MOTUC 2012 SDCC Exclusives

[chopa]

I definitely like the tank guy. reminds me of leopardon from kinnikuman.

[DrRampageo]

I'm not too hype on these...I like the Tankhead for sure..I do agree they should change the symbols to make it less earth looking....The barbarian DOES look too clean...I dont know not the worst thing that could have happened but certainly not the best..I was really hoping for Gwildor so I may just be an Idiot to start with...

[dayraven]

having now seen the hi-res photos, things are better, but they're still not good (and far from great). i can't help but think he should have been done differently, like perhaps as a true three pack of different guys, since only two of the designs could, for example, share a belt/loincloth piece. but i get what they're doing, and that is, feeding us custom fodder. those armor bits, the "one buck, but three figs accessories" idea, that's smart, as people who don't even care will buy the fig for the spare parts or the new buck to parse out for future customs. those new gauntlets look prescient to the 200x gauntlets to me.

[NoisyDvL5]

I definitely agree that these would be better as three separate figures so each could've gotten the love and attention they need.

I'm strongly feeling the need to customize the spaceman and the tank a bit to be unique figures.

[dayraven]

the tank man, i keep looking at the boots and thinking "roboto 200x!!" and his chest armor looks very "sludge trooper" from xevoz... but that damned face on the grill just blows any gravitas that the rest of the design is trying to evoke. and even repainting wouldn't help, you'd have to sculpt over or sand off at least the eyes to make any kind of serious go of that face... this is not a kid's toy line!!!! why do we have to have wide grinning cheesey faces on our tank guys? what exactly about the military, or a tank specifically, reads as "friendly and reassuring" that seems like the kind of motif aided in execution by a face-wide smile? and the dumbest thing is, he's got the goofy smiling face, but battle damage dings and dents all over that armor... so clearly someone thought that that incarnation of the guy is pretty rough and tumble, since battle damage is pretty rare in motuc.

and the space dude... i might be one of the few people i've read thusfar who's ok w/ the helmet being visorless... it seems most folks want it to specifically and only reference boba fett, even though boba fett's armor was referencing real helmet designs to evoke real world fear and respect for a proper and very serious warrior culture, but whatever... but the wings just aren't big enough to look proper. there's nothing even vaguely aerodynamic about them, they're more like swimfins than proper wings. they're too small, and especially w/ the semi-recent memory of icarius' well executed wing pack as a comparative. and whatsmore, if they'd thought about that, a minor modification to the helmet could have given us the first aquatic hero to the entire mythos... how cool would that have been? instead, they were so intent on giving us the sweetian (trademark pending) trio that they kind of phoned in all three designs, rather than giving us, one at a time, a fully realized and well executed version of each character.

my major beef on the "barbarian design" is the oddly intricate armor bits. like, the helmet evokes a mongolian influence, but the greeves? what the hell are those? the bracers to me are indicative of a choice for the 200x guantlets eventually, but for this guy, this figure, they're too intricate for a "barbarian," as is the ax... i get that one of the overarchingly motuc motifs is blending barbaric backwoodsian (trademark likewise pending) motifs w/ hi tech elements from an extinct protoculture, but these combinations, on this guy, don't work well together. they look very disjointed and in large part, that has to do more w/ these motuc figs than even the sweetian protos did... his original guys were more unique and more distinct than these figures are!! that's just fail, all over the place, a big bucket full of fail fries w/ failure sauce one the side. by comparison, looking at the universally well recieved vikor, and we see a lot less tech muddling up the barbaric detailing. but it is there... just done better.

[PrfktTear]

major beef

Heh, Major Beef.

[dayraven]

major beef

Heh, Major Beef.

that'll be keldor and lyn's kid's name.

[dayraven]

has anyone seen this yet?

Vyrkon - Ultimate Eternian Champion
Real Name: Vyrkon

Fifty years before Prince Adam was born, Vyrkon the Warrior fought in the gladitorial arena of Lord Choloh, ruler of the Vine Jungle. Learning from each defeated opponent, he became a master of many combat techniques and weapons. As much a chapion as a showman, he would often dress in outlandish garb to rouse the crowd and show off his skills. In his final match, he fought against the great Gygor. Before a cheering crowd, the evil fighting gorilla ripped Vykron's body in half, at long last defeating the arena champion. Following this match, Gygor claimed not only the arena championship but rule of the Jungle itself, forcing Choloh to abdicate his throne. In life, Vykron was the greatest of Choloh's gladitorial warriors, fighting in any environment at any time.

i find it fantastic that no one at mattel is apparently charged w editing duties, as they spell vykron's name wrong, twice, on his own bio. way to control that copy mattel.

i find it funny that, in finding this bio on the org and on thefwoosh (as reposted from matty's facebook page) how many people have changed their tune on vykron after reading the bio. i don't get it. i don't see anything in this bio to make the designs any better than they are, or that alters the QC issues that constantly plague motuc as a line... i don't see how any bio makes or breaks love for a character... but i guess it's the same idea that connects fans to a given comic character, but the comic characters take YEARS to build a real fanbase... are people's minds really so mercurial that single paragraph can take them from hate to love? i suspect that people's reactions are not being genuine, it's not the bio that's changing minds, it's the initial knee jerk "i hate it!" that motucers do EVERY FRIGGIN MOTH FOR THE LAST 4 YEARS NOW, and as they actually calmed down and looked at things, the toy doesn't look any cheaper or gaudier than the other entries to the franchise and the bio is just a convenient excuse to let them off the hook for their own retarded over-reactions. and that is weak sauce. that is precisely why, despite being a huge he-man fan, i hate most he-man fans... and really, i hate most people. so much stupidity, and so much deception to cover their own stupidity... why? i just don't get it.

