First Look – Masters of the Universe Classics Fisto

Welcome back! Time can be a curious thing, especially when it comes to action figure shipping schedules. As noted yesterday, there have been some slight shake-ups in the MOTUC release schedule for the first half of 2012. In fact, January now lacks a monthly figure completely. Yep, the Sorceress has moved to February and she will take her now infamous wings into the same shipping carton and the true February monthly figure, Fisto. Well, I can already tell you that this will cause a lot of collectors to go bipolar in their bliss and frustration (if online reactions to the wings so far are any indication). The bliss however, that is going to come in the form of the most fist fightinist’ Master to join the ranks of the Heroic Warriors yet. The Master formerly known as “Battle Fist” has joined the Classics line and he has instantly shot right to the top of the pack as one of the best figure released so far. This release of Fisto represents just about every aspect of this line that is “right” and if this figure doesn’t please you then it is probably time to move on from this property. Seriously, the Four Horsemen have thrown down the gauntlet for themselves because Malcom here is going to be hard to beat.

I count myself as very lucky with MOTUC so far, and for a lot of reasons. The aesthetic genuinely appeals to me, I love the consistency and getting a new release on a regular schedule is what I need to satiate my fix. Sure, it has not been perfect, but as I start to look over the collection that I have built so far, it is pretty darned great. The main thing that makes me smile thought is the fact that my favorite MOTU character is also the figure that I consider to be the best in the line. Yep, Mer-Man is still the king of the mountain of my MOTUC collection and, from what I can tell from the reactions of other collectors, he is [near] universally highly regarded. Sure, there are several other figures that I consider to be definitive and thankfully most of those are the bad guys. See, from my youth to today I have always been about the bad guys in MOTU. My younger brother and I split our collection pretty much right down the middle and he got the good guys and I got the bad. I don’t know why we decided to do it that way, I might be because I loved Mer-Man immediately and he was really into Stratos, but the fact remains that I clearly set on the side of the demons. Which is why I feel so lucky that Fisto turned out so incredibly well.

Confused yet? Well, while I split sides with my brother, we each still had a few figures on the opposing side just to keep things honest. Faker, Two-Bad and King Hssss were most certainly his, while Moss Man and Fisto were MINE. So, it is probably no surprise that those two are my favorite Heroic Warriors while I have less of an attachment to Faker, TB and Hssss. I don’t know if it was just a psychological thing as to why Moss Man and Fisto were my favorites since they were mine, but I do still think that it has a lot to do with their look and character as well. In fact, I remember loving both of those figures from the moment I got them, even though neither of them were intended to be mine.

Christmas of 1985 was a big year for MOTU at my house. I know I have told of how I got the original Horde just before the actual holiday in the Leech First Look, but that did not mean that we did not celebrate an avalanche of Eternian figures on Christmas morning. I had just turned five and my bother was about three at the time so he was pretty young to be into MOTU (ah, the virtues of an older brother’s tastes). I had opened an amazing new Spikor, Modulok, Two-Bad and Fright Zone (and some I am not remembering to be sure), while my brother had gotten Sy-Klone and Orko. My mom often wrapped a couple of figures together to cut down on the amount of wrapping paper she had to waste so as my brother moved to open his next present, he was already convinced that was more than one new Master waiting for him. He tore right in.

The next thing I knew, he was bawling and I don’t mean that typical little kid crying, he was almost instantly sobbing in what sounded like fear as he examined the figures he just unwrapped. At first I thought he had just gotten upset because maybe he already had the toys (something not typical as my mom stayed on top of things), but then he threw down the two cards and ran to my mom. Well, after what seemed like hours (it was only a couple of minutes in reality) my mom got him to say what was bothering him. Well, apparently he was deathly afraid of Moss Man. Why? I had absolutely no clue. I later learned that something about Moss Man’s expression, the flocking and the smell just sent his young mind over the edge. It took months for him to even look at him. In the interest of keeping things nice on Christmas morning my mom asked me if I wanted to trade a new figure of mine for Moss Man so all things would be equal. I looked at Mossy and decided I really liked him so I went through my pile and picked Two-Bad (again, I have no idea why) to give to my brother. He was cool with that as he had played with the figure before at our cousin’s house and he got a genuine kick out of making TB “punch” himself. Well, it only seemed appropriate that he did not want anything to do with Fisto either since he came with Moss Man so I also got him, but since Two-Bad was kind of two figures in one, it still seemed even. Kids are weird, I suppose, and my family still gets a kick out of that holiday story, even over twenty years later.

