Seen enough Buzz-Off pics yet? Well, if you haven’t, click through for a bunch and a brief review.
BUZZ-OFF (Heroic Spy in the Sky)
Real Name: Tzzzzt zzz zzTTTzz
Heroic King of the Andreenids, a bee-like species closely related to both the Kex insect people and the Arachna Spider-Warriors, Tzzzzt’s race evolved into fierce warriors, guarding their home and their ambrosia honeycombs with stubborn dignity. Although he initially preferred to keep his people’s neutrality, a sky war initiated by Skeletor gave Tzzzzt more than enough reason to ally himself with King Randor’s Masters of the Universe. He often partners with Mekanek using his wings for airborne spying missions.
I have to say right off the bat that I laughed pretty hard at that real name when I read it the first time. What can I say, I like silly jokes like that and I can’t get too fussed that a guy with the similarly humorous moniker, Buzz-Off was given a silly ‘real’ name. I had the original Buzz-Off figure when I was a kid, but I don’t have any strong memories or attachment to previous versions of the figure or the character. I can’t even remember any filmation episodes with him.
Accessories
Buzz-Off comes with a removable helmet, a short axe and a long axe. The helmet and short axe are very much reminiscent of the original figure’s accessories while the long axe is from the 2002 series. I have to say I don’t much care for the short axe and the helmet. The helmet, while nicely sculpted and full of detail, covers up the shiny green paint on Buzz-Off’s eyes. I love the way those eyes pop agains all the brown and yellow on Buzzy. Without that pop of color, he actually looks a little bland to me. He does kind of look cool as an army builder with the helmet on, though. Check out this pic from Fantastic Exclusive fan board member Superdadd2 for an example of that.
The short axe looks a little odd with that weird guard over the handle. It was necessary in the vintage figure because the claws couldn’t hold the thing otherwise, but since this Buzzy can hold his weapons like any other figure I wish they dropped it. It’s also kind of a tiny weapon in relation to the other weapons thus far. I started liking it more when I was playing with it like it was a throwing axe.
The long axe is probably my favorite and will be my default Buzz-Off weapon. It’s a more substantial looking weapon and I like the way Buzz-Off looks wielding it dual handed or posing with it like a staff.
Sculpt
Ever since the release of Whiplash, I’ve been looking forward to the release of other figures using this monster base body. It’s really quite beautiful and my favorite MOTUC sculpt thus far. There is so much great texture in that sculpt.
The parts that are not re-used from Whiplash (Helmet, Claws, Wings, Head) are also nicely textured. There is a slight bumpy texture to the claws helmet and backpack that gives it a chitinous shell-like feel that’s really cool. I also love the ‘techno’ details on the transluscent wings. It’s an interesting look, but it also makes me think about the character and his species. Are they fully robotic wings, or are Andreenids a techno-organic species?
I could see where fans of the 2002 series would be a little disappointed by the sculpt as this version has a vastly different build than that version, but I like the super-buff Bee-Man we got here. The addition of the extra wing legs and the cool detail on the ‘backpack’ are nice updates to the original look. Looking back at the original figure’s face sculpt, it looks really goofy but there is a certain charm to it. I think this updated head retains the charm, but by making the head less balloon shaped, we end up with a (slightly) less silly looking character.
Articulation
Buzzy sports standard MOTUC articulation with ball jointed wings and extra legs on his back similar to those found on Webstor. The range of motion on these extra appendages is great and Buzz-Off looks awesome in a variety of flying poses. For my money, he looks best when hovering or posed flying. I was feeling a little lukwarm on Buzzy until I started playing with flying poses aided by fishing wire.
Paint
Buzz-Off suffers a tiny bit in the paint department. There is a bit of spill around the eyes on my figure and the dark brown stripes on the chest have some empty spots here and there. There is also a very slight difference between the brown of his lower arm and his upper arm. It’s not catastrophic, though. There is some nice darker yellow airbrushing on the chest to bring out the chest sculpt detail and it cuts down of the plastic look figures molded in yellow plastic can sometimes have. There is also some airbrushing on the arms and chest to highlight the musculature. It looks to me as though the dark brown of the boots and chest have a black wash as well. I do wonder how he would look with some dark wash on the shoulders to blend a bit with the dark brown of his neck (similar to what they did with Whiplash). The sculpt has a nice transition from pebbly texture to smooth arms, so I think it could look cool if the paint also made that transition. I’m not quite willing to risk my figure to try it out, though.
I’m glad to say that in hand, I like Buzz-Off a lot more than I was expecting to. The proportions make for great hand candy and it’s nice to add a more unusual looking and colorful character to my Heroic Warriors. I tend to like the more outlandish looking monstrous characters in MOTU and Buzz-Off is that for sure. He looks formidable with his heavy build, sharp clawed hands and talon like feet, yet he’s also happy looking guy. I like the contrast.
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