so from an objective standpoint, here's what i do like about this bio... one, gygor just became a much badder ass. much badder. in a world where every cliff has a wind raider hovering just below the ledge, and every laser is always set to stun, having a character actually die, in a violent way, to another character is almost borderline preposterous. like, there's a point where, as me, i like it, cuz it's visceral and dark, but as a he-fan, it's complete bollocks. that level of violence is actually not in keeping w/ the mythos, and should, by rights, be considered a failure, because it doesn't keep w/ the overall pg-13 vibe of the mythos. gygor should have hit him so hard, he punched a hole through the dimensions all the way to despondos, or something equally innocuous. but ok... i like this. anything i like should be seen as a failure by mattel. i also like that they try to explain the outfits in the bio, and that it doesn't involved cloned power swords or shoehorning in another "legacy of he-man" moment... not everyone can be a He. the gladiator angle is kind of played, for me at least, cuz "trophy" and "complete ensemble" are not comparable terms, but it does beat another tale of gar racism, or the bio being about someone else.

what i don't like... choloh. really, choloh? when someone won his gladiatorial combat season, did they win the golden hair net? are we destined for a future release of choloh, the king of the vine jungle, complete with flannel shirt that only buttons at the top, and forty of tecate? i'm amazed that the fanbase on the whole isn't a tad more pissed by "choloh" but then, they're sheep of the worst kind, and not very bright, by and large... but come on. i know it's from the old british comic, but it was dumb then too. there's no sense in repeating the mistakes of the past, is there? would the choloh figure come complete w/ broken broom handle? for real people... if we don't demand better, we won't get it.

but whatever... i don't hang my hat on the bios, i didn't really think anyone else does, but man, this is more than a little shlocky. this bio does a good thing, splitting the old w/ a dose of the new. however, it's too violent for motuc, and it's also ill informed or racially obtuse, so it's really, despite the approval of the fanbase, not any good at all.

and of course, none of that, whether you approve or disapprove of the bio, affects the lack of paint washes, or quality executions in design, or choices of color palette, or the big smiley face. the figure is still poorly executed, regardless of the words on the back of the box. and honestly, if one were to want to credit the bio w/ justifying the accessory pack out, then one must, by extension of logic, say that the rending in twain demands a play feature that they did not include.

[PrfktTear]

Maybe they just change their minds? I have to admit even I gave a “WTF?!” when I first saw it, but it grew on me quickly.

The only thing I can think is that Vykron has some context now? He’s not just some random figure but has a place in the mythos. In most cases, I would say NO, a bio can’t make or break love for a character, but this is not Trap Jaw or Man-At-Arms here, it’s a figure based on

I see your point on the flip-flopping though --- the knee jerk reactions are annoying. People seem to just buy into all of the hyperbole (“Make Teela’s butt bigger”, “Panthor should be flocked”, etc.) but then when they actually have their figures in hand all is forgotten.

Fanboys are so gosh darn fickle. You’re never going to make everybody happy --- but it’s wise to try and shoot for the majority.

So the bio itself… yes, Gygor just got a LOT cooler in my book. I was very surprised that Vykron got “ripped in half” --- now of course the sadist in me is wondering does that mean he was split in half at the waist or split right down the middle as in bifurcated?

I agree though, the gruesomeness of the bio does feel out of place. Normally in Gygor would have pushed him on the ground, but Vykron would have forgiven him because he is always willing to forgive others. In the end Gygor’s heart would have grown to ten times its size and they all would go for a picnic in the Whispering Woods.

[dayraven]

exactly, the violence was both overt and out of character for the franchise... but like angelina jolie when she was a cutter... i kinda like it.

personally, i imagine bifurcated myself. or of course, i prefer bifurcated. definitely harder to do, and therefore, more brutal.

i guess i kind of get what you're saying w/ vykron, i see your point on having a context, but there's a huge chunk of the internet-based fanbase that does this w/ every review. it's like something from a brian regan bit, there's a ruffling of feathers, a primal scream, and heads buried deep in sand... then a week later or so, the apologists who love everything mattel has put out have done their jobs, they've soothed the throbbing open sores of the offended, they've balmed them and salved them, and now they're ready to look again, and they see the toy and it's not an offense. it's a far cry from the christ on the cross toy they initially accused it of being... and then the bio comes out, and there's mention of something they remember about the character when they were kids "hey, my skeletor was blue too!" and they feel communed and united, and then the mass acceptance on buying day, followed by the copious, almost out of touch w/ reality relief and positive affirmation of package arrival day, when they open the toy and seemingly enjoy it... for 3 hours, until the next month's figure gets advertised and then HOLY MOSES this new figure is more offensive than animation of mohammed getting a lapdance from alexis arquette... and the cycle repeats, ad nauseum. if vykron lived in a vacuum i might be more forgiving, but it's the same formula w/ even the most beloved of nostalgia characters.