We’re a little behind with our reviews, so I’m giving Noisy a hand with the last MOTUC figure from February. In the MOTUC Canon, we learn that Count Marzo created the Shadow Beasts as his own personal army the first time he tried to capture the throne. But he was still no match for Keldor and Randor’s Super-Brother-Powers and was summarily defeated and turned into a dwarf, while his army was banished to live in the shadows of Mount Barathrum.
Back when I was a kid watching the old Filmation series, I had just assumed that Shadow Beasts were an indigenous species on Eternia. But now with the revelation that they were created by Marzo, the real question is why did Randor and Keldor banish these creatures instead of exterminating them? You can’t just introduce an entirely new and aggressive species into an ecosystem and expect everything to be okay.
We all know how these things turn out. Even if they were confined to a certain area, there are still going to be problems. You just know that the first big storm to blow in will knock out the power to the electric fences. Then Mo-Larr will use that opportunity to swipe a couple vials of Shadow Beast DNA from the freezer to sell to the highest bidder. The next thing you know he’s racing through the park on a Raod Ripper trying to make the last ferry, while Samuel L. Jackson is hanging dead and dismembered from some wires in the power bunker.
So now the Shadow Beasts are loose and breeding all over Mount Barathrum because Marzo used frog DNA. They also hate humans and are cheap labor, so any bad guy with a sack of Eternian pennies or a roasted Widget can hire his own personal army to help wage war or do some landscaping and construction projects around the house.
From a visual standpoint the Shadow Beast looks fantastic, if not a bit confusing. I was under the impression that the Filmation look was off limits. But this guy looks like he popped right out of the cartoon. Now, maybe Matty had reference to him on their style guides, but then why did they have to use the 200X picture for the bio? I’m not really complaining here, just wondering how much Matty can actually get away with.
Also, I’m really glad they used Gygor’s body for this figure. It gives him a great hulking presence and adds some much needed height variety to my shelves. It also makes him a much more menacing threat to He-Man than the smaller versions from the cartoon. Continue to Page 2…
He does make that harness look good… Although, I think it is more of a BDSM kind of thing with him. You just know he’s going to be wearing that tonight when he’s down at the “Gothic A**hole”… trying to pick up Gygor’s mom… (which is why he’s screaming…)
When he’s wearing that harness it, for some reason, makes him look like he’s got a superhero mask on, too. Odd… Am I the only one that sees that?
It does kinda look like a domino mask. That’s odd…
Another excellent review. Shadow Beast is by far the best looking oversized figure in the classics lineup. I brought 4 of him to build my army up & Gygor armor does look better on Shadow Beast.
He’s a really great army builder. I just wish I had room to display more than two.
the wife and i kind of agree that the size discrepancy between the wrists and hands, and the ankles and feet, make it look like a smaller creature wearing a shadow beast disguise. she mentioned waiting for scooby doo to unmask it.
It is kinda weird that he’s got entirely naked hands and feet, but I think it goes along with all the other crazyness in MOTU. So I’m cool with it.
Love the pics! The beast lounging in the grass is awesome. 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
I know scatt nuttlick (sp?lol) said that a Kulitak would be on a standard buck, but not only do I not trust him as far as I can throw him, but I think it’s completely retarded not to use this buck again for one of those guys. I understand that some of the 200x guys were oversized for style, but the Kulitaks were giant friggen snow beasts, and I think they’d work well on this giant body, especially since we now know that Marzo made the Shadow Beasts (which I like to think of as corrupted Kulitaks anyway).
I might try to custom one of the three I have and see how it turns out, I could be wrong (it’s happened once or twice before lol) and if it looks like crap, I can always change it into some kind of Shadow Beast elder instead.
Thanks for another great review! The only thing that might have made it better would be a Shadow Beast in a bow tie and cuffs doing a little lounge act, ha ha ha! I don’t know why that seems so funny to me, but it does. Don’t judge! 😛
Lol, Thanks. I do have a couple of tiny bow ties I used for my Dalek review. Maybe I should dig those out…
Yeah, I think I’d like my Kulitaks to be giant beasts also. Just giving them Beast Man’s body wouldn’t look right.
“Will Work for Widgets”! Love it!
I think I’d also like to see a Shadow Beast in Filmation Purple, as well as MYP Black. Get a bit of variation in the army. So my voice adds to the army-building variant clamour. The MYP version could come with repainted Gygor armour and because of its extra horns, could be called an “Alpha Shadow Beast” or something.
I’ve figured out why I love the head on this thing, and it’s not just because it looks like the 1980s Nostalgia Kick version of this beastie, but because it also looks so amazingly Ray-Harryhausen-esque. If you cross Harryhausen’s Horned Cyclops and Giant Ymir, you get this guy’s noggin. Sweet.
Thanks 🙂
I’d really love to get the other colors, and a Shadow Beast leader would be pretty cool too.
I think you’re right about the Harryhausen look. I wonder if that was an inspiration for the Shadow Beast designer?
It’s an Ape. It may have a Princess Unicorn (TM Schrute Farms) horn on it’s head but it’s a stylised Gorilla Grodd, and as such I just can’t be assed to buy one.