So, 2011:
Vikor: A-
Crom! That's all I can say about him. He's VERY Conan-like. The Figure is really awesome. I do have a few nitpicks, most of them the cape being incredibly rigid and the shield clip, but he is BAD ASS!!
Palace Guards 2-Pack: A
We get Lieutenant Toyguru, Token Black Guard, and two extra heads that are useless on the human buck. (Snake-ified Lt. Toyguru or Token Black Guard, and Qadian Guard) Stories by the Guru say that the Horsemen made the Neitlich head as a surprise. Contradicting stories say that Neitlich himself wanted his head on a character. In any case with me buying two sets, I had a spare Neitlich head that I gave a Jewfro and made my 2012's Mighty Spector less Deadpool-Like. Tons of accessories, the interchangeable plates allow multiple display options. Personally I would have Preferred 4 Human heads.
Bow: A
The Most Heterosexual Man on Etheria, who is totally NOT GAY finally got immortalized in MOTUC Plastic. The Horsemen took the Filmation Look and added a lot of toy detail (even if they gave him New Adventures He-Man pieces) He came with a lot of stuff (no Kowl, sadly. 2013 fixed that) 2 heads, Bow, Arrow (not the horse) and his Filmation Harp. He even has a Heart on his crotch! You're checking out Bow's crotch aren't ya?
Shadow Beast: B
Neitlich claims that these are 200X Shadow Beasts when they are Clearly Filmation. They reuse the Gygor buck (TBH It feels like the buck was made for Shadow Beasts and the Gygor usage was a serendipitous thing.) I regret not being able to get one or two of these.
Preternia Disguise He-Man: (AKA Hamburglar He-Man, Crossdressing He-Man) C
The Sub Exclusive figure of 2011, who I got for cheap on the Secondary Market for one reason and one Reason Only: Cosmic Key in Movie Colors. The Bionatops gun is cool too!
Rigid Skirt ruins articulation, skintone does not match past He-Man figures, Super tough Tunic Top kinda hurt his score. TBH I only got him because of the Cosmic Key.
King Hiss: C
Toyguru lost his shirt on this one BECAUSE of the Tooling and Special Materials required to make him. THE biggest issues with him are: Reversed Shoulders (My King Hiss went under the Knife thanks to HunterKnight Custom's King Hiss Shoulder Fixing method) Then the Snakes on his Snake Form WERE ALL WRONG. One snake missing, too small. The answer to all this was: "This is your King Hiss!" So, I repainted mine in a more 200X palette... (we're getting a 200X Hiss in 2015... D'oh!)
Battle Armor Skeletor: C+
We had BA He-Man in 2010, so BA Skeletor was to be expected.While I'm glad we're lacking action features, a small part of me misses the Battle Damage feature. One Real complaint that I have is that Mattel left out the Power Sword AGAIN which is a bit lame. One cool thing is that Skeletor got a Purple Ax to match BA He-Man (or as a nod to Filmation... The true Filmation Ax came in 2013) If you see BA He-Man's grade, is slightly higher than Skeletor's BECAUSE He-Man's waist joint doesn't stick unlike Skeletor's.
Sy-Klone: B+
BRIGHT COLORS BLINDING ME!! (Yeah I repainted mine because his vintage colors are too damn bright... an oddity in MOTUC, I know) Dial isn't that intrusive, but mildly annoying. Did leave me wanting a second more Samurai styled head for him. (as seen in his 200X look)
Panthor: A
Thank the toygods for no Flock! I know that past Panthors were flocked. After seeing Mossman's mangy flocking, I'm glad Panthor wasn't flocked. I have to admit that customizers have flocked Panthor and it looks good. One good thing Neitlich claims he did was adding a helmet for Panthor. (Believe me he tells that story ALL THE TIME). Since he's basically a new head and helmet, he doesn't do much for me... If we could somehow get a 200X Saddle for Panthor, maybe that would help me be more excited about him.
Castle Grayskull's Weapon Rack: B-
The first Diorama Piece. (Up to this time Castle Grayskull was a dream "Maybe in a movie year!")
So, we got the Weapon Rack from Castle Grayskull. Some weapons were in a rusty Metallic look, Others got the "Man-E-Weapons" or "Wun-Dar" look with Metallic Red. This is why it loses some points. We'll never get the rusty weapons in red, nor the red weapons in rusty old colors. So this rack has a bunch of mismatched weapons on it.
Catra: C+
Ah, Digital River, how you screwed up people who ordered a single figure from you here. Sending Catra in a Lint filled Envelope was a crappy move. I also must point out that THIS is one of the few times where the fourhorsemen dropped the ball... Combwhip... 'Nuff said! Mattel dropped the ball with the Gummy Hand and Gummy Sword.
The (Not So) Faceless One: B-
The (Not So) Faceless One: B-
Ah, Evil Lyn's daddy! Keeper of the Ramstone... Bunch of new Tooling but no Long Flowing Tunic... That is a minor nitpick. The biggest nitpic is HE HAS A FREAKING FACE!! YOU CANNOT BE FACELESS IF YOU HAVE A FACE!!
Battleground Teela: B-
The only Representation from the DC MOTU Comics from the 80s is Metal Bra Teela. (Or Teela as the Sorceress, before wearing the Zoar Snuggie; if we follow the Neitlichverse)Less articulation than Normal Teela. Her face sculpt, while Similar To Teela's looks like she's bored out of her freaking Mind. I hate her, because she gave us the Less Articulated thighs. I love her because that gun is so freaking sweet and her bra popping off easily allows for easy MOTUC stripper pics!
