MOTUC Review – Count Marzo

Count Marzo is another subscription tester figure for me.  I have no connection to or previous knowledge of the character, so I am judging him based on the merits of the figure itself with no lovely clouds of nostalgia blocking my view.  I am glad to see that this character is getting his first ever figure and the MOTUC mythos is expanding to more characters outside of the original figures, though.  Variety is good.  The figure did actually inspire me to find out more about the character, too.  Click through for more pics and thoughts.

Bio

Count Marzo: Evil Master of Magic

A fifth degree wizard raised by evil mystics in the Dunes of Doom, Marzo spent most of his early life learning of the many advantages of magic over technology.  Seeing the suffering of warriors in the Dark Hemisphere, Marzo became convinced that Eternia would be better off with him as its leader.  He staged a series of strategic uprisings across the planet and challenged King Miro for his crown.  Unable to defeat the King’s army, Marzo used his magical amulet to banish Miro into another dimension.  In their father’s absence, Miro’s royal sons heroically joined together and defeated the wizard, trapping him in the form of a powerless, old man.

I like this bio.  It gives him a little bit more background than the 200X episodes did, adding a bit of motivation for his evil wizardry.  The Keldor/Randor team up sounds interesting.  With Keldor last month and Marzo this month I do find myself wanting a Captain Randor figure at some point.  His design in the 200X series is pretty cool, especially the very kirby-esque Asgardian looking helmet worn in the first episode of that cartoon.  The bio hews fairly close to the Marzo origin in the cartoon except there the Elders were the ones who took him down.  That made him seem a lot more powerful to me than a Keldor/Randor team-up taking him down.  I’m not quite seeing the relationship to the Filmation version of Count Marzo here other than the name, not that I expected to.  That’s fine with me, however, as I think he works a lot better in the modern cartoon.

Accessories

The Count comes with a sword, his mystic amulet and a removable cape/halter top armor combo.

The sword is made of a solid plastic and can be placed into a clip on Marzo’s side.  That’s a nice touch.  I love it when weapons can be holstered on the figure’s person.  The design of the sword is pretty cool and I love the hilt and pommel.  There is a weird red tip to it, though, that looks a little odd.   I think because it is cast in red plastic it looks a little too toyish for my taste.

The amulet is cast in translucent red plastic with some silver paint around the edges to represent the setting for the central jewel.  It is clear in the back of the amulet as well, so light can shine through.  His left hand is sculpted to hold it, but it can also be placed on his belt for storage.  Again, I love stuff like that.

The cape and armor are all one piece and you can remove them if you pop off the head.  The cape is actually pretty light and flexible.  His head is a little bit bobbleheaded if you remove the collar piece, though.

Sculpt

Marzo looks like he reuses the He-Man torso and arms along with Skeletor legs and Keldor boots.  He has unique accessories, head sculpt and a belt/skirt armor piece.

I love that they actually planned for the articulation to work with the armor skirt here.  It’s broken up into 8 separate segments and allows him to utilize his articulation to it’s full extent.  I’ve been hearing a lot about how he doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the figures and I can sort of see that point here with the skirt.  There’s a little too much going on so that it almost feels ‘busy’.  He would probably fit in with the MOTUC figures more if he had the traditional furry shorts, but I really like what they did here.

The headsculpt is a great balance between the angular 200x cartoon style and MOTUC.  He still has a very angular face, but it’s smoother and the features are thicker, more keeping with the style of humans like Tri-Klops, Man-At-Arms and He-Man himself.

The left hand is sculpted beautifully to hold the amulet, but it looks a little silly if he isn’t holding the thing.  I think a wrist hinge or a swappable hand would have helped a bit here.  I do find myself wishing for swappable hands on these figures (fists, spellcasting hands, etc) when I’m posing them.  It would add a bit more variety to the poses.

Articulation

Marzo sports the standard MOTUC articulation, but fortunately his huge cape and giant skirt don’t hinder posing at all really.  The hair gets in the way a bit, but not quite as much as you might think looking at the sculpt.

Overall

This figure won me over for sure.  The subscription was been tested yet again and has passed with flying colors.  The unique accessories and unimpeded articulation made this figure fun to play with and pose.  I enjoyed the figure so much that it inspired me to sit down and watch some of the 200x episodes that featured the character.  While I can see how some might think he doesn’t quite fit in, I disagree.  He is unique, but fits in just fine.

Previous reviews:

• She-Ra
• Keldor
• Optikk
• Evil-Lynn
• Moss-Man