I know I’ve gotten behind on more than a few reviews lately, but this one isn’t my fault! In fact, the turnaround time between when Mattycollector finally got him to my house and this review is actually pretty decent! Yes, Demo-Man was delayed, but he’s here now and it’s all good.
Demo-Man is an interesting guy. Originally, he was merely just one of a handful of unused concept drawings. An early mockup that Skeletor, Beast Man, and (I’m told) Megator would all draw inspiration from. The sketch made its travels around the internet while a copy sat around at Mattel collecting dust. When the folks at Mattel were planning 2011, the concept figures were given the green-light with the plan being to make them unique characters.
That last part is a decision I’m 100% behind. I’m with the crowd that desperately wants Ram Man sooner than later (and Mattel needs to face facts and get him done, I assure them we’ll all instantly switch over to bitching and whining about another character within five seconds of the Ram Man announcement), but I really want “new” in my MOTU. Vikor & Demo-Man are good for the line overall.
Sadly, we haven’t learned too much about Demo-Man. The decision was made early on by the powers that be to tie him more to Skeletor than Beast Man and we’re left with not knowing much more about him other than his affiliation with Skeletor, that whatever wounded leftover bit of Demo-Man was around was merged with Keldor after the acid attack. Like most fans, I assume that Vikor & Demo-Man make a pair, but other than statements made by Toy Guru, Demo-Man isn’t really linked to Vikor in the bio either.
The good thing is that, despite being a relatively blank slate, Demo-Man is a cool figure. The Four Horsemen sculpted him pretty faithfully to that original sketch and Mattel didn’t shy away from using new tooling to get him right including the head, forearms, bracers, hands, calves, and feet. Toss in the softer plastic two-piece tunic and two pieces of armor and you end up with a pretty unique looking figure (and that’s without mentioning the colors).
I really enjoyed the sculpt work on all the new pieces. The head is fantastic and delightfully creepy though the sculpt is trying hard to shine through some of the paint work. I particularly love the slightly oversized look to the hands and feet and, along with having room to hunch him over inside the tunic, the bigger appendages help give him off-putting look. While I’m on the subject of off-putting and the tunic, I can’t help but notice that the loincloth here is a wee bit on the tiny side. I get that a guy like Demo-Man might not care about his junk hanging out, but I think true evil knows the value of genital coverage.
On top of the basic figure and tunic, Demo got some extra sculpted bits of armor for his shoulders and right elbow. The figure gets a ton more detail here, including an extra tuft of fur sticking up. I like the tuft, but Demo-Man isn’t really a fuzzy guy (that part went to Beast Man), so it just kinda indicates that this guy has mad back hair. The other details, the dents, dings, and brandishing all look great though, so I’ll forgive that weird green bit.
While we’re talking about this guys’ look, I think I need to stop and take a moment to say he’s green. I know – you can see the pics, but even they may not make you understand. He’s Green. I know I’ve heard some folks take issue with the level of greenness, but not me. The look was achieved by molding the figure in a bright highlighter greenish yellow and then adding a darker, but still bright green overcoat. The effect is really nice and helps the figure to be one of the sharpest in the line (and most noticeable on the shelf).
Not all was well with the paint department though, there’s a lot of little paint areas throughout Demo-Man and that meant the opportunity for slop. I got a lot of close up shots in this review and you can see the various places where the paint missed, but the thing is the pictures are a lot bigger than the figure. On the figure itself, the only thing I wasn’t terribly happy with were the teeth and the attempts to imply shadowing on the face through yet a darker shade of green paint. I don’t mind the deeper paint in the furled brow so much, but what’s up with the line down his nose? I’m not always down for modifying my figs, but I’m sorely tempted to razor that particular bit of paint off and see if it improves the look of the figure. Continue to Page 2
So, let’s see if I have it right…
Conceptually, Vikor is the He-Man that wasn’t (and fuel for the “Conan license turned into MOTU” thinking), Demo-Man is Skeletor that wasn’t and Barbarian Teela is the Teela that wasn’t, kinda-sorta (at least visually, stylistically similar to Vikor), and they ALL could actually be Dino-Riders in PreTernia.
Well, that’s nice and all, couldn’t they go ahead and just call it a sub-line?
