Rant review: Masters of the Universe Origins Land Shark

Today, in a special bonus review, we're taking a look at the Cadillac of MOTU vehicles: The Land Shark! Part of the 1984 lineup, the original Land Shark was an instant hit among my prepubescent peers. While I always felt like it should be Trap Jaw's ride, what with the chomping jaws and all, Skeletor claimed it for his own. In fact, between all its appearances in minicomics and package art, it really seemed to have supplanted Panthor as his main method of conveyance for a time.  I never got one as a child, but Origins has brought us a new iteration of the classic carnivore car! Can it possibly measure up to decades of anticipation? Read on...

Broken record time: The package this thing comes in is adorned with gorgeous art! If Mattel doesn't compile this stuff into an art book, or sell prints of it or something, they're really leaving a lot of money on the table. Anyway, once you tear your gaze away from that and open this sucker up, you can appreciate its size. While it's not as big as some of the absolutely massive vehicles we got in MOTU Classics, it's significantly larger than its vintage counterpart. While it's pretty close to being just a scaled-up version of the '80s version, there are some very fun added details. My favorite: The tips of the gun barrels are little shark heads! 

With its added size, pretty much any figure from the Origins line can fit into the driver's seat with no issues. (The usual exceptions for Ram Man and Orko may apply, though you can kinda get them in there.) It's tough to get the figures to actually hold the control levers unless you scoot them way forward, though, so it can be tough to get the driver in a pose that looks right. 

There are no paint apps, as everything is molded in the appropriate color. There is plenty of sculpted detail that can be painted if one so desires; Mattel just didn't choose to do so. There are some stickers to spice things up a bit, however. The largest are on the control panel and the vehicle's rear, and there are two small ones for the shark's eyes. These are all applied out of the box, thankfully, as I probably wouldn't have gotten them on so evenly. The eyes are already beginning to peel off of mine, though, which is a bad sign. This thing hasn't suffered any heavy play, or otherwise been manhandled. I'm not sure if it's due to the heavy humidity here or what, but I'm wondering if this is widespread. 

One of the most distinctive features of the vintage vehicle is intact: The chomping jaws! Roll the Land Shark backward or forward, and its jaws open and close, chewing up anything unfortunate enough to lie in its path. There's plenty of room to stick most of an Origins figure in there, or it can swallow some Imaginext figures whole. It's a fun feature, and the vehicle rolls freely with little force, so your little ones (if applicable) should be able to roll it across the kitchen floor with no difficulty. 

One of the benefits of having a MOTU line back at retail is the abundance of vehicles and steeds-- less than a year into the line's life, we've already gotten five!-- and the Land Shark is definitely one of the highlights so far. Whether Trap Jaw is its designated driver, or you decide to default to ol' Bonehead, or else you want Fisto to steal it for his own, it's loads of fun, and a worthy addition to your collection. As of this posting, Amazon has it for retail price, so snap one up now if you haven't already! That's it for today, but chomp your way back in three days for another review! Until then, stay safe out there, and happy hunting!