{"id":14352,"date":"2011-09-07T04:25:17","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T09:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=14352"},"modified":"2011-09-07T04:26:59","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T09:26:59","slug":"motuclassics-com-review-battle-armor-faker-vs-bizarro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=14352","title":{"rendered":"MOTUClassics.Com: Bizarro
Vs. Battle Armor Faker Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Wow. It\u2019s been almost three months since I reviewed any MOTUC! Between losing our MOTU subscription and Vault getting itchy to do a few, I haven\u2019t had to haul out Castle Grayskull since Battleground Teela. Only fitting though, my return to MOTUC reviews is another fan requested figure, Battle Armor Faker!<\/p>\n

When I was a wee tot, I enjoyed the heck out of my friend’s Faker. We would meet up at his house and play with MOTU figures for hours after school. I always wanted a Faker, but we could never find him. There was another hitch too. I had Battle Armor He-Man, not silly, old, regular He-Man, and, like a ton of other MOTU kids I imagine, wanted a Faker to match my<\/em> He-Man. Thus, that germ for Battle Armor Faker started in the minds of wee tots near thirty years ago. A few years back, with Classics gaining steam – the idea again coalesced. IAT first asked about the possibility back in late 2009, early 2010. The response from Toy Guru was semi-positive, but he gave us an either\/or – BA Faker over Dragon Blaster Skeletor? As one would surely suspect, the outcry for Dragon Blaster Skeletor was deafening. I wasn’t hopeful that day. And yet, here we are…<\/p>\n

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Mattel announced Battle Armor Faker as the last 2pk in their DC vs MOTU program in early July. The news of Battle Armor Faker was indeed awesome, but it was tempered somewhat by knowing it would be the last one (and that the eighth unidentified 2pk was cancelled outright). TRU slid this last 2-pack in with their SDCC exclusives (along with an awesome 8″ Lion-O, I can’t wait to review that – I’m way behind<\/em>). Things went a little screwy, the shipment was delayed, very few seemed sold at SDCC, they weren’t available at TRU.Com on time, the eBay prices got a little<\/em> crazy, and after I waited too long and missed out on the Zodac 2pk (still need one of those, now that I mention it), I started watching TRU.Com like a hawk. I ordered these Faker 2pks for me and my IAT bros. as soon as they became available. After all, I couldn’t miss out – how embarrassing would it be to miss a figure you’d been asking for for over a year-and-a-half??<\/p>\n

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Yes, I know… I’m all about Faker when there’s a Bizarro in this pack too. It’s not Bizarro’s fault – I’ve just got him already. A few times actually. This mold was sold separately in two different decos and in a 2pk with Superman. I was one of those suckers that bought it originally and then bought the redeco too because I liked it better. Now, here I am, five years later buying it again.<\/em> Luckily, he is in a slightly different deco – maybe even one most folks would prefer. I prefer the redeco (above left) because he was the first to come with his name plate and I appreciated the darker, dirtier color scheme. This Bizarro does give him a run for his money though. The costume is back to basics – I think it pretty closely resembles the original release<\/a> (via MWCToys), but the colors might be more saturated. More importantly though, the skin is finally, finally<\/em> mostly white. <\/p>\n

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Honestly, I’m still waiting on a classic SA Bizarro, but I still love this sculpt. I like his exaggerated features, the McG-esque head sculpt, and the lower torso-down may be Superman, but it works. Like the original, this figure includes ball joints at the head (limited) & shoulders, swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, thighs, hinges at the elbows, knees, and ankles, the ab crunch, rocker ankles, and 4H hips. Everything works great, though the head is somewhat limited and the cape prevents some deeper poses. The paintwork was sharp on mine except for a blemish on the ‘S’ tampo – though it’s usually covered up by the name plate. Finally, the name plate is again included, this time in a nice slate gray – there’s a few less links on the chain (gotta pinch those pennies), but it still comes off easy enough if you want it to. It’s really a hard decision between which Bizarro to keep out now, I was expecting to stow this guy, but in hand, I find that I like him more than I thought I would. <\/p>\n

