Crom! That’s right, crom, crom, crom, crom, CROM! The original concept for He-Man making into plastic form is exactly the kind of thing that makes the Classics line so much fun. I mean, a completely new character has been introduced into the MOTU mythos, and that is just based off of an original concept drawing. Awesome! But the awesome doesn’t stop there – Adam might be the most Powerful Man in the Universe, but Vikor is undoubtably the newly anointed Badass of the Universe.
Now, I started this all off with CROM! If you are a fan of Conan, you know that is his thing, but let’s face it, even though I love my Legendary Comic Book Heroes Conan figure, Vikor here has just become the greatest Conan figure ever, without ever even being Conan. But if you think about it, it makes sense. He-Man was being developed at the early height of the Conan popularity craze (I suppose Californians have one thing to be thankful for in their Governor) to capitalize on the barbarian chic; while Masters took off into cool magical and technological directions as well, the mini comics and early art remind us of the rough and tumble origins.
Vikor captures this feeling really well and he is, by far, the most intimidating and barbarian-esque of all of the He-Men thus far. The look is what sells it and to me it seems that the Horsemen had a ball creating Vikor. While he does share a lot of standard MOTUC elements, he has costume and weaponry that are wholly his own to give him a ton of personality. Does share some torso, arm and leg pieces with the standard He-Man buck and at first glance, it appears he also has his boots in common. However, this is the first place where the figure differentiates itself from the pack. Yes, they do LOOK just like the He-Man boots, but if you will notice from the picture, the ankle peg holes are no longer visible, eliminating four joint-telling locations. So, aesthetically, that is a welcomed advancement. But, that is only scratching the surface – the REAL advantage of this change is that the loss of the peg holes has ostensibly eliminated the loose ankle syndrome that has been a regular bug in the line. Yep, Vikor stands tall and sturdy and I have played with the joints quite a bit and they have not loosened up yet. +1 to the engineering crew!
After the boots, the new (and awesome) stuff becomes much more apparent, His head is one of the nicest sculpts of the line so far and there is a lot detailing in the horned viking-esque helmet. In the face he does look like a He-Man, but an older, tougher and more grizzled He-Man. He also ditches the page boy do for droopy black hair, much more in line with the pillagers of his time. He also has pelt that he wears for both form and function. That’s right, it is a PELT and not a cape. Bow wears a cape, Vikor kills and skins a Grizzlor to keep warm up there by the Ice Mountains, he is the He-Man of the North after all. He keeps that pelt snugly around his neck with a chain of animal bones – probably his left overs from last Tuesday. He also wears more of a long loin cloth instead of the standard furry Underoos and heavy gauntlets with real metal chains attached. Indeed, Vikor is his own [He] Man.
What I really love though, are his weapons. What is has, an axe, sword and shield – might be expected, but ain’t nobody gots weapons like Vikor. His double-bladed axe is for choppin’ off heads and it has some nice subtle rust paint effects to it. His shield is adorned in the same silver, green and brown color scheme and it even has a wicked point on it so his primary form of defense is also a solid source of offense. He also carries a thick broad sword in the same style as his other two accessories and he can carry it in a holster that hangs about his waist in the back. I really do love these pieces and while my purist mind might think them a bit out of scope in the line with anyone else, with Vikor, they just work perfectly.
But despair not! Even if you, for some reason, don’t like his original weapons, if you picked up that first Weapons Pak, that blue Power Sword and shield to belong to this V-Man. I like this idea quite a lot and I want to display my Vikor with all of the weapons. Since he was a He-Man, he needs to have the standard He-Man weaponry and if you so choose, you can bring them right in. I think the figure was originally supposed to come with a half blue Power Sword, but it did not make the cut. The He-Man of the North deserves cold, blue steel.
Finally, I have to give props to the bio, I really like this one and I am usually pretty wishy-washy with the bios. See, I have my own history of characters that had toys or media appearances when I was a kid. I am keeping that MOTU history because I like it. However, with someone like Vikor whose designs are the oldest but characterization is brand new, they did a great job with the bio. We learn he is from the north, he was He-Man closely after Grayskull and battled the Fighting Foe Men (the original pitch name for MOTU). So, it gives a lot of neat information and makes me want to know more about Vikor. Though I am confident in not knowing that he killed a lot of bad guys.
Mmmmm… VIKOR! Since Bow had to be bumped a month, I am so glad it was Vikor that is taking his place in January. Club Eternia ’11 gets off with a bang with this bad ass He-Man and I think MOTU fans are really going to dig him. However, Conan fans and people who enjoy barbarian lore in general are probably going to want a piece of this figure. Crom indeed!
*A big forearm shake to Toy Guru and his band of toy-men for getting this advance Vikor to us, we really appreciate it!
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