So, from that day forward, even if my brother and I were not getting along, I could still have Fisto and Moss Man go up against the near-entirety of the evil forces on Eternia. So you better believe that they needed to be tough and in terms of ass-kicking, Fisto instantly became second only to He-Man. Fisto is a rough and tumble fighter and is not a afraid to punch you while drinking a tall stein of mead. See, he left hand IS important, it has to hold the beer. I loved his action feature and there was nothing like setting up the bad guys in a line (with Battle Armor Skeletor at the front) and having them fall in domino effect as Fisto caused the battle damage to set in. Sometimes we would play with just the good guys or just the bad guys (you know, exploring or plotting) and Fisto instantly became one of the key Masters. He lead the ground forces, always at the head of the charge and nothing could stand in his way. Even as a fan of evil, fighting with Fisto was always glorious. *Sigh*, I have been waiting a long time for this Classics figure.

If you can’t already tell, the wait was well worth it. Like I said before, this figure represents all of the good things that MOTUC is about. I get a perfect update to my beloved vintage toy, but those that are a fans of the 200x “Battle Fist” interpretation are probably going to be quite pleased as well. This figure has tons of interchangeable parts that are key to achieving both looks, and even one that never got to see the light of day. I think this is going to be one of those First Looks where the pictures will do most of the talking, but I will highlight some of the highlights and things that might not come across as obviously in the pictures.

I am just going to start with the best part of the figure (in my opinion): the head sculpt. If there is anyone out that that feels this is not a pitch-perfect interpretation of Fisto, please stand up and let me know why. I cannot think of anything that I would change in terms of the classic look. He has a slightly raised eyebrow, just like the vintage figure and his beard is by far the most virile in all of Eternia (sorry, Randor). I love how his face is slightly aged so you can tell that he looks like he is certainly the elder brother of Man-at-Arms. I am not 100% sure how I feel about that in terms of MOTU canon, but I do like the idea that he is older but still more hale than most and he will punch you right in the kisser just for looking sidelong at him or his friends. I know some have said that he actually resembles the Duncan figure and while I don’t really see that myself, Fisto has a ton of personality in his face. Everything you need to know about Fisto is written right on his face. For the 200x circuit, the alternate head has the accurate headband, but the head sculpt is still the classic and not so much MYP in overall look. I think this is how the 200x looks are fitting into the philosophy of the line: headband is right there, but the classic look of the characters will still be what takes precedence. Either way, I see a lot of very happy 200x fans here.

But wait 200xers, there is more! This is crazy, as much of a vintage-head as I am, and how this figure pulls of the vintage look perfectly, I still keep going back to the more modern look. Fisto has a ton of accessories and along with his alternate head, he also gets his 200x belt and sword. The former, I dig a lot and though I probably won’t be displaying it, it is a great take on the Classics version of the belt. It has a ton of little details to it (a flask and book are sculpted right in) and it is soft enough to easily fit right around Fisto’s waist, but it will stay on tight and not pop off unexpectedly. The 200x sword though, I am not a big fan of. I know there is a TON of history behind this piece since it was originally sculpted for the 200x line but never made it in the final figure (we got a weird Clamp Champ-esque snake catcher instead) but it kind of crosses the line from stylized to ridiculous in terms of size for my tastes. Seriously, this thing is huge. Even with his giant manly muscles, wielding this thing has got to be awkward. I think I would use it as a surf board to explore the Etherian Growling Sea with some female members of the Rebellion rather than knock off heads. But to each their own. The good news is that is fits snugly into the holder on his back so he can evenly distribute the weight. The little fist on the handle is hilarious to me and I feel that it actually the more dangerous end of the sword, especially in the hands of an Eternian proctologist. I know it has been a bit of a dry run for the 200x crowd and while I still strongly prefer the vintage take on just about everything, it is great that Fisto gives just about everyone the options.