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Okay, back to Faker! Toy companies must shout with glee when we fall in love characters like Faker. Sure, we’ll all go nuts for a character like Draego-Man with some great new pieces and get all in a tizzy when Mattel mentions they have to mess with his perfection because of the budget, but that’s where the Fakers of the world come in. He’s a repaint. When the first Faker was released in Classics in 2009 (as an NYCC exclusive), I was more than ready to snap him up. I had to have him right away. Some of my less easily swayed friends pointed out that he had zero development, that he didn’t even have all the same accessories as He-Man, that he was hardly worth the $20. And… <\/p>\n

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… they were right. I love Faker, but it’s a shame they did him so early in the line. Think of the recently announced figures – the alternate heads, the extra accessories and pack-ins – the upcoming figures are somply a lot more fleshed out than some of the early offerings. A Faker now could have an alternate head, either robotic or a new expression (that could be later used as He-Man), he could include a new unique accessory, or at least the MO2K Power Sword in orange. He could get something done to make him unique – to finally make him more than a simple repaint. But, alas, it wasn’t to be. There was hope that a Battle Armor Faker could include some of those things, but then he ended up as a low development TRU 2pk SKU. Sad day, right? Continue to Page 2<\/a><\/p>\n

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Okay, so the first page ends on a downbeat, I know. Thing is, I’m not unhappy with this Faker by a long shot. One of the greatest things about the MOTUC line is the fulfilled fan requests, things ranging from Battleground Teela (our 2010 Most Requested Figure), Faker’s full complement of weapons, Skeletor’s MO2K sword, and Battle Armor Faker himself. There’s no doubt that I’m thrilled we got him, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that his being in a TRU 2pk prevented him from being all that he could be. Basically, I’m warning you that I’m going to nitpick him to death, but I want you to remember that I’m still very happy anyway. I’m weird like that. <\/p>\n

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What we did get is still pretty cool though. The simple premise behind Battle Armor Faker is that he’s your standard Faker underneath (and he is, right down to that robot “sticker”) with Skeletor’s Battle Armor recolored in orange. Faker’s colors look just a little different this time around, particularly the hair, but it’s hard to notice unless they’re together. The one thing I did notice is that his face is a bit shinier than my original. It’s not a big deal; it makes him more of a Faker version to the original He-Man than the later fixed reissue I suppose. (I’d link to those, but you know, I’ve never actually reviewed the basic He-Man…oops).<\/p>\n

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The big complaint about Faker is this straight reuse of the regular body though. The MOTUC belly has had an undue amount of focus placed upon it. The ab crunch requires the armor to sit a bit higher than the belt and that creates a gap. Different figures have dealt with this differently (with differing levels of fan satisfaction), but the previous two Battle Armors were given a new smooth ab section and the chest molded in the colors of the armor. I really wish that was the case here. I’ve gotten used to seeing Faker’s abs show through, but he’d look better had he be done that way – and, if you put the armor on him sans breastplate, the robot tampo would show through with the matching armor\/torso and a cool “seeing his inner workings” effect would be created. <\/p>\n

Faker is as articulated as a standard figure: ball-joints at the head, shoulders and hips, swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, thighs and calves, hinges at the elbows, knees, and ankles, rocker ankles, and the ab crunch. <\/p>\n

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The other main feature is the Battle Armor of course. It’s exactly Skeletor\u2019s with all three breastplates included. The primary difference here is the coloring. I like it – it’s full of orange-y goodness, but I find myself wishing I’d bought an extra Faker\/Bizarro 2pk so I could try out some different looks and see if I’d like one better. I feel like there should be more black to it – in my initial Photoshop custom (from way back in January 2010), I opted to keep the black parts of Skeletor’s armor black and replace the purple. The designers did mostly<\/em> the opposite: turning the black parts orange and most of the rest of the armor orange too. <\/p>\n

I’m just not sure about it. I want to add more black – but the problem is Halloween. That holiday owns black & orange and I think if there were more black, the figure would just take on this unintentional Halloween vibe. I can certainly understand the designer’s design to limit the black on that front. Uncertainty aside, I do really like the mix of flat oranges and metallic oranges. This guy is definitely in the spirit of the classic Faker.<\/p>\n

