I hope you’ll forgive the makeshift photo setup. Mattel was kind enough to give Masters of the Universe Classics figures to people who attended their collector event – I was lucky enough to get Trap Jaw. We’re heading back home tomorrow, but my wife wanted to minimize the amount of stuff we are going to have to pack up – so since I was planning to open up Trap Jaw anyways, you’re getting the pics I could manage now instead of a few days from now.
I don’t really know what to say about the packaging anymore – it’s the MOTUC standard cardboard-backed bubble. I can’t remember if I’ve seen a cardback that doesn’t feature any heroes. The bio references Kronis – for those of you who wonder how Trap Jaw became the mechanical monstrosity that he is, you’ll get the back story right on the package.
It’s great that Mattel has included the parts so you can have the before and after too. Trap Jaw comes with an alternate Kronis head and arm. They also include 3 interchangeable attachments for the mechanical arm – the hook, the claw, and the blaster. The pegs on the attachments fit pretty tightly in the socket – they’ll hold in pretty firmly and take some tugging to get loose again. The first couple of times I switched it up (it’s addictive, you’ll see) I was worried I would damage the arm – but it’s pretty sturdy. The skull and crossbones belt, which is a separate, removable piece, also has loops for you to hang the extra attachments that aren’t in use.
Both the Kronis and Trap Jaw heads are great. Kronis has a tremendous amount of character for being a “plain” head sculpt, and Trap Jaw has an articulated jaw that can expose the ruins of his mouth when you open it up. It’s extremely satisfying how the mechanical jaw fits into the remnants of his upper mandible. There are a lot of new sculpted elements for the figure, and with the arms and legs, we’re just that much closer to a Man-E-Faces.
Since the February sale date for MattyCollector.com was this week, I believe that this is a production piece, not a sample. If it’s indicative of what people will be getting (those who were lucky enough to get through the Digital River site, I should say), then they might find that their Trap Jaw’s knees and ankles aren’t as sturdy as they’d like. This particular figure can hold a standing pose, but if there’s any sort of misbalancing either forwards or back, the ankles will give out fairly easily and tip the figure over. I thought with the swappable arms there might be some looseness in the shoulder socket, but it’s actually pretty sturdy.
Again, thanks for putting up with my makeshift photo studio – hopefully we’ll see better pics from Sandman in a week or so.
Great pics! Okay, rant time. Naturally every action figure line is going to have the good and the bad apples amongst its run as regards production issues; however, this is the second figure in so many weeks (the other being two back-to-back Adora figures reported here with the dreaded “windmill arms”) from the MOTU line that has had some kind of functionality issue.
I can’t say it enough times; at this price point and for the amount of hassle collectors have to go through to even procure these figures, none of us should be experiencing these kinds of issues consistently!! For the amount of money Mattel is ostensibly raking in from this line I would imagine they could, A) secure a better services hosting provider than DR, B) ensure top notch production fairly consistently, and quick replacements of figures that don’t also have the same problem as the preceeding figure, C) provide excellent customer service. So far Matty is getting a major C- on all fronts. And yes, I’m being kind because they do (for the most part) turn out a superior product and have made inroads recently regarding communication with the fan community, but there is still a long way to go.
Trapjaw always reminds me of Tyr…
First pic: lookee! Blue skinned He-Man is ready for Super Bowl 45!