Sy-Klone spun his way to my house a few hours after the sale began on Mattycollector.com last Friday. I wasn’t a Sy-Klone fan as a child nor have I found his character particularly interesting in any of the media I’ve taken in as an adult, but I found myself enjoying the crazy weapons and bold primary colors on this figure. Read on for more pics and thoughts about the Masters of the Universe Classics monthly figure for May!
Bio
SY-KLONE
Heroic Fist-Flinging Tornado
Real Name: Sy-Klone Son of Dy-Lex
Protector of the Legacy Stones and the Last Defender of Anwat Gar, Sy-Klone joined the Masters of the Universe after the Stones were destroyed and his mission completed. He wears the last remaining TECH vest Armor created by his Gar ancestors to terrorize Eternia after the Great Wars. Its built-in wind rockets allow the user to create powerful vortexes of spinning energy as a defensive weapon or to fly through the air. Sy-Klone has upgraded his armor to also include cosmic radar which lets him sense the physical presence of evil long before others. Sy-Klone’s wind Powers and radar chest make him combat ready!
This bio refers back to Sy-Klone’s origin episode in the 2002 series. I find it interesting that Sy-Klone is confirmed as Gar, the same as Keldor, and that the Gar ‘terrorized’ Eternia. I suppose that’s the reason for the distrust of the Gar that was part of why Keldor was banished from the royal palace. The description of Sy-Klone’s armor as creating powerful vortexes of spinning energy makes him sound more like a super hero, which kind of fits his appearance. As a kid, I assumed he was a robot due to the complete rotation at the waist. It didn’t seem like something a biological creature could do. Perhaps the vortexes emanate from the rings around his calves and forearms?
Accessories. Sy-Klone comes with a shield and a massive ring that he can either hold or can be attached to his back. Both accessories are made of a solid plastic. The shield is based on the shield the original figure came with. One change they made here that I like is that the shield is painted in a darker, flat yellow different from the yellow on Sy-Klone’s body. The old figure had a shield in the same bright yellow plastic as the figure and it looked really toy-ish. The darker yellow makes it look better to my eye.
The ring is a hold over from the 2002 era and it’s a nice addition. Attached to his back, it makes for an interesting visual and the additional bits of red help set off all the blue and yellow of the main body. It can also be held in his hand as a weapon of sorts or can be placed around his body as a kind of deadly Hula Hoop.
I originally thought of it as a bladed weapon of some kind, but the edges are blunt. I suppose anything he holds in his hands would be a devastating weapon if he’s spinning around at high speeds. It’s such a large and unwieldy looking weapon I imagine he’d have to perfect some unique form of martial art to weild it effectively. It sort of makes me think of old Jackie Chan movies where anything he picks up can be used to confound and pound opponents. I was also thinking he could hurl it about as a type of blunt chakram like Captain America hurls his shield.
Originally when I opened this figure, I found myself wishing that he came with a sword or perhaps two smaller chakram like weapons similar in design to the giant red ring on his back. After playing with the figure for a while, though, I started to get an appreciation for the ring as a unique bit of weaponry.
Articulation
Sy-Klone has the standard MOTUC articulation, and his boots are the new pegless style seen with Vikor. The ankles are extremely tight and the rocker joint doesn’t work too well on mine. The belt piece and his yellow shorts are one piece of flexible plastic, so his hip range of motion is probably some of the best of the line for the male MOTUC figures. The ab crunch movement seems really good despite the large chest radar sculpt and the arm movement is unimpeded by the fins on his arm.
Sculpt
Sy-Klone is very much an update of the classic MOTU figure with all the original details made to look sharper, the proportions straightened out and new articulation. He has new glove and boot pieces, a new headsculpt, and the chest piece is all new. It looks very similar to the torso of the original He-Man body, except the housing for his lenticular radar dish screen is sculpted into the body.
Paint
Paint was a big surprise on Sy-Klone. I was expecting this figure to look particularly toy-ish and plastic looking, but they used some nice flat yellow plastic for the arms and legs and the main body is a flat blue plastic. The arms and legs have a darker yellow airbrush shading along the muscle striations that adds some depth to the sculpt. The only issue I have with paint is there was a slight bleed on the red ring on Syk’s helmet.
Overall
Sy-Klone is not a figure I was particularly looking forward to. He was never a favorite figure as a child and to be honest, I never really felt like he ‘fit’ with the rest of the characters in MOTU.
The primary colors and strange powers make him seem more like a super-hero than anything else. I love the genre mish-mash aspect of MOTU, but for some reason I held the super-hero genre as something that shouldn’t mish with the rest of my MOTU mash.
Having the figure in hand, though, I’ve grown to appreciate his unique, if somewhat garish, super heroic style. It’s further confirmation for me that even the characters I’m not particularly excited about can make for cool figures in hand. That’s comforting for a subscription holder like myself! The lenticular radar dish is cooler than I remember lenticular stickers from the 80’s being. The radar dish sweep is really smooth and it makes me nostalgic for the toys of my youth, many of which featured lenticular stickers.
Turarounds
Previous reviews:
