Whiplash: Evil Tail-Thrashing Warrior
Real Name: Torrant Krazut
Following their father’s untimely death, Torrant grew up bitter under the rule of his older brother Ceratus. After years of brooding in Sub-Ternia, he struck a deal with a surface dweller named Keldor and helped lead his forces in a raid against Randor’s army during the Great Unrest. Although Keldor’s plan failed, Torrant was banished from Subternia for betraying his people. He was taken by his former employer and quickly rose up throught the ranks, staying with Keldor even after his transformation into Skeletor, serving as his chief brute squad enforcer. his thick hide and stubborn intellect have made him more than a match for the Masters of the Universe, often leaving only He-Man to defeat him. Whiplash uses his thrashing tail for doom and destruction.
Not a bad bio for me this month as it slightly expands upon the bit of background I’ve seen in the modern cartoon and gives him a job – Brute Squad Enforcer. Now, I’m used to seeing Skeletor with a small band of evil warriors, so I’m not really sure who makes up the Brute Squad Torrant commands, but it sounds nice. I actually kind of like the ‘real name’ on this one. It has a standard fantasy fiction feel.
Accessories
Whiplash comes with two headsculpts (one in a modern and one in a classic style) a spear and knife/pitchfork/scythe type thing. The spear is pretty faithful to the classic spear. Almost a little too faithful as the rounded edges and bright orange color feel a little too toy-ish for my tastes. It fits okay in his right hand, though it’s a little loose.
The 200x knife/pitchfork/scythe type thing looks a little more deadly, but doesn’t stay in his hand well. It has a thicker handle so it’ll fit in the left hand, but it’s a little loose on mine, so it doesn’t hold poses well. The larger handle makes me not want to place that weapon in the right hand as to ruin that grip for the other weapon.
The ‘classic’ head sculpt is a great update of the original as you would expect. I have a lot of love for that original Whiplash figure as it was the last MOTUC figure I ever got and one I purchased on my own by saving up my meager allowance for many a week. I have a very specific memory of getting that figure and a lot of nostalgia is working on me for this one, but I do think the original Whiplash head sculpt looked pretty dopey. He looked clownish rather than dangerous. The new head sculpt doesn’t make him look like a Rhodes scolar, but he looks like that dangerous thug kind of dumb. I think the arch of the eyebrows help a lot in that regard.
I’ve been going back and forth on the modern head sculpt. I originally didn’t care for how it looked on the classic body style, but when I saw it at SDCC I started to warm up to it. Having the sculpt in hand, I can say it is beautiful but it doesn’t really work as well on the body as the classic head sculpt. I really love the way the Horsemen worked the more pebbly skin texture into the head sculpt so that it merges nicely with the pebbly texture in the neck. I keep staring at the transition between those textures. It’s a great sculpt, but it looks a little too large on the shoulders of the classics style body.
Sculpt
Whiplash looks to be mostly new parts, which is nice to see in the re-use heavy MOTUC line. The torso is completely sculpted in the pebbly skin texture. The striped section of his chest is an overlay piece that wraps under his ab crunch and is secured to a peg in his back.
The gator tail section is a separate piece that snaps onto the pegs on his back. The sculpt also has some great texture work. I think my favorite aspect of this new base body is the shoulders with the scaley texture sculpt. The scales make a nice transition from the pebbly skin texture, to larger scales which fade out to the smooth biceps. I think these go a long way toward making the chest parts look more like part of the creature than a piece of body armor. It certainly makes me a lot more excited to see the classics version of Clawful, a figure I wasn’t sure would translate well in this style.
Articulation
Whiplash features the standard MOTUC articulation, but it functions a little better than most due to a couple factors. First off, the loincloth piece is probably the softest plastic they’ve used for this piece yet. Secondly, the new monster ‘boots’ have a slightly improved range of motion at the rocker and ankle hinge joints. The larger feet and the counter balance of the tail help get Torrant to stay in some deeper stances than some of his MOTUC brethren. The tail has one swivel joint, which is all the range of motion you need, but I kind of wish they had added a couple more swivels along the tail segments to make a more natural looking swivel.
Paint
The paint job is really nice on this figure, with clear crisp lines on the face details. The ‘boots’ have a dark blue wash that brings out the scale-y texture nicely. The arms and legs are cast in a sickly green-yellow and appear to have some bright green sprayed on strategically to highlight the muscles.
There is also a bit of darker green spray on the shoulders to provide a more natural transition from the dark green of the chest to the lighter green arms. There is also a bit of light green on the neck to make for a more natural transition from bright green of the head to the darker green neck. I wish there had been a little more dark green on the shoulders and a bit more light green on the neck to sell the transition a bit better, though.
Overall a great figure (a couple of nitpicks aside). The new sculpt and shocking color make for great looking addition to the shelf.
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