Hail to the king, baby! As we come to a close on the first year of Masters of the Universe Classics (can you believe He-Man and Beast Man were released at this time last year?), Matty, Toy Guru, the Four Horsemen and the rest of the Mattel gang are offering up some order to your MOTUC displays in the form of the King of Eternia himself – King Randor. One of the last figures in the original Masters of the Universe line comes to us fully updated in true MOTUC style with all of the dedication to the original figure with some modern updates. Randor is ready to rule and is still completely in the dark to the fact that he has two super-powered offspring kicking the butt of evil on two separate planets in two different dimensions.
The second born to the former king of Eternia, Miro, this is one monarch not to be messed with. I remember really wanting a King Randor figure when I was a kid, he was very prominent in the Filmation cartoon, he and Man-at-Arms we trusted comrades of the old guard and he was the freakin’ father of He-Man – as a 6 year old I knew he was essential to my plastic universe. Well, it took long enough but Mattel finally squeezed him into the line (along with the even more overdue Sorceress, and the creepy-cool Scare Glow) near the very end. He seemed to be the easiest of that assortment to find because I am pretty sure I got him early on (there were no interwebs sites with leaked lists and timelines back then) and when I did receive him I remember being a bit puzzled. This was not the king from the cartoon that I knew, sitting, feasting and being an overall easy target for Skeletor and his minions, this King Randor had muscles to match the rest of the Masters and looked like he could beat up ol’ Skullface all by himself. No, the toy was MUCH cooler than the cartoon counterpart.
With that, I am glad to now have a Horsemen-updated version of that toy, and I can tell you that he is ready to take on his jerky older brother Skeletor and go find that bat-pig-man that stole his little girl. This Randor will not lead from the throne, this Randor will lead from the front of his Eternian army the way he was brought up, as Captain to King.
The figure itself, as mentioned before, is very true to the original – he has a very detailed and stern look to him with his essential crown and kingly beard. I know a lot of people (even Toy Guru at SDCC 2009) have made reference to the fact that he closely resembles another king – a certain Highness of Hamburgers, but I would be too afraid to address him as such because he would probably kick your butt. Yes, He-Man is the dedicated Champion of Eternia, but if Adam never changed out of his purple tights and pink vest, Randor would probably be holding the line against any onslaught of evil.
As everyone knows by now, Randor is made up mostly of the heroic human buck body (used by He-Man, Man-at-Arms, etc.) and his colorings are very true to the vintage figure. Red and blue are very regal colors so he looks quite kingly, but it is great to see that he still has the somewhat out of place orange tights that the old figure had. On the plus side it is nice to see that, as a kingdom, Eternos is wealthy enough that their ruler can wear pants (and not just his furry underoos); the other side of the coin is that Eternian fashion sense is not getting any more progressive and Tim Gunn would probably have a heart attack at the sight of those orange stretch pants. However, for nostalgia’s sake, I am glad to have them and when you are the king you can do what you like.
Also true to the original are Randor’s cape and armor, but both are very nicely updated. Keeping up with November’s Scare Glow figure, Randor’s cape is very nicely sculpted. A collector friend of mine pointed out that the two places the Horsemen have opportunity for improvement are female hair sculpts (especially the long variety) and capes. Well, the past two months have been great steps for the latter. Randor’s cape is very nicely detailed and the folds and flow really bring out a cloth look, without having to resort to the actual medium (which NEVER looks good at this scale).
The armor, too, is a nice update from the 80s figure – the motif is still the same but the pattern has been set with a greater size variety to the points, especially the portion hanging over the abdominal joint. It also makes me hopeful that it takes us one step closer to getting a Jitsu figure (since they shared armor in the 1980s). Ron, we are getting closer, ever so closer.
It is in his accessories where Randor takes a departure from vintage to a more 200x feel. Gone is his spear-like weapon (hopefully we will see that with Whiplash when he makes his appearance) in favor of a scepter and sword with a matching diamond pattern. The gold on silver with blue accents (that match his armor) work well together and the paint is clean. I actually like this change as it gives Randor the uniqueness he deserves and it gives a sort of crest or insignia to the House of Randor without getting lost in the fame of the Power Sword.
I do have a nitpick though, the plastic used on Randor here is very rigid, especially in his hands, shorts and cape. That is pretty big bummer as it limits his posing options in his legs. I am sure how much this bugs will very person to person, but I hope this is not going to be the norm going forward, they were doing such a great job making them more flexible.
I have heard some mixed reactions to the actual character choice of Randor around the the intertubes, people saying that maybe he won’t sell out or that people really were not demanding him. I am very pleased to be getting him as Eternia would VERY incomplete without him and I have no doubt he will sell out (so hurry). Like Scare Glow, I think Randor has his loyal followers but a lot of people will be won over by him once they have him. He is in a tough month (following Teela and Scare Glow and sharing the limelight with the Goddess) but he should do just fine. He will be on sale on December 15th, only at Matty Collector.
I will leave this speaking directly to Matty, Toy Guru and the Horsemen: Randor has a Queen, an ESSENTIAL character to the MOTU mythos, the character that ties Earth to Eternia. Marlena. Randor needs his Queen. We need to FINALLY get a figure of Queen Marlena. I am throwing down the axe – MAKE IT SO! Thanks for reading.
*As always, a million thanks to Toy Guru , Rhobyn and Matty for sending Randor along for review. We have a lot more coming your way this week so stay tuned!
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