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In addition to the extra damaged breastplates (with the classic one-strike, two-strike damage), Faker also includes one weapon: his version of the classic power sword. It’s a little brighter this time around, but it’s still a cool piece. And again, the MO2K sword would’ve been nice, but this review seems to be piling up those woulda-shouldas and it’s probably getting old. Heh. I pose my Faker with the extra shield and axe from the weapons pack. Those black dots I didn’t like on the shield sure come in handy now. <\/p>\n

I forgot to include a picture of the packaging. I was too busy tearing into to get this guy out, but it’s in step with the rest of the line. The card back featured a cool scene of Snake Mountain while the back offered some original art of Faker & Bizarro about to engage in battle. The artwork for the background scene is pretty sweet, but the character leaves a little to be desired. Faker’s bio is a reprint of the original figure – doh, one last missed opportunity I simply had to mention…<\/p>\n

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I know I nitpicked this guy to death, but I am happy with him overall. I might be suffering some MOTUC annoyances (our Subscription was cancelled thanks to the Megator issues and we are all still without Man-E-Faces – sad day, again) and my Goddess broke today too, so it’s not been a good MOTU day at all. <\/p>\n

I may knock Faker for not being all he can be. I know some collectors agree because they’re still asking for him to be included in the line proper (something TG hasn’t outright said no to, strangely), but I think that desire stems largely from what we might have built up in our mind. As an A-list variant, BA Faker could’ve been so much more. But you know how I feel about measuring against the ideal – it’s usually not the best thing to do. Faker is easily my favorite ‘VS’ figure. Even at his most basic, he is what we were asking for – Battle Armor Faker. And no matter what else, we got him done. He’s another feather in the fanbase’s cap and another sign that fan requests aren’t without hope when it comes to the MOTUC line. The only real question is… what should we be asking for next?<\/p>\n

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

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

Wow. It\u2019s been almost three months since I reviewed any MOTUC! Between losing our MOTU subscription and Vault getting itchy to do a few, I haven\u2019t had to haul out Castle Grayskull since Battleground Teela. Only fitting though, my return to MOTUC reviews is another fan requested figure, Battle Armor Faker!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":14353,"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":[953,881,665,600,114,20,16,2566,50,388],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bafTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-3Ju","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13133,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=13133","url_meta":{"origin":14352,"position":0},"title":"We did it!!! SDCCExclusive Battle Armor Faker","date":"July 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a press release today, Toys R Us and Entertainment Earth revealed a handful of shared SDCC\/online exclusives. There's plenty of cool items from several hot toy lines, but there's one you know is near and dear to my heart. A DC vs MOTU 2pk featuring Bizarro facing off against...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/newsimages\/Bizarro-vs-Faker.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16031,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16031","url_meta":{"origin":14352,"position":1},"title":"MOTU Classics.Com: DC vs MOTU Zodac Review","date":"December 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This summer was a challenging time for me as a MOTUC collector. The loss of our subscription sent me back to the Monthly Matty Madhouse. The con exclusive Faker had me (successfully) watching TRU.com like a hawk, but another TRU 2pk, Zodac vs Green Lantern, slipped through my fingers... until\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4221,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=4221","url_meta":{"origin":14352,"position":2},"title":"Matty’s Full March-June Schedule! Hordak, Mer-Man, & Faker Reissues","date":"March 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"On the MattyCollector News page, Matty has updated their full March through June schedule. Most of it is the same, but we do get our first word of reissues for Hordak, Mer-Man, and Faker. Toy Fans, We do our best to plan when products will be released, but sometimes the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":385,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=385","url_meta":{"origin":14352,"position":3},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com Faker Review","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3497,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3497","url_meta":{"origin":14352,"position":4},"title":"Truetorial: Is There Room for New Characters in MOTU Classics?","date":"January 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month, the IAT staff sat down and beat out our Jan 15th Mattel questions. We bounced around a few ideas and, like we always do, we got off track. This time talking about Masters of the Universe Classics and the future of the line. Vault had done a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3444,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3444","url_meta":{"origin":14352,"position":5},"title":"Ask Matty – January 15th Edition","date":"January 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Ask MattyJanuary 15th, 2010 1. SilntAngl asks: I think I speak for most of the fans when I say that I love that MOTU Classics follows the blueprint of the vintage MOTU line, but is there room in the line for some new takes on old characters or some all-new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14352"}],"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\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14352"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14371,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14352\/revisions\/14371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}