MOTUClassics.Com:
Vikor Review

The paintwork on Vikor is superb. Last month, I had to give Mattel a QC spotlight because Buzz-Off was rather sloppy, so I’m happy to see Vikor be painted so well. The face looks great and the details on just about everything – from the tips of the horns to the clasps on the shackles – is painted particularly well.

I’ve already talked a bit about articulation here and there. The neck range is decent for a figure with clunky hair thanks to the longer cavity on the top of the neck. The new ankles work great and they’re nice and (extra) tight. All the other joints are there and work great. Vikor feels like a figure they put some extra work into to kick off the new year and it really shows in the paint and the articulation. If that hoop peg wasn’t in the neck, he’d get four stars from me on the articulation.

Vikor included three accessories: a sword, axe, and shield. The axe is my favorite; it’s on model to the artwork and includes grips near both the top and bottom of the axe. The paint work is similarly great with a nice silver finish and a little bit of rust (stained blood?) detail where the axe blades meet the handle.

The sword is similarly a nice piece. The hilt is similar to the axe which makes them look particularly nice when the sword is sheathed in the loop on the back of the loincloth while Vikor holds the axe. Vikor was sold to as a master of the battleaxe in addition to being a great warrior and having both these weapons really seals the deal. I wouldn’t mess with him if I was in the Valley of Gnarl.

The shield is probably my favorite of three accessories. The original art and the 4H sculpt both featured a mean looking protrusion that had to be toned down for safety concerns, but the shield is still great. All the weapons feature a ton of detail and, honestly, they put the He-Man gear somewhat to shame. He-Man’s weapons, beholden to the original toys, look like toy accessories. Vikor looks like he has miniature weapons.

Overall, Vikor kicked off 2011 with a bang. I’m a little concerned with the hoop peg in the neck over the long term, but that doesn’t interfere with my appreciation for this figure. He’s just too well done.

The sculpt is spot-on and the paint applied over that is fantastic. The articulation is tight and overall improved with the new ankles. And Vikor, even though he’s been placed deep in MOTU’s past, represents the future of the line to me. Expansion with “new” characters.

I look forward to MOTU growing beyond articulated, sometimes modernized versions of the vintage figures. I want Demo Man, the Horde Mummy, etc. And if they’re going to be as good as Vikor? That’s a win for all the collectors of this line.

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56 thoughts on “MOTUClassics.Com:
Vikor Review

  1. Excellent review once again! was waiting for this one to come up 🙂
    there are 2 much awaited reviews still pending..the weapons store review for great wars weapons pak and the he-man review!!

    1. I haven’t forgotten those. I have a list of articles/reviews that need doing and the weapons pack #2 is at the top of the list.

      And, yeah, there is no He-Man review. I should get around to fixing that some day. 😉

  2. Great review! Vikor is a great figure. I want to look at Mattel and just tell them “more like this”.

    And I’m waiting for that Weapons Pack review too! I didn’t realize you hadn’t reviewed He-Man. That’s kind of weird. LOL

  3. Great review, but that new catguy is awesome!! Did you repaint him or swap in some Stratos parts? He looks really cool.

    1. Yeah… I guess, real or not, I’ve seen that picture of brunette He-Man with black armor for years, so I don’t feel like Wun-Dar is all that new.

  4. Great review. Vikor is going to be a tough figure for Mattel to beat for the rest of the year!

  5. I don’t really understand all the Vikor love. I guess he’s a cool, but there are a ton of unmade vintage characters that deserved the plastic treatment before him.

    1. i hate to disagree w/ you, but… wait, no i don’t, i completely, gleefully disagree w/ you.

      without blowing some breath of the “new” and “unique” into this line, there’s just no way that mattel could sustain interest in complete rehashes of the vintage line. we’re there now man… do you REALLY want to dump twenty nine bucks on a thunderpunch he-man that doesn’t blow caps… or worse, a flying fists he-man? there’s no way anyone is battling that quagmire of a website to get gwildor. flourishes like wun-dar, he-ro, and vikor, provide not only some variety to the line up, but a showcase for the horsemen to show us exactly what they can do w/ NEW masters toys… if motuc as a brand is to have any future, and is going to important enough to the property to be worth archiving some time in the future, it had to something unique to stamp it’s own identity to the property. added articulation and the worst webstore ever put forth on the world wide web are not enough to earn that respect. vikor is.

      on an aside, i want ram man and two-bad as much as anyone else man, but i’m realistic about my chances of getting them.

        1. you’re the only one… BUT that said, you’ve stated many times that seeing new ideas and new characters is really what motuc should be about, as have i and many others.

    2. It’s easy to understand. Vikor isn’t a predictable remake of an existing figure. I think the most exciting characters in MOTU are either going to be characters with iconic designs that we’re finally getting (POP style guides), improved characters (NA characters) or outright new characters (Vikor).

      And more barbarians in MOTU is always a good thing!

    3. I don’t really get into the whole “Deserve” thing. They’re fictional characters, they don’t deserve anything. We may want them and we may feel our wants deserve to be ahead of others, but that’s not really true either.

    4. I can understand the frustration of waiting for favourite characters (I’m personally hoping we don’t have to wait till 2017 for a Sorceress), but I think if there’s one thing these figures deserve it’s to be judged on their own merits – that’s tough to do in a slow-moving collector’s line, but it seems a bit unfair to Vikor if he’s looked at as ‘not the one I wanted’ first and ‘a really cool figure’ second.