His armor is very classic in look (even if it accommodates the large sword) and is made from a very soft plastic. I guess you can tell that a little bit just from the look of it, but it stays on nicely and hopefully it means we can get a Clamp Champ in the not too distant future. I have a little bit of paint bleed in a couple of the transitions from purple to silver on the lines,  but that is the only spot on the figure where this happens. As you can see, while he does have the silver flat abs piece, the armor comes down all the way to the belt so it is covered without restricting the articulation. I appreciate that engineering touch. His classic sword is an appropriate purple repaint of the Tri-Klops sword and while I have never thought that Fisto needed any other weapon other than his fist, I am glad it turned out sturdy and with metallic highlights.

Just to note a couple of small construction points before I get to the fist, he DOES have the long-awaited Vikor boots so you cannot see any pegs at his ankles and his loincloth does not restrict his hip movement. The standard belt piece of the furry shorts has some metallic purple highlights and since se don’t have much purple in the Heroic Warriors sect, he brings some color variety.

Now, what makes Fisto Fisto? Why, his fist of course! As much as I don’t care for how the Sorceress’ wings were handled in terms of engineering, I LOVE how they handled the fist. It is appropriately sized for me (not “treasure chest” huge) and I LOVE the color of paint they used. It is not the dreaded vac metal, but it has a very nice metallic quality to it and I hope they use this for all silver accents that need a kick going forward. It really does work incredibly well. His knuckles have some raised copper highlights that will leave nice indentations on your forehead, the likes we have not seen since a nice Miami Dolphins AFC Championship ring* (*Ace Ventura fans rejoice). I know we originally heard that the fist would not be removable, but I can tell you that it most certainly. In fact, the inside sculpt is such that it does not even require a peg to stay on Fisto’s arm. It is perfectly molded to fit right over the wrist band and goes into place with a “pop”. It stays in place great, but can come right off. If you want to remove any of your other figures’ hands you can put this right on them (if they have that standard wrist, of course) and I am willing to bet you can give Fisto a regular hand if you have an extra one lying around that fits his skin tone. I can only pray that Jitsu (where the heck is he anyway?) will be handled the same way. I cannot tell for sure but I think that he has a new right biceps to compensate for the fist. It has a vein that I think is new, but I am not 100% sure on that. Either way, his arm moves great even with the big fist.

*EDIT: I have just learned that the fist is NOT meant to be removable, I am not sure if this sample is a fluke, but we will wait and see until subscribers start to have him in hand.*

So, now I would like to take a departure from the traditional First Look format to bring you an unbridled and gratuitous exercise in violence. Since Fisto does it so well, here is a picture of him punching every Evil Warrior released in the Classics line thus far. Enjoy!

Clawful!

Webstor!

Whiplash!

Tri-Klops!

Faker!

Scare Glow!

Mer-Man!

Beastman!

Trap-Jaw!

Skeletor!

Evil-Lyn!

I am willing to admit that I genuinely love most of the figures in the MOTUC line. Even if they are not perfect, I can often find things that I love about each one and usually the good outweighs the bad. Just as in the last First Look, the Sorceress’ wings are disappointing, but I still think she is a beautiful figure. Fisto though, I don’t throw out the word perfect very often, but with the unique exception of some paint issues on the armor on this figure, I truly believe that he is a prefect figure. The sculpt, quality, construction, accessories,etc. all make for a fantastic execution that he will likely be definitive for vintage and 200x fans alike. Can I please get a Stridor now? Fisto needs his unofficial steed! Can I get a Jitsu now? Fisto needs his unofficial arch enemy! I absolutely adore this figure and I think most collectors will too and will fall in love next month right around Valentine’s Day. Mer-Man is now tied for my favorite figure in the entire line, because Fisto stands toe to toe with him, something that, for me, has not been achieved in almost three years in a line that has a ton of standout figures. Fisto is a winner – 100%. He is what Classics is all about, let’s see more of that!

*Thanks for checking out this love letter to a burly action figure man, and thanks to Toy Guru for sending this bearded brawler our way. I think all this manliness calls for a more feminine side and it will take THREE of them to match Fisto!

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