MOTUC Feature – Eternos Palace Randor

Randor gets his first variant with this Filmation-inspired figure. Click through for more pics and thoughts about Eternos Palace Randor.

Accessories

Randor comes with a spear, a removable necklace, and a chalice. The spear is a repaint of Whiplash’s spear in a bright yellow plastic. The yellow is bright and almost matches the yellow on the figure’s crown and bracers, but not quite. I kind of like it insofar as I enjoy seeing the classic MOTU weapons cast in different colors, but it does seem a little superfluous for Randor in his jammies, I mean royal accoutrement.

I think a repaint of his original scepter might have made more sense here. The necklace is a little plastic yellow jewel on a stiff golden string. It’s a bit problematic to keep facing the right direction as the string can get caught up in Randor’s hair, which causes the jewel to flop around and not face the right direction.

The goblet is actually really cool. The sculpt has a classic goblet design and has some interesting designs sculpted on there that recall some of the architecture of the Filmation Eternos Palace. It’s also coated in vac metal that seems to be holding up great so far.

Sculpt

Eternos Randor reuses the original MOTUC Randor head sculpt, upper torso, and forearms. The shoulders and biceps are a brand new tool for puff-sleeve perfection, and there are also a new robe jacket and skirt pieces.

The total effect is very close to a perfect representation of Filmation Randor, which, depending on your preferences, can be a good or bad thing. I’m a Filmation kid, but the designs on that show are simplified for ease of animation, so sometimes they make for plain figures that aren’t as detailed as some of the vintage figures. I can’t help but wonder if Randor would have benefitted from some of the design embellishments we’ve seen, like the armor textures we saw with Bow or the extra belt and collar details on the Fang Man prototype.

Still, this Randor is undeniably, strongly Filmation and that hits the nostalgia buttons just right for me. He looks so cool posed with the royal family. He also looks a lot tougher and more solid on the MOTUC body than as depicted in the cartoon.

Articulation

Here is where this figure suffers the most. The biggest problem with this figure is that he has no bicep swivel. That seriously limits poseability. In addition, Randor’s skirt is very restricive and allows for little leg movement. The addition of some side cuts on Randor’s skirt that would have been hidden would have allowed for more regular posing.

Randor also has some of the stiffest ankles in the line and zero ankle rocker functionality. Randor in Filmation did a lot of sitting and standing around, so I suppose it’s less of an issue for this figure, but I really dislike any unnecessary cuts to the standard articulation.

I wonder why they didn’t add a simple swivel like Teela’s arm, or even the method the 4H used to make Steppenwolf’s puffy sleeves in the DCUC line might have worked.

Paint

Randor has a lot of solid blue plastic on his arm and a robe that is a little bit shiny. The legs appear to be cast in orange plastic without any shading on them at all and that leads to a more plasticine look than you usually want to see.

The paint on the hair and beard looks nice and appears to have a wash or some light highlighting dry brush, and the skin also has some cool airbrushing to give it life. The right eyebrow on my Randor is a little splotchy, but you have to get up close to see it.

I’m a little torn on this figure. I love the Filmation cartoon, so this figure’s design hits the nostalgia mark perfectly for me. This version fits in perfectly with the more Filmation-inspired Royal Family we already have, and it’s nice to have a non-armored version of King Randor since that was how he most often appeared in the toons and comics.

That said, there are some things that really bug me about this guy, first and foremost are the cuts to the standard MOTUC articulation. He is very limited in posing, but that does match the Marlena we already have and his character on the show.

Randor was usually standing or sitting about, so the articulation limits don’t kill this for me. It still sticks in my craw a bit, but the Filmation nostalgia helps me get over it.

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