      1. We need the Sorceress! I hope she’s not on the short list to draw out the hype.

        You’re right on Vikor, he shouldn’t be looked at as “not Ram Man” or “not Clawful”. A cool fig is a cool fig. I don’t understand the folks who want MOTU to grow only after the old ones are done. That’s a linekilling idea right there.

  6. I’m just bothered by mattel and it’s let’s fix something that isn’t broken mentality (the male neck peg). Yet they leave terrible problems alone and then reuse this problem on a figure that isn’t needed (the female neck peg).

    1. What I’m trying to figure out is, don’t laugh, the logistics of the new neck peg (paired with the new torso that holds it). Usually something like this gets changed because it’s easier to manufacture, or it’s easier to assemble, or it uses less plastic, right?

      Maybe I’m not visualizing correctly, but this really seems to be change for the sake of change and nothing else.

      Unless. Does this now give us a torso buck suited for Mekaneck? Or was this the torso buck built for King Hiss (sp?) and they grabbed it to fast-track this figure?

      1. All the customizers who’ve disassembled & reassembled a figure will vouch that the neck peg can be a bitch to stay in place when trying to fit the torso halves back together, couple with the keeping the arms in place too. This was definatly a production decision. Click the loop-peg in it’s place and it’s one less thing to worry about ending up on the floor during assembly.

      2. It could be for any reason really, but on the change to the DC neck peg, it appeared to be a change by the factory and Mattel was at their mercy. It could be that same way here.

        And, of course, because it’s Mattel, we’ll be dealing with it for awhile.

        1. Well, I know that for all my knowledge I’ll always have something to learn, but it seems to me a factory can’t just change a part because they want to. I’m sure they can lobby for a change, point out how something works better or results in a better product and such like, but I really really don’t think they can willy-nilly design, cut steel and manufacture new parts without the approval of the company paying for the work. I really don’t think it works that way and if that’s the line Mattel sells, well, it’s just a bald faced lie. “We can’t help the neck peg! They just did it and we have no say whatsoever boo hoo hoo!” Nonsense.

          1. Hasbro has made similar statements too – where they’re not sure exactly what’s going on until the figures are stateside.

            I’m not sure who handles the internal engineering of the figures but it doesn’t seem to be down on this side of the ocean.

    2. Pretty much. We need the first female buck mold to wear out so the new one can be tooled with different bits.

      Of course that would take getting some more women into the line. 😛

  7. How in the hell did they get away with copying Conan so completely? I mean, I’m aware of the old urban legend that He-Man was originally supposed to be a Conan the Barbarian toyline, but then someone in charged wised up and realized that the movies weren’t really kidfriendly and then it got switched to He-Man. But still, “Vikor”? That’s friggin’ Conan!!

    1. well, since conan is a public domain character, you can make conan anything you like.

      also, this really only looks like frazetta’s conan, howard’s conan didn’t look much like vikor at all.

      1. That’s a good point. Of course, everyone knows Frazetta’s Conan even if it’s only because they’ve seen it on the cover of the Arnold movies so often. I don’t actually know anyone else who has read the books as I have. As soon as I saw this figure, I felt like I was seeing Conan who walked right off the pages of Marvel’s comics and drawn by John Byrne. Well, slightly. You’ll forgive me if this makes little sense, I have not had coffee yet this morning.

    1. Just a custom. I wanted some fighting shots and it didn’t make sense to me to have Vikor fighting someone that wasn’t around, so I made one up.

  8. Excellent review, as per usual. I hope they listen to you when it comes to the inferior neck-peg. You’ve gotten Faker’s orange shield and battle-axe made, as well as a few other items, so chances seem good.

    Now, as for that sweet Carnivus-based custom . . . what’s his deal?

    1. Yeah, what’s going on with the gray catman? And with Grayskull’s cape, it looks customized too.

      You really shouldn’t sneak your customs into the reviews and torture us!

    2. Thanks!

      I’d like to think that IAT helped in getting the word out on the DC neck pegs and getting some improvement there, so, hopefully we can stop MOTU from getting crappy necks too.

  9. Great review, as always. Informative, humorous, some nice pics and your own opinions…it’s always a really good read. I love the new ankles. Yeah, they’re super tight and it’s difficult to position the feet easily, but I prefer this to the alternative any day! I didn’t notice the neck peg difference and, quite frankly, I doubt I ever would have had you not mentioned it. It doesn’t bother me any, at least not yet. His accessories are outstanding and I agree, they pretty much He-Man’s to shame. All in all, a spectacular figure.

    That Carnivus custom is cool! Where can we see more pics of it?!

  10. Awesome review! I cant wait to get mine in. My Guards & Goddess came in today and after this review I definitely wish Vikor was in the package as well! Your pictures are great as always and I agree with the other guys in that the Carnivus custom is very cool! Love your reviews and can’t wait for more!

  11. I always like these reviews a lot.

    I gave up trying to customize years ago. I take it it’s not possible to get the cape off without removing the head? I’m pretty nervous about trying to pop the head off, but getting the figure to stand while wearing the cape is a pain in the neck. So to speak.

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