Oh, wait. MATTEL! 🙂
On my Demo-Man, the red shirt had too much of a tendency to ride up and give him a belly shirt look, so I just ditched it and put the shoulder armor on his bare chest. I like that look a lot; makes him seem like more of an evil monstery minion than a supernatural evil force, but that’s the role I want him to play, anyway.
me too
Agree with pretty much all the sentiments of the review!
Instead of the scraping paint with a razor, I highly recommend attempting a retouch job with paints for those so inclined.
The results are really great and of much better service to such a great head sculpt.
Also did some retouches on the Alcala Skelly to bring out the creepiness even more and to tone down the heavy green.
I also agree the tuft of hair is a little bizarre.
I get they were trying to be exhaustively thorough while adapting the Mark Taylor drawing.
And for that it’s even kind of a nice in-joke.
But when I first saw it I was like “What the?!” and had to look at the drawing again to figure out what it was supposed to be. 😀
I gave him the silver horde crossbow from the weapons pack and his skimitar; he looks good as Horde background fodder. The loin cloth and lanky, non-boot cut legs irritate me. The tuft of hair looks like a nasty skin tag more than anything else.
The little streak of paint on Demo-Man’s nose bothers me too, but since he has the same dark coloring around his eyes, I can pass it off as war paint (kind of).
Demo-Man, I think, is the best looking bad guy on my MOTUC shelf. Trap Jaw looks crazy, Hordak menacing, Grizzlor bizarre, but Demo-Man is the only one who really looks like he has no qualms about gutting anyone who gets in his way. (The wash on the scimitar which looks liked dried blood can attest to that.)
My Alcala Skeletor head isn’t as evenly-colored as yours is. Mine is mostly green going up to about the eye sockets, then goes much yellower at the forehead. It’s not bad–the transition is much smoother than it is on my Battle Armor Skeletor, who has solid breaks between the colors, so I’m not going to fault it for paint.
The Alcala head really makes me want to pick up another Skeletor so I can display it with the Havoc Staff and everything. All I need is the first-release “open grip” Skeletor and I’ll have every version of him so far!
Man it’s great to finally have both original versions of He-man & Skeletor in this line. Even though his color is totally different from the 1st version that we seen at last years SDCC Demo-man is still cool. That 2nd Skeletor head that comes with him needs Mo-Larr dental work asap!! Cool review by the way!!
The cucumber bit made laugh pretty damn hard.
not directly related to this review, but have you guys talked to SMC about when we’re getting a weapons allotment for the girls? just struck how many awesome photos have been snagged of vikor and DM w/ the new SC bits, and poor BB teela still hasn’t been thusly blessed. i mean come on, her boobs only hold appeal for so long, then she needs some weapons!
sorry, that should be “SMC bits”
“True evil knows the value of genital coverage.” Man, that quote belongs on a Transformer’s tech spec. Erector, perhaps?
I think it’s universally agreed that the Alcala head is an unprecedented and unexpected treat in a line where there are more than a few wrongs to be righted. I too used it to replace the TRU head. I have the original Skeletor head still on the original figure, but I’m considering ordering another Skeletor for the Kevin Kosse Filmation head I ordered after I forgot about the Alcala head.
The ghoulish green doesn’t bother me either. Given his “forgotten but powerful” persona, I consider him to be an obscenely powerful undead spirit like the Dead Dunharrow men in the LOTR movies.
Even given your usual great reviews, this one is one of the very best in months! I can’t tell you how long I laughed at the “cucumber” panel, because I’m still laughing as I type this.
Love the old-style Skeletor head, which only further reinforces the idea that we should get a massive Alternate Heads Pak. I actually like the ultra-bright green on this figure, because I remember owning a fantasy-type character back in the 1980s (can’t remember which one, but it was someone other than Whiplash) who was almost exactly this colour. So it has a cozy feel for me beyond the usual “Vintage Prototype” fuzziness that some collectors get. Margaret Thatcher on the movie screens, lime-green monster figures . . . it’s like the Eighties never ended!
I think the brighter green was the right way to go, he is an awsome sculpt and his color really gives him this pop effect that stands out. That extra skeletor head is off the hook!