The whole story behind the rise and fall of MOTU is interesting enough to have it's own book, called Mastering the Universe, coming soon from the creator of the line, Roger Sweet. I wonder if he'll have a chapter on the resurrection of the line in the last few years, and Mattel's mishandling this time around...

Since our toy shelves have been filled with retro lines the last few years - Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Pony, etc. - it made complete sense to bring back He-man. Unfortunately, it didn't last long, and was not the success Mattel had hoped. Most collectors lay the blame for that situation on the shoulders of Mattel.

Mattel did do one thing right though - they had the Four Horseman, a group of exceptional sculptors and designers, take on the work for the new line. The line died before all the figures they had sculpted (and hoped to sculpt) could be released, leaving the collector community sad, pissed off, and generally more unruly than usual.

But thanks to NECA, the Four Horseman, dedicated fans, and yes, even Mattel, the line lives on in a new format. Mattel won't allow anyone else to do action figures, but have allowed others to do statues and busts. How to get those last figures on your shelves? Release them as unarticulated figures, called 'staction figures'! Yes, the name is lame-o, but Kevin already took 'inaction figures'.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Masters of the Universe - Clawful"

Okay, enough blah blah about ancient history. The Four Horseman teamed up with NECA to produce these staction figures, and the first series includes Clawful, Hordak and Snout Spout. I'm not a fan of the show, and even I couldn't resist the call of Clawful.

Clawful is one of Skeletor's lacky's, and is one of the dumber, yet more visually interesting of his henchmen. If you don't know who Skeletor is, you're in trouble. Hell, even I know who Skeletor is.

Packaging - ***
They attempted to go with a cardback/bubble packaging that would fit in with the action figure line for the MOCers. It was somewhat successful, although the graphics and design couldn't match exactly. The bubbles are quite large as well, taking up a lot of space, but they're fairly sturdy considering the extra weight of the figures.

One of the things I did find odd though was the lack of text on the packaging. No where does it say anyting about the lack of articulation, although there are clearly cut lines and the shoulders appear to be ball joints on a quick glance. I'm afraid there will be a lot of people that buy these assuming they are action figures, and not understanding why they are unarticulated once they open them up.

Sculpting - ****
These are advertised as being made from a lightweight polystone. What it feels like is that some of the pieces are resin, while others are plastic. And even those that are resin appear to be a more flexible mix, less hard and somewhat less prone to chipping.

The sculpt is beautiful, and shows off the Horseman's work perfectly. The small details are amazing, especially for a cartoon character, and yet he fits in with the rest of the line fairly well. The staction figures are supposed to be in scale with the other action figures, but they seem a little big to me. Still, I'm not a huge fan, so I might be misjudging. And when it comes to a big bad like Clawful, there's nothing wrong with a little extra size.

The theme for Clawful is crustacean with a little crocodile thrown in for good luck. He has nasty sharp teeth, a huge hard textured shell covering his back, and even a lobster tail loincloth. The texture detail is particularly important, as they use it to indicate different materials and skins, going from rough to smoooth to patchy where appropriate.

Clawful's stance works fine, and he stands great on his own without the need for the display base. The style is more maquette than action pose, which was probably a good idea considering the need for these to fit in with the regular line.

Paint - ***1/2
Mass market action figures tend to skimp on the paint ops. There's a theory that kids don't care all that much. I think that's a huge steaming pile of stupidity, but it's still the theory.

Thankfully, with something like these specialty market statues, no such theory exists, and they realize that the target market cares very deeply about the quality and quantity of paint ops. Clawful doesn't disappoint, with excellent shading and detail designed to give a cartoony character greater realism.

I did have some very minor issues - the teeth could have been slightly neater, and the bubble tends to damage the paint on his nose - but they were minor quibbles compared to the overall quality of the work.

Articulation - Bupkis
Since these are statues, it should be no big surprise that there isn't any articulation. Of course, since it doesn't mention that on the package, you might be in for a cruel surprise if you haven't been reading my colum. Then again, shame on you for not reading my column!

These were originally designed to be action figures though, and that means that the sculpts could work with articulation. Over at He-man.org, there's a great thread on how you can use a hair dryer to soften up the joints and break down the figure into its components, and then rebuild them as actual action figures. Really! Check it out here.

Accessories - **1/2
Clawful comes with a display base and an intricate club. The handle of the club comes apart to make it simpler to place it in his claw hand.

He has a hole in both feet to allow you to attach him to the base, which looks fine, but isn't really necessary to keep him standing.

Fun Factor - *1/2
These aren't action figures - they're statues. And they aren't plastic statues, like something from Mcfarlane. No, they are actually resin in most places, although it's a softer resin than we're used to. That means they aren't intended for kids to play with, much as they might like to.

Value - **
One of the disadvantages to going the statue route is price. These carry a much higher price tag than the original figures did, but are also produced in much smaller numbers of course.

At around $20 each, you'll be forking over a hefty chunk of change for the full series. Still, the price isn't way out of line for the level of quality and detail.

Things to Watch Out For -
When picking out Clawful, look carefully at the nose. The bubbles of the packaging tend to hit his face, and I saw several with rub marks on the paint.

Overall - ***1/2
The release of these figures is going to end up on my list of best ideas of 2005, I can guarantee it. The Four Horseman deserve kudos for going the extra mile to see their vision through, NECA deserves kudos for stepping in to make it physically possible to produce them, the fans deserve kudos for making their voices heard, and yes, even Mattel deserves some kudos for allowing this to occur with their license. There's plenty of love to go around this time.

Where to Buy -
I picked mine up at the local Media Play for $20. You can find them online as well:

- omgcnfo.com has them for $18 each..

- CornerStoreComics has them for $19 each.

- Killer Toys also has these for $19 each, with preorders for the next series.

- Toy Fellas has the full set of three for $57.

- Yikes Comics has a ton of the Mattel line of MOTU still in stock.

Related Links -
I don't do a lot of MOTU reviews, but here's some useful links nonetheless:

- I have a guest review up of the entire set of three at my other site, if you'd like to see photos of them with the other action figures from the previous line.

- He-man.org is a top notch collector/fan site that has all the latest news and insider information.

- you can pick up Sweet's book, Mastering the Universe, at Amazon.com.

- if you're looking for a way to articulate your 'staction figures', then check out this thread.

- I also had some coverage up of the Four Horseman booth at SDCC, with lots of great photos of the upcoming figures.