Well, today is certainly a big day for Masters of the Universe Classics. Maybe even the biggest day ever. Have you preordered your Castle Grayskull playset yet? No? Need more details? Well, check it out here, then go order and come back and read this article. I can wait. Go ahead.
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All done? Good! I am really hoping that we are able to get the Castle as it will be the most impressive piece of all in my Classics collection. To help celebrate today’s event we have another First Look at one of the November-shipping figures and the final quarterly variant of the year. With Grayskull now on sale, you have to ask yourself, “What good is a castle without a king?” Well, Castle Grayskull doesn’t really work that way, but it’s still really cool that we are finally getting the Eternos Palace King Randor figure to match his debut appearance in the FliMation cartoon so many years ago. Not just anyone gets a variant in the MOTU Classics line, but if there is not room for a few incarnations of the King of Eternia, I don’t know what is worthy.
Like Orko, King Randor (and Queen Marlena for that matter) actually made his debut appearance in the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, not in the action figure line. In the show he was a typically-portrayed classic monarch that ruled his kingdom and eventually found his way into trouble at the hands of that dastardly Skeletor. He eventually found his way into the toy line, and while the figure borrowed color cues from the FilMation palette, Randor was outfitted for battle and made a king that lead from the front. Now, I know the real reason was that Mattel was able to reuse the Jitsu armor and give him little more than a new head and cloth cape, but I have to admit, I have always been a fan of that look.
As you know, though, we already got that classic toy Randor way back in December of 2009, so the door has been open for a long time to get another version of him in the line. You know how much I love FilMation, and even though I will admit that the stories were written for children (rightfully so), there are a ton of great characters and designs that originated with the He-Man and She-Ra series, but this is one of the occasions where I have always preferred the vintage toy. I like that he can fight; he can be the king of court, but also the commander-in-chief, and that is what the toy version has always been able to accomplish. However, he can’t go around in that heavy armor all the time, and while he is lounging around the palace of having dinners of state, he needs royal robes (and little booties). I know a ton of fans have been waiting for this figure for over 30 years (the eruption over his debut at SDCC was big time), and even I am very pleased with how nicely he turned out. November seems to be the month of making sure I really like things I never needed, so here goes.
As you can see, this figure is very faithful to his cartoon design, and so much so that I am kind of surprised that nothing was really compromised in building out the figure. The FilMation designs lend themselves well to being adapted into the Classics aesthetic (more so than the 200x designs), so while the Randor is not really prepared to fight, he is ready to stand in your collection and look right at home. As you can see, he also keeps his color palette so he remains consistent to his origin, but also to the previous action figure. I like the idea of a king having a crest and a color scheme to make his house unique and recognizable, so when we eventually get that King Miro figure I have been blathering about lately, I hope he borrows designs from Randor, but has his own colors.
He retains the same head sculpt from the first figure and that is fine since I don’t think there was any need for a new one. This one seems to be a bit cleaner in terms of paint application and the “gold” color has been adjusted to look more yellow in tone to match the hue that FilMation used to represent the gold. Past that though, this figure has everything it needs to make it that definitive FilMation/Palace Randor. He has an all-new robe overlay and upper arm pieces as well to give him those puffy sleeves. I am already seeing reuse opportunity in these with the sleeves and robes for a FilMation style King Miro (the one the SHOULD do if they don’t just repaint the previous Randor figure to match with a new head) and the sleeves alone are screaming to be used for a FliMation Count Marzo too.
The robe just overlays on the standard torso and Randor’s chest is just painted red to represent his clothing. This was a wise choice because it keeps him at the build he needs to be and it retains his abdominal articulation functionality. I do wish is was made of a more rubbery material, though, because it would have been cool for this Randor to have been able to sit upon his throne, but I don’t see that happening as is.
The sleeves themselves form a partial ball at the shoulders, but because of the design and construction, he does not have a biceps swivel in his arms. I thought I had read somewhere that he would have a straight cut in the same manner as Teela, but it was not meant to be. Since this would be a more static Randor anyway, it doesn’t really detract for me personally, but I like to see joints retained when they can, and I am sure some will be disappointed in the loss of that articulation.
Randor kept his bright orange tights and he uses those Photog shins that I hope to see on Oo-Larr someday. He does have his trademark little blue booties and I get such a kick out of seeing them on him. They look great, and they function just as well as any other feet in the line and the ankle articulation is even hidden like all of the latest figures. I crack up thinking that Randor has on little elf shoes while his wife sits next to him in near-knee high stomping boots under her frock.
The good king comes with three accessories, one reused and two new. He has the Whiplash spear like his vintage figure (and Classics version in the first weapons pak) painted in the yellow-gold to match his crown and bracers. He also has his pendant from the show complete with a “chain” made out of string. It is, of course, removable, but there is one of those clear rubber bands holding it in place so nicely, I have not removed this one, I think it looks great as is.
His best accessory, though, is his big gold-plated vac metal crunk goblet, er, I mean, drink chalice. I really wish I had a few skeletons handy when I took my pictures because it looks like this might be the cup that you would choose “poorly” as a false Grail. It is cool as heck, though, and the stately Palace Randor can go from courtly matters to party time with just a few sips from his big ol’ pimp cup. It has some nice sculpt details on the outside and it holds a purple “liquid” with an origin I cannot guess, but I can only imagine is nicely fortified, perhaps from the beautiful California wine country, in the Night Train region. I have taken it out of his hand several times and the vac metal seems to be okay, so perhaps they got it to be nice and durable this time around. Either way, it is a really fun accessory.
FilMation fans, we are finally getting our due. It has been a slow start, but we are seeing more and more influence and characters in the line as we move into 2013. Even though I love my original Classics Randor figure and will be keeping him as my default version, this one looks absolutely great and he will be hanging out with Adora, Adam and Cringer on my variant shelf. I know a lot of fans are very excited for this figure, so I expect a fast sellout time on Matty Collector next month.
*Thanks for reading and thanks to the MOTU team at Mattel for sending this figure along for a First Look. Next up: more Castle Grayskull celebration!
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