Review of Kobra Khan - Masters of the Universe Classics figure

Introduction

As if Skeletor and his evil henchmen weren't enough for poor He-man to deal with, there was also the Snake Men. Led by King Hssss, the Snake Men formed an alliance with Skeletor when he freed Hssss from imprisonment.

Matty Collector offered up King Hssss as an action figure awhile back, and did a bang up job on him.  For the March 2012 release, they've added Kobra Khan, the ambassador between Skeletor and Hssss. This character has had his appearances both in the original show and the 2002 reboot, and there's a nod or two to both shows with this new release.

The price on the Masters of the Universe Classics has jumped 10% this year, going from $20 a figure to $22, plus shipping. Khan sold out fairly quickly at Matty this month, but you can probably find him for a reasonable secondary market price with a little patience.

Packaging - ***1/2
You've seen it before, but it's always nice to see again. This classic packaging does tend to hide the head sculpt a bit - especially the second head - but for MOCers, that consistency of design is pretty critical. For the openers, it's a moot point.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I generally love this sculpt, especially the snake-like attributes. The scaly boots look great, and the overlapping scales on the three straps over the torso look great. The detail work on the torso and arms is good, bringing in more of the overall reptilian motif.

There are two heads - hood up and hood down. While he comes wearing the more standard hood down snake head, I think it's the hood up version that most folks will be drawn to.

My only complaint that pulls this down from the full four stars is one that many vintage fans will not share - I hate the huge, open mouth. It's not as bad as on Leech, but it's still an issue for me. I realize that it looks this way because the original figure had an action feature - 'mist spraying' action. Water would squirt out of his mouth, and while that feature is NOT present here, the sculpts were done to accommodate the appearance.

I would have preferred something a bit less wide, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

Paint - ***
The paint work is solid, but there's still a little more slop than usual. For example, the teeth are chunky and thick with poor cut lines, and some of the coverage isn't quite as sharp and clean as you'd expect.

I do like the colors though, which complement each other nicely, and the eyes are generally well done. The huge red mouth is a bit overpowering, but that's more of the issue I discussed in the Sculpting section than a true Paint concern.

Articulation - ***1/2
There's all the usual joints here - ball jointed neck, shoulders and hips, pin elbows, knees and ankles, cut waist, boot tops and wrists, and even an ab-crunch.

With the 'hood down' head, the neck has plenty of twist, turn and tilt potential. Pop on the 'hood up' head, and you lose quite a bit of that, but it's to be expected.

The rest of the joints work great, with plenty of range of movement. Deep poses are easy to maintain, and the body can take very natural stances. This is one of the best smaller bodies on the market for posing, and the joints are very sturdy and solid as well.

Accessories - ***1/2
I love it when we get two heads, as is the case here.

He comes wearing the standard snake head with his hood hidden. Like a real cobra, he's much more formidable looking with the hood expanded, and rather than try to do both looks with one sculpt, the Four Horsemen included a second, swappable head. The heads swap easily, and both look great.

He comes with a blaster as well, which hearkens back to the vintage character. It fits in his right hand nicely, and is a good add.

To include a touch of his new personality from the 2002 cartoon, they've also included his 'shoulder buddy' Fang. This small lizard-like creature has a tail that wraps around the back of his neck allowing him (her?) to rest on his left shoulder. Paint and sculpt are good, and it's nice to get something from the more recent incarnation.

Fun Factor - ****
This line remains an excellent toy series - if only all the action figures on the market today were this good. Sadly, these are the exception rather than the rule.

Value - **
Damn if they don't keep upping the price. Last couple figures have gone from $20 to $22, and I was just getting comfortable with the old price.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing!

Overall - ***1/2
I suspected that the open mouth sculpt would hurt the overall look of this figure for me, but it wasn't as bad in person as I'd feared. Instead, once I popped on the hooded head, I found myself really liking this release, and he's going to go great on the shelf next to King Hssss.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Obviously, it's always best to pick these up at Matty Collector when they go on sale for $22. If you missed that, you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered a lot of MOTUC figures:

- most recent was the beautiful Sorceress.

- the recent Demo-man is one of my favs, and I just covered Fearless Photog earlier this week.

- I also liked the recent Snout Spout and Wind Raider.

- Spymonkey Creations did more weapons recently.

- other figures include the large Megator, the giant Tytus. Leech, Icarius, Clawful, the Faceless One, Catra,  Sy-Klone, King Hssss, Vikor,  Buzz Off, Grizzlor, Roboto, Gygor, Chief Carnivus, Whiplash, Orko, Count Marzo, She-Ra, Optikk, Evil-Lyn, Moss Man, Trap Jaw, Adora, Scare glow, Teela,  Man-at-arms, Hordak, Zodac, Faker, Mer-man, Stratos, Webstor, Tri-klops, and starting out with He-man, Skeletor and Beastman together in one review.

- I also covered Battle Cat and  Panthor, the big kitties.

- check out the cool MOTUC Display stands.

- I've also looked at the cool custom swords and shields you can get from SpyMonkey Creations.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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