If you are reading this, you are probably acutely aware that 2012 represents the celebrated 30th anniversary of Masters of the Universe. You might expect that Mattel will be celebrating the event throughout the entire year, along with their partner Classic Media. There is a ton of stuff going on with merchandising, contests, GRANAMYR and the 30th Anniversary Classics line. An offshoot of the main line, the 30th line will incorporate all new characters into action figure form with creations by the likes of the Four Horsemen, Geoff Johns and the winner of the 30th Anniversary Create-a-Character contest. Wait, does that last part sound familiar? Well, it should if you have your MOTU wits about you. Remember how Mattel did a contest similar to this back in the 80s with the vintage line? Remember how the winner of the contest was never actually realized in plastic due to the ending of the line? Well, I have said before that this round of First Looks is all about making up for lost time and what better way to kick off the the 30th line with a figure of the original contest winner, Fearless Photog? What sweet satisfaction this is for 1980s MOTU fan Nathan Bitner. Well, even if he is not really into it, this is a funny little piece of Masters history finally come to fruition.
Wow, did you ever think that Photog here would actually get made into a toy? Well, you certainly cannot have another Create a Character contest without paying credence to the original winner and I have to tell you, this new Fearless Photog goes beyond anything thought possible in the 1980s. I mean, all due respect to Mr. Bitner, but his design is really out there, even for MOTU (a child’s imagination is an awesome and amazing thing). The great thing is that he is full of the spirit of Masters and I think that he is going to fit in just fine a new/old addition of Eternia. The team at Mattel has written him into the legendarium and even if you dismiss the bios outright, you have to be impressed by the fact that this humble fumbler and student of Gwildor (moo!) is responsible for taking out both Whiplash and Clawful at the Second Ultimate Battle Ground.
The Heroic Master of Cameras is powered by the ability to steal his opponent’s energy and then document their bitter defeat on his chest. Now, say what you will about Jey but it takes some balls to flash fry your enemies and then boast their downfall in stunning Kodachrome across your chest. Eternia has never seen such unbridled hubris so this guy needs to have the, ahem – focused – skill to back it up. The good news is that he has been lovingly realized by the Four Horsemen and their track record boasts and impressive history of taking the not-so-cool and making them such. Photog is certainly no exception to them making the best of what they have to work with, but I certainly think that some aspects work better than others. Hey, what can I say? I am by nature of Team Eyebeam and I really hope he gets his chance in the line someday too.
The best part of this figure is most certainly his camera head. Now, I don’t quite have my own explanation for Photog worked out yet, but getting merged with your machinery (and by merged, I mean having your head replaced) is a bum rap, no matter how cool your devices are. But as I said, the head is actually the coolest part of the whole figure. I mean, it is certainly a camera head but it has a ton of fabricated detail in it and I really dig the cool light blue metallic color in its finish. I have never noticed it before having the figure in hand, but the front of it make a cute little “face” for Photog and he kind of has this Johnny-5/Wall-E thing going on. We are starting to amass a few alternate heads in the MOTU line so if you want to recreate his tragic bumbling in front of the Eternian royal court and swap out heads, the world is your oyster. The best part about it though is that the lens can go from wide to telephoto with one push of the button. Yep, the lens moves in and out. Cool!
The other part that I really enjoy about the figure is the lenticular chest plate with the “defeated foe” snap shots. You can see the helpless enemy attempting to run for his life with one slight turn at the waist. I don’t know, maybe I am just a sucker for such a thing but if Photog had actually come out in the 1980s, I would have really liked that feature. The plate is set in an all new chest piece (think Sy-Klone) so that is a major spot of new tooling on the figure. I am not sure exactly where Mattel or the 4H would be able to use this particular piece again, but then I never expected we would be getting the Griffin based off of the Battle Cat body. Go figure, literally. The other new spot of tooling I am excited for is that Photog has bare shins from knee to ankle. Since we have never seen that before I am really hoping that this might mean we will be getting a mini comic He-Man (Oo-Larr?) to battle our new Alcala Skeletor. Oh, the possibilities of this line continue.
Some of the rest of the figure is a bit of a hard sell for me personally, but it is all based off of my own tastes. The belt is a good example of this. It is well sculpted and perfectly realized, but wearing film spools to hold up your drawers is a bit silly, even for MOTU. His color scheme is also pretty garish and again, that is hard to accomplish in the MOTU-verse. The blue and yellow and black don’t look bad per se, they are just really, really loud. I can see how that would be fitting for a camera-based dude working with flashes, but the young imagination is coming through again more than accomplished color theory. It’s cool though, at least you know that ain’t nobody looking like Photog on your shelves.
I am also a bit split on the accessories. Again, they are both well done, but the gun/movie camera hybrid thing is truly crazy. It looks just like the old drawing but it is hilarious to me that it not only has a place for film spools, but also has a machine gun muzzle at the end. I am not exactly sure what this gun would fire, but I think I kind of love it. The shield is fun too and is a nice throwback to my childhood. See, it is supposed to be one of those old flash circle/cube thingees. Hey, it keeps with the theme. I like how the textured top piece is clear and the lower piece is yellow. It gives it more dimension than say, Sy-Klone’s shield. Fun is fun right? Trust me, you will probably have to explain it to your dad, just like you did back in the 80s when he couldn’t get the flash on the camera to work.
Wow! What a long time coming! Fearless Photog is finally here, Nathan Bitner is vindicated and the figure proves that no drug, no matter how strong, some of the 1980s toy designers may have been on while creating characters for MOTU is any match for the imagination of an eight year-old. Heck yes! I think it is great that Photog is way to kick off the 30th Anniversary line and it is only fitting that he will bookend the releases with the new contest winner. The fact is that I like this figure a lot more than I ever expected I would but I think he will remain to be an acquired taste. I for one am glad to have him as he is an important part of MOTU lore but now that he is out, it is time for a beeline directly to the uncompromisingly badass Draego-Man. Hatchi-Matchi April can’t get here soon enough!
Whew! That wraps up the MOTU Looks for this round so get ready to switch over to something different for a bit. Thanks again to Toy Guru for making this possible, 2012 looks to be the best year of Masters of the Universe yet. Roll on 30 years!
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