Masters of the Universe Stinkor mini-statue.
Finally, Stinkor makes his appearance in the modern MOTU form, but not as you'd hope.
Here he is beside his vintage counterpart. The first thing you'll notice is that this new figure doesn't have the smell of patchouli oil, that hippie stuff that made the original figure have its smell that still hasn't worn off after 22 years. Instead, this new figure smells heavily of the resin and plastic used to make him.
The paint apps are beautiful, and just about the only redeeming quality to this 'staction' idea. There's shading in all the appropriate places, and a dull finish all around except for his eyes, which has a glistening wet look to them. It looks great.
This new Four Horsemen (the great guys repsonsible for most of the updated MOTU looks) design incorporates an oxygen tank, since apparently even Stinkor can't stand his own smell. His only detachable accessory is the blue shield, which plugs into a hole on his left arm. It stays in there pretty well, and since these aren't action figures, it works OK.
That brings me to the inevitable point- this is a beautiful statue masquerading as an action figure. I noticed on the packaging for this wave, NECA added the tagline "MINI-STATUES" to them, something that wasn't present on the first wave. I guess some fans bought the first wave thinking their favorite toyline had escaped Mattel's moronic grasp and been reborn courtesy of NECA. Joke was on them that they couldn't move them. Mattel isn't going to make action figures for MOTU likely ever again, and they sure as hell aren't going to let anyone else do them either, just because they're assholes. They say they have plans for them, but let's be realistic- the last wave of action figures in the US only appeared at Aldi's (a really shitty grocery chain) for $5 a piece in November 2003. Since then, everything else was released internationally, before Mattel gave up and fucked the rest of the world out of MOTU stuff. Anyway, that was more than two years ago. In this arena, that's ancient history, and if they were planning on building on what's come before, they're in for yet another surprise.
To bring this to a close, it's not like Mattel's figures were very articulated to begin with, and fans will just stick these in a display in which these fit well, so the fact that they're statues gets to be a little easier to deal with. If it wasn't for the Horsemen's and NECA's efforts, we'd have never gotten Hordak, Grizzlor, or Stinkor here (among others) in our modern collections, so something (even an overpriced something) is better than nothing.
Everybody's been impressed with the sales on these, so that's good. Wave 2 has been out for a month or so, and includes Stinkor, Grizzlor, and Clamp Champ. Wave 3 is due to be released within the next couple of months, and includes Sorceress, Mantenna, and Tung Lashor. Snake Face is on deck for wave 4, but the rest of that wave's characters haven't been revealed yet. Wave 1 consisted of Hordak, Snout Spout, and Clawful, and is pretty much gone from everywhere. You might get lucky at some online store or your local Suncoast (since that was the only brick-and-mortar chain in the US to carry them) but I'd search the online stores first, since Suncoast has had the first wave on clearance for a while, and there's no way they'll have Hordak.
There is also a con exclusive King Randor out there, just to put another MOTU exclusive out there to piss off MOTU fans. It's ridiculously priced on ebay now, and for a no-character like Randor, I wouldn't pay it. I'd have bought a regular release figure without a second thought, but I don't like the idea of con exclusives, and those companies who make them, I offer these words: "Fuck" and "you".
So get out there and pick these up. The Sam Goody chains are offering a buy 2, get 1 free sale on figures, and these are included in the sale, which is why I decided to get mine. That way you can get Clamp Champ and mot have to pay any money for him. :)
Here he is beside his vintage counterpart. The first thing you'll notice is that this new figure doesn't have the smell of patchouli oil, that hippie stuff that made the original figure have its smell that still hasn't worn off after 22 years. Instead, this new figure smells heavily of the resin and plastic used to make him.
The paint apps are beautiful, and just about the only redeeming quality to this 'staction' idea. There's shading in all the appropriate places, and a dull finish all around except for his eyes, which has a glistening wet look to them. It looks great.
This new Four Horsemen (the great guys repsonsible for most of the updated MOTU looks) design incorporates an oxygen tank, since apparently even Stinkor can't stand his own smell. His only detachable accessory is the blue shield, which plugs into a hole on his left arm. It stays in there pretty well, and since these aren't action figures, it works OK.
That brings me to the inevitable point- this is a beautiful statue masquerading as an action figure. I noticed on the packaging for this wave, NECA added the tagline "MINI-STATUES" to them, something that wasn't present on the first wave. I guess some fans bought the first wave thinking their favorite toyline had escaped Mattel's moronic grasp and been reborn courtesy of NECA. Joke was on them that they couldn't move them. Mattel isn't going to make action figures for MOTU likely ever again, and they sure as hell aren't going to let anyone else do them either, just because they're assholes. They say they have plans for them, but let's be realistic- the last wave of action figures in the US only appeared at Aldi's (a really shitty grocery chain) for $5 a piece in November 2003. Since then, everything else was released internationally, before Mattel gave up and fucked the rest of the world out of MOTU stuff. Anyway, that was more than two years ago. In this arena, that's ancient history, and if they were planning on building on what's come before, they're in for yet another surprise.
To bring this to a close, it's not like Mattel's figures were very articulated to begin with, and fans will just stick these in a display in which these fit well, so the fact that they're statues gets to be a little easier to deal with. If it wasn't for the Horsemen's and NECA's efforts, we'd have never gotten Hordak, Grizzlor, or Stinkor here (among others) in our modern collections, so something (even an overpriced something) is better than nothing.
Everybody's been impressed with the sales on these, so that's good. Wave 2 has been out for a month or so, and includes Stinkor, Grizzlor, and Clamp Champ. Wave 3 is due to be released within the next couple of months, and includes Sorceress, Mantenna, and Tung Lashor. Snake Face is on deck for wave 4, but the rest of that wave's characters haven't been revealed yet. Wave 1 consisted of Hordak, Snout Spout, and Clawful, and is pretty much gone from everywhere. You might get lucky at some online store or your local Suncoast (since that was the only brick-and-mortar chain in the US to carry them) but I'd search the online stores first, since Suncoast has had the first wave on clearance for a while, and there's no way they'll have Hordak.
There is also a con exclusive King Randor out there, just to put another MOTU exclusive out there to piss off MOTU fans. It's ridiculously priced on ebay now, and for a no-character like Randor, I wouldn't pay it. I'd have bought a regular release figure without a second thought, but I don't like the idea of con exclusives, and those companies who make them, I offer these words: "Fuck" and "you".
So get out there and pick these up. The Sam Goody chains are offering a buy 2, get 1 free sale on figures, and these are included in the sale, which is why I decided to get mine. That way you can get Clamp Champ and mot have to pay any money for him. :)
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