Whew! Four Masters of the Universe Classics First Looks in one week? Well, we might be over-EXTENDING ourselves here, but we wanted to make sure that we got you all the information and pictures about the upcoming releases as soon as possible. So while we let the ladies go first with Flutterina and Double Trouble, Flogg ran through the door yesterday, leaving today to feature the lone representative from the Heroic Warriors. Allowing others to go first is certainly a chivalrous act, and there are none more chivalrous than the knights of old. Fitting, as we wrap up our First Looks with the First Knight of the MOTU world: EXTENDAR!
The list of outstanding Heroic Warriors not yet in the Classics line is getting shorter and shorter by the month. By my count, entering the summer, only four unique characters are left outstanding: Rio Blast, Gwildor, Rotar, and, of course, Extendar. Now, Extendar is releasing next month, Rio Blast is following in September, and I believe Toy Guru mentioned that one more movie figure would be coming this year, so that gives Gwildor a 50/50 chance of hitting before January. So we could hit 2015 with only one Heroic Warrior (that had a vintage figure) left to go in the line. We have come a long way, baby.
Extendar was one of the later figures released in the vintage MOTU line back in the 1980s, and let’s face it, he shared little in common with most of the figures that came before him. He was not built on one of the MOTU base bodies that we had come to know, and his build and articulation were very unique. I personally never had any kind of an attachment to the character back then. He was a good guy, so my brother had him, but if I remember correctly, he never really had much use for him. So he became cannon fodder during our epic battles, and I am pretty sure he was one of the first ones to bite the dust, which was okay because I think we both believed him to be a robot at the time.
Well, the Classics figure carries on a lot of the tradition of the original figure, but, of course, goes about recreating his signature shtick in a different way. His bio fleshes out some background that I was not privy to as a kid, and his story of being one of Hordak’s “experiments” (along with Snout Spout and Dragstor) certainly gives him some interesting history. So this native Etherian came to the party on Eternia late, and in my head, that helps explain his “knight-like” qualities a bit better. Etheria has always been the fairy tale to Eternia’s fantasy for me, so while barbarians were more common than knights on He-Man’s home planet, that archetype was a common thread that has tied the He-Man and She-Ra stories even closer together. Plus, any character that has essentially been tortured as a human experiment makes for an interesting point of view, and Extendar compliments his former pal Dragstor quite well in that regard.
Back in the vintage line, Extendar was able to extend himself at the neck, waist, arms, and legs by pulling extension out of his body. That made for a figure that was more bulky than a standard MOTU toy, and his articulation and movement did not match up exactly either. So, while the design always fit the feature well, one of the things that you run into when you have a line that is built on common pieces is that when a figure is not, it tends to stand out. So it went with Extendar, and I am afraid that was one of the reasons why he was never really given a chance by my brother or me – he just did not “feel” very MOTU.
When I get the opportunity to really get to know a character again in different circumstances, I really welcome it. I mean, I really disliked Snakeface as a kid, but now? I think he is really awesome. Thanks, Classics! While I am not sure if I have been won over quite as much by Extendar, my appreciation for the character has already grown thanks to his background. He certainly makes for a unique figure as well, and while his “action feature” has been reconfigured from the vintage scheme, he shares a lot of the model attributes from the vintage toy. For one thing, he is bulkier than the standard Classics figure. This has a lot to do with his armor, but his arms and legs feature all-new pieces as well. So while he does feel different than a regular old Classics figure, he still moves and poses like one.
Extendar is (presumably) a knight and his costume definitely supports that. His armor is white with an almost pearlescent quality about it, accentuated with dark gold. Instead of being muscle-bound (except for the standard torso under the armor), he has mostly smooth lines on his torso and limbs. His armor is definitely big and somewhat bulky, but this is one instance where that works in his favor because the vintage version was big as well. The face guard is designed to completely obscure the head (with the neck extension), and the entire piece is cast in a very soft PVC plastic. The armor is easily removable, though due to the hips and limbs being somewhat big, he looks odd without it.
His arms and legs are made of completely unique parts and function very differently from a standard MOTUC figure, even aside from the obvious accommodation of the extension pieces (we will get to that in a moment). His shoulders are kind of half ball joints and have armor embellishments at the top. This removes the bicep swivel joints and somewhat limits the range of motion you can get from the shoulders. Since the bicep swivels have been removed, Extendar has been given “elbros” instead, and they function pretty well despite my normal dislike for them. I also want to mention that his new ankles and feet give him some great rocker ankle movement, so some dynamic poses are possible, which is nice, especially considering that he is really the MOTU version of the Tin Man.
His face is a pretty standard upgrade from the vintage original in the same style of many that came before him. He is instantly recognizable, but is more refined with a bit more detail thanks to the Four Horsemen. His face does elicit the same confusion I had as child of whether or not he is man or machine, but knowing what I know now, he is likely a little of both. That damned Hordak! The sculpt is nice but as you can imagine, there is not much emotion from a guy that has a geometric face and lacks eyeballs. I do imagine that his face is pretty super-powered at this point now, so even though it is hidden behind the guard in standard configuration, he probably has no troubles seeing.
Now, what makes Extendar a star is the fact that he is able to extend his entire body to such great heights. Poor Mekaneck, Doodon Come Lately shuffles in at the end of the MOTU line, swipes your gimmick and then makes it even better. Mekky just cannot catch a break, and even though he came first, extension powers is popular thing within the property with Tallstar and now Extendar. In the vintage figure, the extension pieces pulled out from the body and limbs of Extendar, but, like Classics Mekaneck, this has been abandoned in lieu of swappable pieces. All of these work well to achieve as little or as much of the effect as you want, and I think leaving the arms and legs standard while extending the torso and neck works the best from an aesthetic point of view.
The pieces swap easily and are solidly supported, so he doesn’t get wobbly when he is gratuitously tall. I know that the leg pieces attach at different points than on the original figure, but it does not take away from the form or function, so it is not an issue to me at all. I am not sure if it is an actual issue aside from just being different from the vintage. It is important to mention that the mysterious “Peace Sign” is present on the back of his neck piece (and repeated in the shield), which is a throwback to the original. Back in the day, it was easy enough to explain that we was a peace-loving knight, but knowing now that he was a Horde experiment, it seems odd that Hordak would include this. Maybe Man-at-Arms added it after the fact. Anyways…
The figure comes with two accessories: his fold out vintage shield and an all-new lance. The Horsemen are knocking out these new accessories in a very cool way, and, along with Double Trouble’s crossbow, the lance is a perfect addition. A lance is a very common weapon for a knight and I love that it is large enough to be convincing. I might end up giving it to Buzz-Off, though, to recreate the cool Earl Norem art. His shield has heightened tech details over the original and it is made better by the fact that the fold-out pieces are on actual hinges instead just stressed thin plastic folded onto itself. To me it looks just as much as an Eternian computer as it does a shield, but it does clip nicely onto his wrist.
Well, if the first few months of 2014 weren’t cutting it for you from a MOTU perspective, the dial certainly gets turned up this summer. Extendar leads the charge in June and will be followed by a lot of heavy-hitters from all over the property. I know this character has a passionate fan base, so I am sure it has been a long time coming for them. Extendar brings us even closer to finishing off the vintage Heroic Warriors, but thanks to his bio, he can also stand with the Great Rebellion.
*Thanks for staying with us this week. There is still more MOTU goodness to come from Matt K, but this will be the last of the First Looks for this week. We will be back next week with some Mini Masters action. Thanks also to Mattel for sending along this sample for preview.
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