Well, Power-Con has come and gone, and now we are mired in a painfully long wait for SDCC to see what the future is for Masters of the Universe Classics. I know a lot of people are on edge wondering if the line will continue next year, so hopefully late July will bring us some good news. In the interim, we do have a robust lineup for this year, and the latest entrant is Darius, the leader of the Galactic Protectors!
Like most of the figures from this year, Darius is running behind schedule, so while he was technically the May figure, he is just now starting to hit the doorsteps of collectors across the globe. Better late than never, though, and if you consider the fact that the vintage figure never actually got released in the late ’80s, this new Classics figure showed up lightning fast. The Galactic Protectors squad is certainly one of the more slower-growing groups in MOTUC, but 2016 has certainly helped to increase their numbers (Tuskador is coming later this year), and now that Darius is finally over his nearly thirty-year hiatus, the team finally has their proper leader.
If you are like me and were never really into the New Adventures saga until the Classics line, you might not even know who Darius is or what he is all about, the poor guy. When this character was conceived and fleshed out, he had such a promising future; he would be the leader of the good guys in the New Adventures, have his own action figure in the line, and probably have a prominent role in the supporting TV show. From a development standpoint, everything was coming up Darius.
About that . . . in several cases of bad luck gone awry, he was somehow dropped from the list of characters for the NA cartoon bible, and his action figure never happened due to the fact that the engineers at Mattel were never able to get his action feature gimmick to work. Thus, with the exception of a few tertiary media items and some overseas-exclusive stories, Darius was mostly wiped from existence during the New Adventures’ short tenure. Judging by the mace-spinning action that was planned for the vintage figure, the complex movement makes it easy to see that the feature would be difficult to pull off; it is just a shame that it essentially sunk and entire character.
That is, until now! Exciting lead-in isn’t it? But, really, Classics has been just as much about getting what we never had as it has been updating what we cherished so long ago. Darius follows in a long line of never-beens in the line, and while that sounds like a possible slight against him, I actually think of it more as a great thing to be able to get an interesting character that adds to the ever-growing diversity of the line. I realize that, even in the New Adventures, He-Man was the focal point, but when I think of what is often referred to as a “faction leader,” Darius comes to mind for the Galactic Protectors, so as far as I am concerned, even this far in, important pieces are still falling into place.
Darius fits the mold of a classic Classics figure in that he is built off of an established based body with borrowed parts from previous figures, but it also offers the things he needs to be true to his original design and to make him unique. The Four Horsemen (Djordje in this case, I believe, took the sculpting reigns), followed the character blueprint pretty much to a T, taking every element on its own. Darius certainly looks like a classic 1980s fantasy “outer space guy,” so that is fitting, and, in true MOTU form, his costume elements and colors do that dangerous dance of being right on the line of being overly garish (the copper and gold combination take it right to the breaking point), but are somehow kept in check and are befitting the true element of Masters.
At his base, Darius is made up existing parts for just about everything save for his hips, thighs, armor/cape, and, of course, his new head. If you look to places like his boots and gauntlets, you see that those borrowed parts share commonality with previous New Adventures figures, so it helps to build cohesion within that team. The new parts are nice updates of the original design, especially the armor, and in typical Djordje fashion, meticulous sculpting has been given to even the most minute detail. I think Djordje has great strength in the technical details of a sculpt, so these NA guys work right in his wheelhouse. The armor and “shorts” look just a much like pieces of technology as they do wardrobe choices, so while the NA theme breaks the barbarian overtones, it certainly comes with its own theme, and Darius is a great example.
To me, Darius’s most defining feature is his face and helmet. Yeah, I know that easy to say, and those are quite often the most defining physical feature of any character, but Darius offers a unique take among his NA brethren. Yes, I just said Darius is classic example of the NA aesthetic, but his strong facial features and fatherly beard grounds him just a bit. I don’t think it is a coincidence that he holds a passing resemblance to classic King Randor. It makes sense that he would have been the leader and (likely) mentor to He-Man during this period. The helmet is a nice balance of space wear and battle protection, and it actually fits really well over the head.
Darius also comes with a new, and rather large, cape with a nice dropped look in the back and technological bits at the top. It snaps into the armor securely, and, even though it is large, it does not affect the figure’s ability to pose. His classic accessories are included as well, and if I had to pick a weak spot for this figure, it would be his mace and shield. The sculpts are fine, but both are painted flat with no paint details to speak of. This does not affect the shield as much as the mace, but it does take from both of them. The infamous mace (no action feature included) is very unique, but man, it needs some metallic accents to make it look convincing. These eliminated elements are very obviously the result of budget constraints, but they are important and I wish they were not passed over.
Darius is a strong addition to the NA sect and to the Classics line as whole. Even at this juncture, this line continues to offer important and interesting characters to the line. Yes, that sounds like a lead-in to a plea to “keep the line moving,” but at this point, I am not even going to apologize for it. There is still a lot left in Masters of the Universe Classics, as Darius clearly shows, so I want to see it continue and move forward under the skilled hands of the Horsemen. It has been a part of my life long enough now that, even though it is weird to say, MOTUC collecting is a happy part of my lifestyle, so let’s hope for some great news from SDCC.
