Nov 8, 2011

It came from the Toy Chest: Trying to figure out something witty about NA and MOTU

Flipshot is here! Oops! I mean Icarius is here... Finally we have a Galactic Protector from New Adventures in our shelves! Now we need some 87 Movie characters (like Gwildor, Blade, or Saurod) and we complete ALL the factions in MOTUC... but I'm not here to talk about that: This is Flipshot's time to shine... Screw Legalese, he was is and always will be Flipshot... In your face Battle Fist!
Before I start with Flipshot I want to show you something... Matty has a Create a Character contest... It ends in December, yet they only started to show ads for it on the October MOTUC items... (He arrived in November) so how would that give me to design a character and submit an entry IF the Contest was available to everywhere outside Continental US?
Very Little... We should've been getting this ad since Man-E-Faces!!
With that out of the way let's deal with Flipshot!
Where to start with Flipshot:

He shows up at 0:31 in the video... He's on the far left. and once again at 0:56... he's the second to last on the right.
Alright, he's a space pilot and he can also fly with his wings. Obviously he's like a Futuristic Icarus... but this one does not crash and die!

He also looks like a certain Actor... (Yes, I could've gone the easy route and use a recent picture of him for a joke, but I really want to show that MOTUC Flipshot DOES look like a young Val Kilmer... The same way Bow looks a bit like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride)
Then again his vintage toy also looked like a certain actor...

But the toy has a vibe from another Toy from another line... (and IIRC not from Mattel)


-Now, What have we learned?
-Icarius is Flipshot
-Good!
-He always looked like an actor
-Yes! And most importantly
-He's a Pilot from NA
-Right! Now that you know the stuff that makes Flipshot Special, let's hear it!
-Are you quoting Rainbow Dash?
-Uh let's get on with the Review shall we?

(as always 1 = crap and 5 = Awesome!)
Alright! Once we get Flipshot out of the package this is what we have:

At First glance he DOES have a GI Joe vibe, or a Centurions vibe. I'll be honest and admit that the NA visuals were part of what kept me avoiding it for years... So I understand some folks feeling that he looks from another line... Once we get Extendar, Rio Blast and other characters from the Vintage Era that are not Barbarian Looking he will blend in a LOT better! I already talked on how his non-helmeted head looks a lot like Val Kilmer. Some people See Arnold in it, others Jean Claude Van Damme... I'm glad that we don't see Dave Coulier in him... (I hope Hydron Looks like Tom Cruise!!)

The visor is pretty cool, but you have to be careful since it pops off quite easily! It moves up and down, which helps getting the most out of the Helmet head...

OK I lied... You can also get some more if you remove the visor... Heck with some creative part swapping and Repainting you could Make a Megaman out of Flipshot... if NA isn't your cup of tea...
He's GOT A TON of NEW stuff... in tooling parts and accessories! His Winged backpack has two articulation points, so you can adjust the wings. His arm mounted missile launcher has removable missiles AND it kinda functions as a shield when he has no missiles!

As said in the pic, with some creative posing, Mr. Flipshot gets two Melee Weapons! Now this is what I call getting a bang for your buck!

Now with that said here's the ratings:
Articulation:
Standard MOTUC Artic here: Nothing new... Well he has a Bow styled Crotch and the material is very soft, so there IS a decent range of movement for Flipshot! His Torso Armor is very soft and DOES NOT Restrict the movement of the Torso at all... Head Articulation is slightly restricted. (but mostly cause of the way the figures are made... No MOTUC can look forward while flying... yet)
5.0
Paint and Sculpt:
Paintwise, Mr. Flipshot has a little bit of slop and a mole on his left cheek (helmet head) but it is Noticeable if you look for it... Also the piece joining the foot to the leg has no paint on it. (The joint is gray while the boot is silver... Not THAT noticeable but it's there...) Now the Sculpt... Not counting the Accessories (Backpack, Weapons) Flipshot DOES have a lot of new parts: The Arms are new, The Crotch and Armor are New, the shin part of his boots are new, the Feet part is reused from Bow...
4.5
Accessories:
He's got an extra head, the Arm mounted Missile Launcher, Missiles, Backpack and two extra Missiles... so he's got plenty of stuff AND you can display him with ALL of his accessories including his Extra head if you pose him in a certain way.
5.0
Overall:
He gets a NICE 4.83 I think right now he's gotten THE BEST rating out of all the MOTUC I've reviewed. Including Battle Cat and Panthor!!

A little note before ending the article. FLipshot works a LOT better when displayed in a flying pose. His backpack can be a bit heavy and when posed in some ways it CAN make the figure fall back. Unlike Randor or He-Ro, Flipshot has no Cape to use as a "Third Leg".

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