Rant Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Fang Man figure

We're looking at another character from the Filmation animated show today, the somewhat obscure Fang Man! I don't recall ever seeing the episode that featured Fang Man when I was a kid, but I did watch it when tracking down every episode of the old MOTU cartoon I could find around the time of the 2002 relaunch. I thought he had a neat, if rather goofy, design, and was mildly annoyed that he didn't appear in any of the other episodes I had rounded up. Of course, as I discovered a couple of years later, The Time Corridor was his one and only appearance. (What can I say? I was always way more into the early minicomics than the cartoon!) Skeletor took him into Eternia's distant past as part of that episode's plot, and since he never showed up again, many fans assumed he was simply left behind. Mattel ran with that theory, as that's exactly what is claimed in his bio. Poor Fang Man! You'd think Skeletor would be a bit more covetous of a henchman who can control dragons!

The Four Horsemen have delivered a fantastic sculpt, as usual. Though Fang Man is built with many parts we've seen before, creative design truly minimizes their impact, and he almost seems composed of all-new tooling in-hand. He makes use of parts from Whiplash, He-Man, Skeletor, Fisto, Keldor, and Demo-Man, with a handful of new pieces to really make the figure shine. The scaly torso previously seen with Saurod and Whiplash is present, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell due to the implementation of the new pieces. The 4H have created a new overlay that serves as Fang Man's shirt, and a large hump with ridges was sculpted into it, giving him a hulking, hunched posture that suits the character perfectly. The head and neck, which fits over the standard neck part of the torso, completes the look, and adds an extra point of articulation in the bargain. The face is rather goofy, but it's true to the source material, so it's hard to fault them for that. There's enough detail added to make him fit into the line well, without the jarring effect one of the Filmation-style figures would have in the middle of a MOTUC display. Excellent work by the 4H here, all around!

Fang Man has the standard articulation-- ball joints at the head, shoulders, and hips, hinges at the elbows, knees, ankles, and torso, and swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, thighs, and boot tops-- along with a couple of bonus points of articulation owing to his design. As mentioned above, his head gains an extra POA, as there is the usual ball joint at the base of the neck, along with another at the top, where the head attaches. The range of motion here is limited, but it's still useful, and much appreciated. The other added POA might not be so obvious at first, but it's quite fun: His tongue moves! It's attached to a peg inside his mouth, and can be swiveled back and forth. It's a fun POA that can really give the figure some added character. Paint apps are pretty simple, but very neat. Metallic accents are added here and there in appropriate areas to make the figure pop a bit more, but my favorite paint detail is the glossy finish on the tongue, which makes it appear as if it's actually wet. Fang Man doesn't have the most complex paint job in the MOTUC line, but what's here is very neat and clean.

Fang Man has a trio of cool accessories. The Sword of the Ancients, seen in Masks of Power,  has a very cool design, and he looks pretty badass wielding it. He also comes with a forcefield generator, which looks like it was designed for rather naughty purposes, and the Wheel of Infinity, which played such a crucial role in his episode. (Of course, being the consummate professional that I am, I forgot to include it in any of the photos. D'oh!) These kinds of accessories are always very cool to get, and it's awesome to get so many in one shot like this!

While he's a D-list character at best, Fang Man's figure serves as an excellent example of how the 4H are able to draw from the same library of parts that we've seen on so many figures before, and make it so that we barely notice the reuse because of their creative sculpting and design. While rather obscure, he makes a great addition to Skeletor's crew, particularly if you also have Strongarm, and he also helps round out the group of Filmation characters. Not bad for a baby blue lizard whose master thought so little of him that he left him stranded in prehistory! That's it for today, but swing back by next week for more!