Masters of the Universe Classics Teela and Scareglow

I’ll admit it – I didn’t open the Teela that I got as part of my Masters of the Universe September – December subscription last month.  I was a little irked by how Mattel and Digital River handled the subs, and by the time I actually had the little white box in my hand, I just wasn’t feeling it.

But this month, they handled it well.  The day before sales day, I got an email from Digital River saying that my sub was being renewed (I would have said “processed” but I got the picture) and a couple of days later, Scareglow showed up.  And you know what?  I really like both these figures more than I thought I would.

Teela

I’m really not sure if these pictures, or any I’ve seen, do Teela justice.  She’s just a beautiful figure, and the translation from prototype to production was handled flawlessly.  I’ll get my one major criticism out of the way now – the design choice to include a sheath over the figure to enable a single buck for all MOTUC females and cover the hip articulation isn’t my favorite.  It doesn’t seem to allow for a bootylicious backside, and it hinders the waist swivel articulation that is underneath it.  On Teela the armor detailing obscures some of the frumpiness in the front waist and crotch, but I think the upcoming Adora figure will suffer.

I’m a big fan of her headsculpt.  Some people may find it a little absent of any emotion, but to me she looks serene.  I am probably seeing too much here, but she looks like she’s channeling her inner goddess. 😀  I’ll go so far to say that this is the best headsculpt that has made it to production from the Four Horsemen.  Prior to Teela, that honor in my book would go to the 7th Kingdom Alluxandra figure.  You’ve also got the alternate head with the skull cap and Snake Armor options.  Both have the same expression, but perhaps with the alternate heads Mattel missed the opportunity to give us something different.

[Speaking of heads, the ponytailed head I got had a very heavy residue of mold release coating it, making it quite slimy.  A little warm soap and water cleaned it right off, but it was the most I’d ever seen on a figure – anyone else have this too?]

I like how Teela is articulated.  Yes, the sheath does hide those hip joints, and it does so without obstructing movement.  You can get a little twist in the waist before it starts looking strange, since the sheath doesn’t turn.  The ankles are awesome, allowing stable footing even with very wide-stanced poses.

Teela does stand about even with He-Man and friends, but can look a little tall because she’s slender in comparison.  This means she towers over other Mattel and Four Horsemen figures and reinforces to me that MOTU Classics is in its own scale.

In addition to the sword, staff, and Snake Armor, Teela comes with Zoar.  He’s here in his mini-comic colors, and I say “he” because it was only in the Filmation cartoon that Zoar was the Sorceress transformed.  Mattel has said we’ll get that red and blue colored version of Zoar – I am guessing she’ll come when they get around to making the Sorceress.

Scareglow

Honestly, if I hadn’t bought the Club Eternia subscription, I might have passed on Scareglow.  I didn’t have him as a kid, and the thought of him struck me as kind of goofy.  Here he is, a really ripped guy, with a skeleton painted on him.  I imagine if the Four Horsemen had tackled him as a Staction or in the 200X line, he would have been a lot different, but here he is, using the standard MOTU Classics bucks.

Mattel had promoted the cursed reliquary that Scareglow has chained to his wrist.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it’s one of the things that made him cool once I had him in hand.  The very detailed Castle Grayskull top pops off, revealing a key (to Castle Grayskull?) inside.  Kudos to the Horsemen for coming up with that.

The glow in the dark is also quite nice.  Since the figure is molded in glow in the dark plastic, it glows brighter than the painted on glow on Zodak, for instance.  It doesn’t take much to charge it up, either.

So Mattel, I may have been down on you last month, but this month I have forgiven you.  If you’re going to screw up, I’d much rather have it be the shipping, and not the figures – Teela and Scareglow are great figures!