hopes for this upcoming Weapons Pak. Though I don’t know how to review it just yet… 😉
Here’s my head/armor-swapped Skeletor.
Unfortunately, something happened while I was messing around with Keldor. I grew fond of him. I blame his devilish smile. Now I can’t bear to steal his body from him!
Looks great.
But, yeah, that’s what Keldor does to ya! 🙂
“That am impossible” Great use of Faker there.
Great review. I love Keldor, he looks like the right mix of badass and regal.
Faker knows the score, right? 😀
I got over the swords issue. They don’t look too bad and like Poe mine can hold them pretty well.
I’m slowly getting there. The fact that they stay together really helps. Plus, with Skelly stealing the cape, I can give Keldor the other full sword.
Keldor couldve been great if they’d spent more money in him simple as that.
That tagline should be on the box… 😀
He does look rather winsome, doesn’t he…. I really can’t think of him as a bad guy when he doesn’t have the cape on. Poor Mr. Keldor.
Oh, yeah. And in that pic with Hordak, I love the look on Hordak’s face. You can see him thinking, “I @&*!ing hate you…”
I love that pic! I was thinking of pshoping the armor into Apprentice colors when I took it, but it worked without having to do that.
You should see him on my desk! He’s posed like he’s about to enjoy a fight taking down some hooligans. LOL
::Now needs another hordak::
Haha. I only have one Hordak. 😉
I’m thinking full Gars are really a dark blue like Kronis and a mixed race would be the light blue that is Keldor. That would make him even more of an outcast.
RageTreb had that same idea. I think that could be the case in this reverse engineered history.
Interestingly though, we’ve been talking a lot here about Faker and why he’s blue. I kind of like the idea of him being a Gar He-Man. That seems much more insiduous giving Keldor’s background. But he’s closest to the color of Skeletor, so he might not be very much like a Gar at all.
ROFLing at those crotch-thrusting cowboy-hat wearing pics xD
LOL. Ah the unintended jokes… 😀
Great stuff, Noisy! (BTW, if this Keldor guy had existed back when the MOTU movie had been made then there could have been no other choice but to cast Billy Dee in that role…)
Thanks, Jim! LOL
Great Keldor review! I love him in the Horde armor! It makes me wish I had an extra to flesh out those Horde colors. He’d be like the Kanto of the Horde.