MOTUC Feature – Dekker

I’m catching up on older figures again this week with the November 2012 Club Eternia figure Dekker! I actually took about half of these pics in 2012, but didn’t get around to finishing up the pics until now. Dekker is one of the few characters that originated in the 2002 series to make it into the Masters of the Universe Classics line and is a personal favorite of mine, so let’s take a closer look at Duncan’s mentor Dekker!

Dekker™Bio

Real Name: Dekker™

Originally a mercenary from the Dunes of Doom, Dekker™ switched sides during one of the early battles of the Great Unrest and fought with King Miro™ against Marzo’s tyranny. His wisdom and courage quickly lead to his appointment as Miro’s Man-At-Arms®, leading and training the royal soldiers. Throughout these battles Dekker™ took a young prodigy named Duncan™ under his wing, traveling throughout Eternia®, fighting evil together. In time, Dekker™ retired to Orkas Island, passing his title and duties to his former apprentice and sidekick. Although he now enjoys the simple life of a fisherman, the ever-present forces of evil occasionally call him back to fight for justice along side the heroic Masters of the Universe®.

The end of the bio matches up nicely with Dekker’s episode in the 2002 Masters of the Universe series, and I like that they added the little line that he’s retired, but ready to jump back into it if necessary.

I find the opening part of the bio with Dekker’s past as a mercenary particularly interesting. I love the idea of a rough-and-tumble mercenary who is really a decent, honorable guy working his way up to a top-honored position through his bravery and battle savvy. Let’s call that the Han Solo effect…

Accessories

Dekker comes with a mace and an alternate, younger head sculpt.

The mace is similar to Man-At-Arms’ mace, but it has a bit more detail along the handle. I think the idea is to make a more 2002-style Man-At-Arms mace in the MOTUC style.

The sculpt is sharp, but the plastic is pretty weak and droops at the handle.

The second head sculpt is a younger Dekker, so you can set up training scenes with a young Man-At-Arms or fighting a rebellious Marzo or Keldor. It’s a great detailed head sculpt, but it does make me realize how much the braids, scar, and eye patch adds to Dekker’s look.

Sculpt

Dekker’s costume is a great match for his appearance in his one episode in the 2002 show, but he has some standard MOTUC arm bracers ,and the outfit on the standard body makes him fit in fine with the rest of the MOTUC collection.

I really like the the overlay armor/shirt piece. It had the potential to be a really thick, but it’s sized perfectly, which makes the fatter armors like Sea Hawk’s so baffling.

It’s also just an interesting design and a nicely detailed sculpt with clothing folds and a leather texture to the tabbard. Now, this may be a weird thing to focus on, but I love the boot sculpt.

There is something about the boot cuffs, the stitching, and the clasp that I dig.

For the customizer in me, the whole outfit feels like good custom fodder for a fantasy character (Check out this one by Josh Izzo).

The only downside of the whole thing is that the skirt really limits movement. It’s the only flaw in this figure for me.

Articulation

Dekker has the standard MOTUC articulation.

The head has impressive range of motion considering the long hair, but the legs are limited by the skirt.

Paint

Paint for Dekker is pretty standard, but it’s nice and crisp with clean lines.

There is also a little bit of light shading on the body and some dry brushing on both heads to bring out a little detail on the hair sculpt.

Overall

I feel like the 4H and Mattel put a lot of love into this one-off character and created a sharp, standout figure. It’s also a big reminder of how much I love the 2002-only characters translated into the classics style.

If it weren’t for the skirt issue, he’d be in my top ten.