Clawful: A-
Jim Henson's Crab Dude is finally here. Luckily the fourhorsemen did something smart to break off the Masked Luchador vibe he had and made him look more crab-like. Luckily, the Muppet Eyebrows look more like Monster Crab Brows when painted red.
Queen Marlena and Cringer: C+
Finally we have a Queen Marlena in toy form. sadly she has a few issues. Her dead unforgiving eyes... OK, so she has only ONE Issue. The one who bears the most issues is Cringer. Basically an undersized Statue of Cringer... Cringer would have benefited from a single card release and having the same range of articulation as Battle Cat.
Man-e-Faces: A+
Ah, Man-E! He kinda looks like Dan Akroyd... but with the ability to turn into a robot or a monster. Getting the Extra head did give him an extra oomph! (shame that we never got Extra Man-e-Heads with other figures)
Megator: F
Puny for a Giant, with a lot less articulation than a normal figure, but unlike Tytus, he got an Extra Head and a Decent Weapon.
Leech: A-
He sucks (cause he's a leech, duh!). kinda looks like SMB1 Bowser and he has a crappy net that breaks while kept FLAT in storage. Other than that, he is freaking sweet!
Hurricane Hordak: C
Damn the Vac Metal, Damn the Dial! These two things Greatly ruin a decent Hordak variant.
Lt. Icarius: A+
I don't know what is it with NA Releases in MOTUC being pleasant surprises! Flipshot follows the Tradition with Optikk for being a pleasantly surprising New Adventures figure. Not to mention the Val Kilmer head!! Of course people hate him because he is New Adventures.
Clawful: A-
Jim Henson's Crab Dude is finally here. Luckily the fourhorsemen did something smart to break off the Masked Luchador vibe he had and made him look more crab-like. Luckily, the Muppet Eyebrows look more like Monster Crab Brows when painted red.
Queen Marlena and Cringer: C+
Finally we have a Queen Marlena in toy form. sadly she has a few issues. Her dead unforgiving eyes... OK, so she has only ONE Issue. The one who bears the most issues is Cringer. Basically an undersized Statue of Cringer... Cringer would have benefited from a single card release and having the same range of articulation as Battle Cat.
Man-e-Faces: A+
Ah, Man-E! He kinda looks like Dan Akroyd... but with the ability to turn into a robot or a monster. Getting the Extra head did give him an extra oomph! (shame that we never got Extra Man-e-Heads with other figures)
Megator: F
Puny for a Giant, with a lot less articulation than a normal figure, but unlike Tytus, he got an Extra Head and a Decent Weapon.
Leech: A-
He sucks (cause he's a leech, duh!). kinda looks like SMB1 Bowser and he has a crappy net that breaks while kept FLAT in storage. Other than that, he is freaking sweet!
Hurricane Hordak: C
Damn the Vac Metal, Damn the Dial! These two things Greatly ruin a decent Hordak variant.
Lt. Icarius: A+
I don't know what is it with NA Releases in MOTUC being pleasant surprises! Flipshot follows the Tradition with Optikk for being a pleasantly surprising New Adventures figure. Not to mention the Val Kilmer head!! Of course people hate him because he is New Adventures.
Snout Spout: D+
If there is a non-giant disappointing figure on the entire year, the award goes to Snout Spout. It didn't help that Mattel cheapened out on Snout Spout's trunk by making it out of a foam that broke from getting the toy out of the package. Of course then there's the adherence to Vintage looks, which make Snout Spout look dorky and sad. (a second Mini Comic head would have made him look Badass and not 200X. Though the 200X Staction head on snouty looks badass too!)
Bubble Power She-Ra: B
This figure is a black mark on Neitlich's record. He was trying his hardest to NOT have PoP variants on the line. If it hadn't been for Normal She-Ra's inability to theoretically ride Swift Wind, then this figure would have never happened. she's Filamtion based except for the boots and bracers, yet her skin tone does NOT Match her previous She-Ra figure. Of course the Extra BP stuff ended on She-Ra 1.0 and this one became Default She-Ra... These Mistakes shouldn't be happening, but I'm glad Mattel was FORCED to fix the issues on She-Ra.
Swift Wind: B-
The Steed for She-Ra is Finally here! (This is why BP She-Ra was made in the first place!
The few issues plaguing him (breakable tabs to hold his wings, the inability to turn him into Spirit and the reversed leg syndrome) do knock a few points off of him.
Demo-Man: A-
The figure has no issues (though I'm not a fan of the static mace.) and the Alcalá Skeletor head is Totally Awesome, he just is there and that's it.
Battleground Evil Lyn: C
Mattel Missing the point big time in WHY PEOPLE WANTED a more 200X Looking Evil Lyn is what lowers her grade. She is a great figure EXCEPT SHE'S STILL WEARING TEELA'S CLOTHES!!
Wind Raider: A+What can I say? It's an amazing vehicle (and I'm not a fan of the Wind Raider) that was Masterfully converted to MOTUC... If we could get the Land Shark and Dragon Walker... Sadly, it ain't gonna happen.
Mattel Missing the point big time in WHY PEOPLE WANTED a more 200X Looking Evil Lyn is what lowers her grade. She is a great figure EXCEPT SHE'S STILL WEARING TEELA'S CLOTHES!!
Wind Raider: A+What can I say? It's an amazing vehicle (and I'm not a fan of the Wind Raider) that was Masterfully converted to MOTUC... If we could get the Land Shark and Dragon Walker... Sadly, it ain't gonna happen.
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