Man, I’m running so far behind on this review I’m sure most everybody has their figure already. But if you still have any interest in pics of this figure, please click through for more of the MOTUC figure of the month, the Faceless One!
Bio
The Faceless One – Ancient Lord of Zalesia
Real Name: Nikolas Powers
As the ruler of Zalesia, Nikolas Powers was entrusted by King Grayskull to guard the city’s great magical objects – the Havoc Staff and the mystical Ram Stone. Powers was a core member of Grayskull’s Council of Elders, great mages from across Eternia who had the wisdom to tap into the planet’s hidden magical secrets. But by marrying and having a daughter, he broke the Elder’s treaty with King Hssss to not produce any heirs. Powers was stripped of his humanity, condemned to never leave Zalesia and forced to watch his beloved city destroyed by Serpos. Now called “The Faceless One”, he asked the wizard-warrior He-Ro, to use the power of Central Tower to send his daughter, Evelyn into the future. There, with his immortality, he hoped to raise her away from the terror of the Great Wars.
Stripped of his humanity? Holy crap, that’s a harsh punishment! The Elders did not mess around, boy. I’m assuming when he was stripped of his humanity, that’s what messed up his face, but that’s not really clear from this tale. I mean, it probably would have have been tough to find a gal to be Evil-Lynn’s mother with that kisser. It makes me wonder what happened with Lynn’s mother. Was she killed in battle or by the council? That seems way more evil than I would think for them, though the mention of the council in the bio does remind me that it would be cool to see more of those characters as figures at some point too.
Accessories
Niko comes with a variation on Skeletor’s Havoc Staff and the Ramstone. The staff is just Skelly’s Havoc Staff with a the head cast in a clear red plastic. I dig the look as it’s sort of a powered up/energy blasting look to it. It looks great on it’s own, but I really like it with some light shining through it.
The ramstone is one of ‘magical MacGuffins of the week’ from the 2002 show and it looks pretty accurate to it’s appearance in that show. I want to say the stone was a shinier lime green in the cartoon, but this looks fine in a metallic green. Powers can wield it fine in his left hand.
Sculpt
The Faceless one sports your standard base body with Keldor boots, Zodak gloves and Count Marzo’s left hand along with a newly sculpted head, cape/shoulderpad/chest armor/headress combo and loincloth piece.
The cape/shoulderpad/chest armor/headress combo piece dominates the figure and is really nicely done with beautiful curves and some sharp details. The shoulder pads are a separate but attached piece from the headress, so they have a little movement to them. The whole assemblage is pretty heavy, but balance has not been much of an issue with this guy so far. The only issue I have with it is that it doesn’t quite attach as securely as other removeable armors. There isn’t a a ‘latch’ point where you know you have the armor on exactly where it should be.
The head sculpt has been the source of some controversy which I can understand. When I think of The Faceless One, my mind really goes to a face like ‘The Question’ but with deeper eye sockets. I can see what they were going for, though after re-watching the Faceless One episodes of the cartoon. The shadows on his face in the cartoon do seem to convey that there are some features there.
Articulation
The Faceless One has the standard MOTUC articulation. The good news is that the massive cape, shoulder pads and loincloth do not hinder articulation all that much. The loincloth is made of especially soft plastic. He could sit on a throne if his cape wasn’t so thick.
The side to side rocker ankles are nice and tight on this figure and have the best range of motion on this joint that I can recall seeing. I don’t understand why we get such variation in effectiveness from figure to figure on this particular point of articulation, but this one works great.
Paint
The paint detail is pretty sharp on all of the costume details. There is some pretty heavy shading on The Faceless One’s head that is a little bit too dingy for my taste. I think I’d have preferred a brighter white for the face.
Overall I really dig this figure. The armor works really well as a translation of the 2002 design into the MOTUC style. This figure came out so nice, it makes me really want a 2002 style Evil-Lynn costume in this line when I wasn’t all that interested before.
Turnarounds
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