When a problem comes along, we have all long been counseled that we must whip it. In fact, we must whip it good. I cannot help but wonder if someone on the creative team at Mattel is big DEVO/Mark Motherbaugh fan (like me) and decided that they should impart this sagely advice to the Eternian Lord of Destruction, Skeletor. As it seems from his new biography, the fan favorite, August-shipping Whiplash is Skeletor’s go to guy for when a problem comes along. Now, usually that problem comes along in the form of He-Man and his pals and if you get your hands on this impressive new Classics iteration of Whiplash, you will be able to share in his duties of whipping those heroic Masters but good.
This coming Monday will be the first time since mid-April that MOTU fans are going to have the opportunity to acquire a new monthly figure based on a vintage Masters line character. Now, it only speaks to the diversity of this Classics line that we have so many factions, influences and lines coming together under one cohesive brand, but after some time away, getting one of the O.G.s is like coming home. If your home is located in the Dark Hemisphere of Eternia. Not to say that this has not been a huge year for the vintage lot, I truly think that both Battle Cat and Trap Jaw are the frontrunners for MOTUC figure of the year, and are also in the running for action figure of the year; I am pleased to say though, Whiplash just might give them a run for their money. Seriously.
Aside from being visually striking and interesting in character on his own merits, Whiplash makes use of a lot of new body parts that help to integrate the “monster” body type from the vintage line into the modern update. So, as it joins the human, reptile and beast bodies there is a lot of opportunity for characters like the upcoming Buzz-Off that make use of this new body almost entirely, but the parts can also be used in conjunction with some of the other bases for guys like Clawful. I also daresay that this is the most detailed of the original four vintage base bodies that have been introduced into Classics. The online pictures have been telling, but once you have Whiplash in hand you will really start to see (and feel!) all of the little nuances that the Four Horsemen have brought to the sculpt.
The feet are, of course, the biggest departure from anything that we have had before and the reptilian hoof-like foot form recall the the vintage influence while being extrememly detailed in the update. Also, the legs have the spines the go down the outer portion of the thighs and in a new twist, the shoulders have added scale-like patches. He also has new forearms that were used quite exstenively in the 80s line and his lizard-like torso scale pattern is achieved via a soft plastic overlay that preserves his ab crunch articulation. All of these features help build upon Whiplash’s beastly nature and, as mentioned before, are the body parts of choice on the December-shipping Buzz-Off figure that has been adapted over as 100% classic vintage. Since he has a lot of new parts he is also BIG. I mean, these figures and big and chunky but Whiplash feels line of the biggest standard figures yet, certainly dwarfing Beastman. One nit that I do have is that his left hand is the same as the first release of Skeletor so it is wide, which is good to hold his new style spear, but makes it so he can only hold his classic weapon in his right hand.
All that being said though, it is the tail that fans have been wondering about the most. It is a secret to no one that the Four Horsemen have created a newly engineered update to the rubber back piece of the original, but not much has been mentioned yet on how it functions. Well, I am here to tell you that you will certainly be able to take out some of those pesky Masters with it. It is big and heavy and it comes in two pieces as you can see in the pictures. It attaches together with a plug about half way down the tail and it can rotate 360 degrees. The “back” piece also attaches with two pegs so it can easily be removed – I imagine the two pegs will also be reserved for attaching Buzz-Off’s wings. Overall, I like this new tail but it would have been neat for it have been bendy too, just to get some even more dynamic whip poses.
Then there is the head, or heads, I should say. In what has come to be fairly regular fashion, Matty has included both the updated vintage and 200x Whiplash heads. While I will admit that the 200x Whiplash redesign was actually one of my favorite updates, I am still a tried and true vintage Whiplash fan. He was always one of my regulars around Snake Mountain and I think one of the reasons that I really like him is the same reason why many fans don’t – his head sculpt. The vintage figure has, how can I say this? Odd? Slow? Brutish? look to it. In any case, it is very distinct and really helps to bring him out in an individual level. Like I said, I love the vintage head, but once again, the Four Horsemen have perfected the look. In fact, I think they have done a good job with pulling over some detractors of the original figure. However, I will let you decide for yourself. I think the 200x head has become a little generic compared to the vintage, but that might be a good thing for me as I might pick up a couple more figures on Monday to serve and henchmen. I will just leave it at that for now, Samuron and I have a literal face-off planned for an upcoming article where we will have a nerd fight over which head is better. Stay tuned.
Like the 200x and vintage heads, you also get the classic and updated spear weapons. I am always glad to get the originals, but especially this one as I think it is most appropriate for the character, but also for the fact that it is being repainted in gold in the Great Wars Weapons Pak so I have give King Randor his original weapon as well. They are really trying to leave no stone unturned. Both of his spears are made of very sturdy plastic and nice bulky. Oh, speaking of plastic, the plastic used on his loin cloth is extremely flexible so you can position him in a variety of tail-whipping poses.
Finally, I wanted to comment a bit on Whiplash’s characterization as delivered through his new bio on the card back. We have gotten a lot of new information about these characters that we love so well with these bios and I think that Whippy’s is one of the best so far. You know, say what you want to about his “real” name (Torrant Krazut™ for those keeping score at home), I have to say that I think his characterization is spot on, and, as odd as it sounds, it fits in with his unique vintage look very well. Whiplash is a bad egg, he took up with Keldor and got himself kicked out of his Sub-Ternian home by his brother and ruler Ceretus. Fitting. Morseso though is that his bio makes him the roughest and toughest SOB in the Snake Mountain stable. I think that is awesome is perfect chracterization for him. Look at the tough guy meat head head sculpt, Whiplash might not be the brightest bulb, but he can kick your butt and he can take a pounding too. Last lizard-man standing against He-Man, I think that is pretty spot on. So, strike this one as being a winning bio in my book, your take may vary though.
I feel like I say this a lot with this line, so here I go again: I think Whiplash is currently the best MOTUC figure to date. Yeah, I know. Even with amazing Trap Jaw (Battle Cat is kind of in another category) I still think the execution of Whiplash here is just far too perfect to be ignored. Even his airbrushing looks like the brown-ish discoloring the vintage figure suffers from, even after all of these years. He is a winner, so if you can’t rest on your Club Eternia laurels on Monday, good luck – he is going to go very, very fast methinks.
*Thanks for reading and thanks to Toy Guru and crew for getting him out to us. I know SDCC is kind of a big thing, but we appreciate taking the time to make this Look possible.
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