I’m catching up on MOTUC reviews after a busy couple of months with the first MOTUC Galactic Protecter, Icarius! Icarius was originally called Flipshot in the New Adventures of He-Man toyline and cartoon, a show that I’ve never watched and a toyline I didn’t know about until finding it online several years ago. Even as big a fan of MOTUC and the Horsemen, I was still a little wary of this character until seeing the protoype at Comic-Con this year. If you haven’t seen enough of this guy yet, please continue reading the review which I’ve decided to call, “Icarius, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the New Adventures of He-Man”…
Icarius – Daring Space Ace
Real Name: TC Icarius Kaz
A great pilot from the cloud city of Levitan on planet Primus, Icarius is equipped and read to “flip” into battle at a moment’s notice. After his 18th birthday, he left home to join the Galactic Protectors. Rising to the rank of Lieutenant, Icarius traveled with Captain Hydron on his quest to find the legendary twin warriors prophesied to defeat the Horde Empire. Arriving on the distant planet Eternia shortly after the end of the Second Ultimate Battleground, they recruited not only He-Man and She-Ra, but several other members of the masters of the Universe who were eager to pursure Skeletor to the starts. Nicknamed “Flipshot”, Icarius utilizes a battle helmet, back-mounted jet pack and concussion grenade wrist rockets in battle against Skeletor and his new Space Mutant army.
As a guy with no real New Adventures knowledge, this bio is kind of interesting to me in that it gives a time frame for the New Adventures in the MOTUC canon. The bio also reveals that in MOTUC, more “Masters of the Universe” left Eternia for Primus with He-Man (including She-Ra), which is a little different from the original New Adventures story as I understand it. I’m guessing this addition is Mattel’s way of justifying future possible variants of some of the good guys as “Primus” versions.
Accessories
Icarius comes with two head sculpts, removeable armor, a removeable jet pack with hinge articulated wings, two removeable wing missiles, an arm guard and two removeable missiles that mount on the arm guard. The jet pack is a beauty with tons of cool technological details like etched panel lines, bolts, vents, jets and a shiny silver paint job. The pack has two removeable missiles that don’t have a firing spring, but there is something inside the missile housing to keep them in there tight while you play. The pack wings are articulated. They fold completely together when removed, though do not have that range of motion when on the figure due to the shape of the stabilizers on the pack and the wings. It’s still a nice posing option to move the wings back a bit when Icarius is on the ground.
The arm guard is also full of the great detail found on the jet pack and clips onto Icarius’ arm much like other MOTUC shields attach. The twin missiles for the guard are attached to eachother and clip onto the arm guard. All the accessory pieces are made of a hard plastic and I haven’t experienced any bending or warping. The helmeted head sculpt has a red see-through visor that can also be flipped up. The moveable visor is a cool feature, though the visor piece does pop off fairly easily. It also doesn’t always want to stay in the flipped down position, but that’s a minor annoyance. He comes with a lot of stuff so it feels a little weird to complain, I would have liked to have seen another, short range weapon included. Something like a pistol, not that there is any precedent for him to carry one. It just seemed like a natural for this guy. I went ahead and gave him a couple of blasters from DCUC Black Manta since I had a bunch extra lying about.
Sculpt
Icarius adds quite a few new pieces to the MOTUC library with new boots (seen again on the Slussh Head prototype), new biceps, forearms, crotch piece and armor overlay. I just recently looked at the original figure and it’s shocking to see the improvements made to this character. Like most MOTUC, the original design is still there, but it’s all sculpted much cleaner in beautiful detail. I love that they changed the visor to a clear red rather than the blank space seen on the original figure. I think the splash of color adds a lot of pop to the helmeted head sculpt.
It’s weird to me that they can transform a design I didn’t care for originally into such a great looking figure. It makes me wonder if it’s more than just the talent of the 4H. Perhaps the original design is good, but I just couldn’t see it due to the production issues of the day. The detail packed into the armor and weapons is really mind blowing especially when you compare it to the original. I’m also shocked at how much this guy ‘fits in’ with my other MOTUC figures. I was thinking his design was a little bit too out there to fit, but sculpted in this style it works for me as a Masters character.
I can’t forget about the head sculpt here. It’s insanely good. I do think it resembles Val Kilmer, but it’s definitely gone through the MOTUC style filter and has thicker, heavier, features to him. I love the intense self-assured expression.
Articulation
Flipshot has optimal MOTUC articulation. My figure has no loose joints and this is as good as it gets on this line with the standard MOTUC articulation unhindered by chest armor or crotch piece. The chest and crotch piece are made of a fairly flexible plastic that allows for full range of motion in his ab crunch and he can sit fine.
I do wish that he had more range or motion in the neck so that he could look up better in flying poses.
Paint
The paint is nice and clean with little slop. I don’t detect any of the customary muscle shading, but I can forgive that due to the amazing shiny silver paint they use here. I love the way the light bounces off the stuff.
Overall
This figure has made me a true believer in the New Adventures characters in MOTUC. I was a little dubious of these guys, especially the Galactic Protectors, as the designs did not wow me. Icarius came out so nice, especially for a design I was not too excited about that “Flipshot” has me actually looking forward to more of these New Adventures guys now.
Turnarounds
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