Princess of Power fans rejoice, Bow has arrived. Bow was one of the big surprises for me from San Diego Comic-Con. I actually like the character from the show and I’m a card carrying Four Horsemen Fanatic, but even I doubted that he would make a decent action figure. I should know better than to doubt the Horsemen. How did the final figure turn out? Click through for more pics and some brief words.
Bio
Bow: Special Friend Who Helps She-Ra
Real Name: Kyle Recula
After wandering through Despondos for several centuries and unable to return to Eternia, Hordak and his ageless army eventually claimed Etheria as a new throne world, deposing the local monarchs and ruling the people through fear. A nobleman in Queen Angela’s court, Kyle was one of many brave warriors who took up arms against the Horde invaders and joined the Great Rebellion. Nicknamed “Bow” due to his natural ability as an archer, each of his arrows possesses different powers and he has a magical heart that beats frantically when She-Ra is in danger. Bow is secretly in love with Princess Adora, unaware that she and She-Ra are one in the same!
The real name sounds like an anagram or name mash-up to me and I’d be curious to find out what it’s a reference to. I like that Bow is a nobleman. It explains his flashy gear and he has a sort of old school swashbuckler hero feel to him reminiscent of Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood or Douglas Fairbanks’ Zorro. I imagine Bow as a shiftless rich boy who steps up when his planet is in need. Skills he picked up as a man of leisure (Riding, Hunting, erm, playing music) come in handy fighting the Horde. The ‘beating heart’ and ‘She-Ra’s Special friend’ parts are pretty hilarious, but seem appropriate as they come straight from the licensing materials to a girl’s toy line.
Accessories
Bow comes with a grip of stuff. His chest armor, cape and quiver are all one remove able piece. He has a bow (sans string), one slightly short arrow, an alternate head sculpt, a harp for bard time and an alternate center piece for the chest armor.
The clean shaven head is based on his vintage look. I have to say I prefer the more Filmation look of the head sporting the mustache. That head is really Bow for me and I’m glad Mattel was able to make it even without the Filmation rights. You can also remove the heart from the chest piece and replace it with a circle if the heart threatens your manhood a little too much. A nice feature, to be sure, and the piece swaps easily and fits securely.
The bow is stringless, but I much prefer this option to the fixed bow that came with DCUC Artemis and Green Arrow. A quick trip to Michael’s arts and crafts for some elastic and I have a workable bow for, erm, Bow. Unfortunately the arrow is still a little short for a convincing pull back pose for my taste. The arrow looks about the right length for the quiver, though. I had some extra arrows from god knows where in my fodder box that work okay, but not ideally. One odd thing about the quiver is that the arrowheads are pointing upwards. Usually when I see quivers, the fletching is outside of the quiver so the archer can grab it without stabbing himself. I guess Bow is just really careful. Perhaps the fact that they are magic arrows makes them easier to grab. the rope from his quiver is a little odd, though. It kind of floats there, so I looped it around the shoulder armor to secure it in place. The armor can fit nicely, but it’s a bit loose and falls out of position with posing.
Articulation
Bow has the standard MOTUC articulation scheme with the addition of a hinge in his wrist to aid in arrow aiming poses. Bow is unique in MOTUC figures in that he’s one of the men who doesn’t wear the furry underwear so prevalent on Eternia. He’s a man with pants and the crotch piece is brand new for the line. It’s a decent look, but it does hinder leg articulation a bit more than the furry underpants do. The ankle joints are the new Vikor style without the visible peg holes and are extremely tight.
Sculpt
I like how the Horsemen combined elements from the Style Guide and original figures and made Bow a bit more detailed than his style guide look. I love the little details like the texture in the red parts of the shoulder pads. It’s a nice bit of extra detail, not overdone and helps make Bow way cooler than I could have imagined. He fits in well with the other figures and I hope future POP characters get this kind of treatment. The standard MOTUC biceps are a little big for archery and I wonder if they had done some new slightly smaller biceps the arrow pulling poses would be a little more successful. You can still get some pretty decent poses, though.
One of the things I love about MOTU in general is the insane genre mash across the line. Cowboys, Barbarians, Monsters, Aliens, Robots and now with Bow we have a Swashbuckler.
I absolutely love him posed with She-Ra and can’t wait for more She-Ra related figures from this line. He’s not perfect – the looseness of the armor and hugeness of the biceps fight each other when posing Bow in an arrow firing pose – but he looks great once you have futzed with the pose enough.
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