{"id":11998,"date":"2011-03-11T19:57:06","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T01:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11998"},"modified":"2011-03-11T19:58:12","modified_gmt":"2011-03-12T01:58:12","slug":"vault-review-motu-classics-shadow-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11998","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review:
MOTU Classics Shadow Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> We\u2019re a little behind with our reviews, so I\u2019m 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t just introduce an entirely new and aggressive species into an ecosystem and expect everything to be okay.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019m not really complaining here, just wondering how much Matty can actually get away with.<\/p>\n

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Also, I\u2019m really glad they used Gygor\u2019s 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…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The paint job on this guy might seem very basic, but the more you look at him the more detail you discover, especially on the fur. His body has been molded in dark brown, but there\u2019s this great dry brush effect of light brown topping it off. There\u2019s also a light gradient of brown over his chest where the hair is thinnest. This helps give the figure that spontaneous look of real fur. I also love that they used gloss on his horn and finger\/toe nails. Then there\u2019s his glowing red eyes which couldn\u2019t look more evil.<\/p>\n

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The negative part about the Shadow Beast using Gygor\u2019s articulation is that he\u2019s also as limited in movement as the big ape. His head is on a ball joint, but it doesn\u2019t have the range of movement Gygor does. The Shadow Beast can only look down slightly and can\u2019t look up at all. His shoulders and ankles are swivel hinges. He\u2019s also got swivel biceps, wrists, and hips while his elbows are hinge joints.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem with Gygor, and now the Shadow Beasts, is that they gave them swivel\/hinge ankles but only swivel wrists. The majority of this sculpt\u2019s movement takes place in the arms, while the legs hardly pose at all. Cutting the swivel\/hinge joint out of the ankles and putting it into the wrists would add so much to this figure\u2019s animation. They might not have known this for Gygor, but there should have been ample time to change this for the Shadow Beast.<\/p>\n

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The Shadow Beast comes with one accessory, a giant club. The word club doesn\u2019t really do this weapon justice though. It\u2019s literally a tree stump. There\u2019s some great sculpting on the outside to make it look like bark, and the top actually looks like the chopped off end of a tree. You can even count the rings! To make the weapon that much more deadly, there are some metal spikes nailed to the outside. Plus, there\u2019s a bit of electrical tape wrapped around the end for a much more comfortable grip while cutting down on the splinters and blisters.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem with his weapons is that he doesn\u2019t hold them well. I know Shadow Beasts don\u2019t usually use weapons, but this still kind of sucks since it\u2019s made for him.<\/p>\n

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This is actually a really great figure. I think I like him even more than Gygor because he\u2019s actually from my childhood. He\u2019d also be a perfect army builder if it wasn\u2019t for the fact that he\u2019s $30. I ended up buying two of him, and I don\u2019t regret it. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019d buy more without some changes. I\u2019d like to see Matty rerelease him in his classic purple colors. Then maybe brought back one more time in black with his double-horned 200X head (In \u201cClassics\u201d style of course). That way we could have a nice army of these guys without them all looking exactly the same.<\/p>\n

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For more MOTU reviews, check out our
MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/h2>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re a little behind with our reviews, so I\u2019m 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,34,10],"tags":[78,20,16,2558,935],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/shbeTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-37w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6593,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=6593","url_meta":{"origin":11998,"position":0},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com:Gygor’s Big Package","date":"June 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This afternoon on Facebook, Matty showed pictures of Gygor in package. We get our first look at the big gorilla along with some comparison photos with a Big Jim Gorilla, Grodd, and we photoshopped one with Tytus and He-Man for good measure. All that and a crazy bio too! Hey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1703,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1703","url_meta":{"origin":11998,"position":1},"title":"Matty on Facebook: Return of the King!","date":"September 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Today on Facebook, Mattel posted images of the December Masters of the Universe figure, King Randor! Putting aside the humorous Burger King jokes, I am stoked about this figure. I never had it as a kid and though I love the stactions, they crossed the line into statue a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Matty on Facebook"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23583,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23583","url_meta":{"origin":11998,"position":2},"title":"ReCollect! Part I: Re-Mastering the Universe (MOTU Classics)","date":"June 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When I moved into my new house at the beginning of this year, I had the seemingly great idea to chronicle moving my collection. I got one article up, about the move itself, and then my life got flipped turned upside down. I didn\u2019t get out to Bel-Air, but my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recollect"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19955,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19955","url_meta":{"origin":11998,"position":3},"title":"Vault Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Griffin","date":"July 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Seems like just a few days ago I was opening a gigantic box packed full of various MOTU and DC figures. But that was actually way back in June, and now that it\u2019s almost August I thought I\u2019d better catch up before that San Diego Comic-con package gets here. Before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/grif1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21534,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21534","url_meta":{"origin":11998,"position":4},"title":"MOTU Classics.Com Power-Con Keldor Sword Exclusive Review","date":"October 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is going to be a quick review today. I usually aim for about a thousand words per review, but all I\u2019m covering is a teeny, tiny sword. I don't remember if I posted about it at the time, but shortly before Power-Con Mattel announced they\u2019d give away an accessory\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4490,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=4490","url_meta":{"origin":11998,"position":5},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com: Keldor in Package","date":"March 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This afternoon at MattyCollector, Matty showed pictures ofKeldor in package along with our first look at his bio... MOTU Fans, For longer than we can remember, the background of Keldor\u2122 has been shrouded in mystery\u2026 but in preparation of his arrival on June 15th here at MattyCollector.com, we herewith reveal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Matty on Facebook"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11998"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12004,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998\/revisions\/12004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}