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Mattel needs to stop ignoring this issue and drop Digital River. If you
did your job as poorly as they've done theirs, you'd have been fired
long ago - this situation is costing Mattel customers. Why is it
allowed to continue? Enough
of my whining about the ordering process, and time to talk about the
figure. This time around it's King Hssss, secret leader of the Snake
Men! I'm not sure how much of a secret it is, since he has a
sculpted snake on his armor, he carries a snake wrapped staff, and
there's a big snake on his shield, but maybe everybody just pretends
for his sake. I don't know much of anything about this guy, other
than the fact that he was not part of the old cartoon. If you're
looking for better Masters of the Universe history, you should check
out my friends at Poe Ghostal or It's All True. Packaging - ***1/2
The
packaging remains the same, although there's the new sticker on the
bubble mentioning the Snake Men. The back of the card gives some
detailed information about his origin and allegiance, and the usual
graphics are as attractive as always. I appreciate the consistency, and
I'm betting that many MOC collectors do as well. Sculpting - ***
Let's
start by discussing the elephant in the room. Those shoulders. Yep,
they're swapped...again. Now, I wouldn't have noticed (or at least not
right away) had others not noticed first and made it well known across
the geek wire. The swapped shoulders don't bother me a whole lot
on their own, since it's not a huge issue for this particular figure
from either a visual or mechanical perspective. Collectors that are
more particular will find it more annoying. However, I do find
the repeated nature of the problem upsetting. How many figures in
this series have had assembly problems? Why does it continue to happen
over and over? That's a much bigger issue for me. The overall
sculpt is solid work, with nice sharp cuts on the detailed armor. The
snake parts are pretty realistic considering the cartoon style, and the
non-snake version of the character fits in pretty well thematically
with the other figures in the series. The hands are sculpted to hold the accessories, and he stands great on his own, just as you'd expect. Paint - **1/2
Some of the paint work is great - other areas, not so much. My
favorite paint detail here is the slitted eyes, done to resemble a
reptile. It's that sort of small detail that can make a huge difference
in the overall look of a character. Not so good is some of the
slop, particularly around the snake logo on his chest. There's also a
dearth of other paint ops, with most of the figure cast in the major
colors. The shield has some silver added to the belly of the snake, but
that's it, and it really needed a few more ops to allow the snake to
pop. Articulation - ***
The
body has the usual MOTUC articulation, although it seems as though the
swapped shoulders limits the arms a bit, particularly in how close they
can come in toward the body. The ball jointed head is also a bit
restricted by the helmet, and the new ankles have too much gapping for
my tastes. The issues that are here are minor, but drag him down about
a half star below the norm for this series. Accessories - ***1/2
Hssss
has several cool extras. There's his large staff, with a deadly looking
serpent wrapped around it. It fits nicely in his hands, and works with
just about any pose. There's also the shield, complete with
sculpted snake logo and clip on the back to attach it to either
forearm. It really needs a bit more in the paint department, but I
already complained about that in the Paint section. The third and
most unique extra is the snake upper body which can easily be swapped
at the pelvis. This new upper body is made up of one large snake, and
four other smaller versions, all rising up from his pants. And yes, I know how bad that sounds. The
two longest snakes are bendy, and can be posed in arm-like ways. The
other three are not, and are pretty much stuck in the pose you see. The
jaw is also a pin joint, allowing you to open or close the large mouth. There's something weird about this whole concept that
just creeps me out. It's a bizarre design, and doesn't get any less
bizarre in the execution. I may display him with the snake torso just
for the conversation it's obviously going to spark. Fun Factor - ****
While
he might be weird, he's still fun. This whole series has captured the
best of old school action figure concepts and made them even better.
Value - **1/2
At $20, these are a hard sell, but at least
this guy gets two unique accessories plus the extra head/torso. There's
also a ton of newly sculpted surfaces here, making this a better value
than usual.
Things to Watch Out For -
Nothing really. All the joints were tight and solid, and this would make a great toy for kids to play with.
Overall - ***
I doubt that poor King Hssss is going to be
the number one figure from this series for any collector. In fact, a
lot of folks will be pretty lukewarm on him, largely because he was
never in the original cartoon and they have less nostalgic connection.
But I'm glad I picked him up, if for no other reason than the unique
nature of the snake option. Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
As always, the place to pick this guy up was at Matty
Collector.
Since their entire shipment didn't show up on time, there is going to
be more offered very soon at their site, or you can search
ebay for a deal.
Related
Links -
Other MOTUC reviews include:
- last up was Vikor, and before that the very
yellow Buzz Off.
- Grizzlor was November's
release.
- the previous month was the
swapped shoulders Roboto.
- Gygor makes other big
monkeys look silly.
- another character with animal
instincts is Chief
Carnivus.
- just before that was Whiplash.
- Orko was the SDCC
exclusive this year.
- just before the Con, Matty
sold out of Count Marzo.
- before that was She-Ra, Princess of
Power, and the large scale Tytus.
- I've also looked at the cool custom swords and shields you
can get from SpyMonkey Creations.
- prior to that, I looked at the other May release, Optikk.
- seems like it was just
yesterday that I covered Evil-Lyn.
- prior to that it was Moss Man.
- check out the cool MOTUC Display stands.
- just before that
I covered Battle
Cat and Trap Jaw,
and prior to that was Adora.
- I really liked Scare glow, although
he's not exactly what you'd call a key character.
- She-Ra isn't the first girl in
the series - Teela
has that honor.
- before that there was Webstor, one of my
favorite, and Tri-klops,
another one of my favs.
- prior to that was Man-at-arms, Hordak, Zodac, Faker, Mer-man and Stratos, starting out
with He-man, Skeletor and
Beastman together in one review.
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