Adora includes three accessories. Her classic power sword, a belt w/ holster, and a pistol. First, my favorite thing – the holster for the gun and the slot for the sword let’s Adora carry all of her weapons. I love that.
The sword will likely be her more often displayed accessory. It’s a new sculpt, more accurate to her version of the sword. It fits in her hand and in her back snugly. The sword hits and misses. The two embedded jewels look sharp, but the sword is molded in one solid, somewhat dull gray. On its own, it might look okay, but in a line where the other power swords are two-tone (with appropriately colored metal highlights) this sword looks rather drab. The jewels help, but it’d be perfect if the blade were painted to match the other swords.
I’m not sure if I’m going to keep the belt on her or not. I do like it – it’s molded to fit over her hip and look natural, but I just don’t know if I want it. I like the look of the figure without it. The holster has a nice design to it with gold highlights. Sadly, the gold paint on the trim and the latch is spotty at best. It doesn’t look bad until you get up close though.
Finally, there’s the tiny pistol. It’s a great design and Adora can hold it perfectly – specifically in her left hand. If you look closely at the gun, you can see an indentation for her left thumb.* There’s a few gold paint apps to give it a feel similar to the one that came with Man-At-Arms.
* – Thanks to the 4H for pointing that out. I’d missed it initially!
This figure has pros and cons in the paint department. First, the head is back to being a well-painted piece. The concern that fans had over the product samples was either unwarranted or corrections were made. All the details are there and she’s close to capturing the original 4H look. The only thing missing – and I have to laugh, but it’s a POP figure so I’m going all-in – is the eye shadow. I think there is a hint of purple there, but not as much as the SDCC prototype had. It doesn’t look bad, but it could be just a tad better.
The rest of the figure has paint issues. The hands were molded white and painted in skin tone, but on mine the paint didn’t reach the wrists. The boots also molded in a white plastic and the paint isn’t consistent with bright and dark patches throughout. The lines between the red gauntlets and the white arms are sloppy as is the black on the belt. Other than the shoulder pads and the buckle, there aren’t many clean lines on the body. None are gross misapplications, but as we seem to have to do in every review, we remind ourselves this is a $20 figure and we expect better.
Despite some paint issues, Adora is yet another great figure. She does run a little tall like Teela, but I just pose her with a wide stance (most of the male figures have to be posed in a wide stance anyway) and she ends up being the height I think she should be. The paint lines are a disappointment but the sculpt is there to make up for it and the head is executed near perfectly. She should be welcome on any MOTU shelf regardless of how you feel about POP being part of the MOTUverse (it is, by the way. He-Man’s twin sister, hello?). If you missed out, hopefully Mattel will reissue her before the year’s end. Twenty-seven minutes is good her reputation, but bad for the fans.
For more MOTU reviews, check out our MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide.
I really like her. She is much nicer in hand than any of the photos I’ve seen. I know two other people are going to be super happy when they get theres.
She really is, no doubt about it.
That last picture is your best one yet!
Thank you! I always feel bad for He-Man.
I love that last funny! Best one yet!
Great review. That harness looks like it belongs on her. That’s strange.
It’s the one from the Goddess, so it’s unstretched! That and I found a good angle where it lined up. It’s still a bit big for her.
She looks great! Glad to see the final product come out so well after those horrid productin pictures.
Me too! She turned out great. Had she been painted better, she’d’ve been perfect.
My Adora had a lot of unpainted/blotchy areas too. 🙁
For me, it’s mainly the right foot and the hands. I wonder how much of her is molded white…
I don’t collect MOTU but I almost bought her cause she’s a hottie. I think it’s the expression.
They did a great job on the face! I wish we’d gotten the purple eyeshadow, but it still looks good.
Both my Adora’s came perfectly (wait… that sounded wrong..) anyway, they seemed perfect and, to tell you the truth, she was the reason I subscribed this year. Probably the reason I started collecting this line. Awesome fig! I hope they continue with more POP’s cos I want a GLIMMER! Oh yeah!
😀
Hopefully, they’ll do a better mix in 2011 and get some more POP/NA figures into the line. A few of those evil masters and snakemen are going to have to wait.
she looks excellent… but it seems someone w/ a busted goddess has now busted the matty chick-neck… it’s time to fire up the IAT engine and get that neck FIXED!!
We’re looking into it!
Adora looks great, maybe the thing with her sword is that the want to use the same for She-Ra but make different, so Adora’s will be plain, and She-Ra colored and metallic. The same thing might happen with Adam, same sword plain colors. It’s just a theory anyway.
A friend of mine was supposed to get me mine and he forgot to set the alarm. There will be punishment for this, oh yes, there will be punishment…
That would be cool! I want Adam to have his magenta sword, but I wouldn’t be against a dull gray one for folks that aren’t fans of his classic gear.
Sorry to hear about your Adora!
I was tempted to pick up one of these when I first saw the prototype pic.
The change made in the final piece was a disheartening dealbreaker. The quality in face sculpt dropped from fashion plate to collection plate.
The final result was much closer to the proto than that awful production sample, but you’re right it still could be better.
I skipped on her, 2010 is the year of budget cuts and since I bought 2 BA He-Mans (one is for my cousin’s b-day next month), Adora got cut. I’m not to bummed, though. She looks sweet and I love the design, but I’d rather have She-Ra on the shelf. I know my wife will dig her, too. Next month (if I’m able to sign in because I happen to be moving that day) I’ll prob skip on Battle Cat and opt for Trap Jaw & poss Man-at-Arms. Really painful as all the reviews are making him out to be the best thing since cubed Cantaloupe!
Also, the last pic knocked it out of the park! Fantastic job, ND!
Thanks!
She-Ra should be cool. I hope we get to see her next month.
I’m hoping to get Adam soon and a Marlena eventually. It will be nice to finally have all four members of the royal family!
All those previews for Battle Cat! I know. It feels like only Poe and I missed out! They’re really pushing that one…
“…we’ll have to wait and see how Trap Jaw goes to know more.”
I wouldn’t count on Trap Jaw (or even Moss Man) to tell that tale, considering how many are likely to be buying two to display both heads… I honestly think they believe that most collectors got the subscription and they don’t need a large day-and-date-order supply, but there were plenty of people who didn’t want to sign-up for a bunch of unannounced figures and more (like me) who got into the line after the sign-up had ended. I missed out, too, because I thought I’d wait until the traffic had died down and logged in at 12:30 Eastern… Luckily I got a good deal on her and He-Ro from the same seller and should have them both next week. This year I get two subscriptions!
Glad you were able to get her!
You’re right about the upcoming ones being thrown off by the heads. I think Mattel might know that they should have more day of, but the reissues allow for them to be conservative – fans will still buy the ones they missed later.
I’m part of a group that order multiple subs this year and it’s great! I pay less than $3 shipping per figure and I have an extra that I can keep or sell to someone that missed out.
Ok…so lookin at the sword that came with Adora and reading your review on the missing metallic paint got me to thinkin, they left it off because it would have rubbed off each time you put it in the holster on her back. Thats my theory.
LOL
I suppose that’s possible, but my He-Man holster is about the same and hasn’t had a problem yet.