Rant Review: Masterverse Spikor figure (MOTU Revelation series)

The second half of the animated Masters of the Universe Revelation series is still over a month away, but wave two of the tie-in Masterverse line is already beginning to pop up! Thanks to Amazon, I managed to snag my first figure from this wave, Spikor! There's been some grumbling about his appaearance in the line, since he technically doesn't actually appear on the show. It's admittedly a somewhat odd inclusion, especially so early in the line's life, but he's a fan-favorite character with an interesting design, so I can definitely see the reasoning behind having him as part of the line in spiteof that. 

The sculpt shares many parts with He-Man, which should come as no surprise. The head and bracers are new, of course, and the spiky torso is achieved with armor rather than a new torso, a method previously employed with the MOTU Classics version of the character. The bracers are glued in place, which will be annoying to some, but at least it prevents them from sliding off when you're swapping the hands around. (The glue can be removed with a bit of trouble, of course, if one is so inclined.) The head has a great sour expression, similar to the grouchy "I just got up, where's my damn coffee?" expression on his Classics counterpart. The spikes are a bit sharper than I expected, but unlike the Super 7 Filmation Spikor, you couldn't use him to impale your enemies or anything like that. The armor compares favorably with the briefly-seen animated design, though asa result, it features the fewest spikes on any Spikor figure to date. As with He-Man, there's a total lack of texture sculpting on the armor, and while that matches the animated source for this design, there's enough added detail on other parts of the figure that its lack here seems incongruous. With a much greater level of detail on some parts than others, it seems at times that this line's designers don't know exactly what they want it to be. 

Spikor has far fewer paint apps than many of the other figures in this line, almost to the level of simplicity we typically see with the Origins line. What's here is applied neatly, however, including tricky apps such as the yellow eyes and fangs over the dark purple face, with no bleed through of the base color at all. There's a nice metallic dark pink/light purple on the light pink belt's inlay, providing some nice contrast with the largely dark color scheme of the figure. The light grayish-blue matches up pretty well on the armor and bracers, despite the bracers being molded in that color, while those areas of the armor are painted. There's a bit of slop around the fangs, but nothing too bad for a mass-produced toy. 

The articulation for this line continues to be one of its strong points. Spikor  has swivel & hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles, double elbows and knees, swivels at the boot tops, thighs, waist, and biceps, and a ball-jointed head and torso. The torso's range of motion is restricted quite a lot by the armor, but works normally when it is removed. The hips have the same slotted bar design as the male wave one figures, but it works much more smoothly here. I've put the figure in a variety of poses with the legs splayed out every which way, but I haven't run into any of the issues with the bar getting stuck that I ran into with some of the earlier figures. (Mostly He-Man.) I'd like to see the design team continue to tweak the articulation model here and there, as it's close to Marvel Legends level, the gold standard for mass-produced collector lines. A bit more work, and Masterverse can get there!

Spikor has a nice collection of accessories, as we've come to expect from this line. The thagomizer, pitchfork attachment, a pair of swappable hands, and the aforementioned armor offer a good variety of display options. The pichfork weapon is different from previous iterations, matching its appearance in Revelation. It has some nice sculpted details than have been left unpainted. It can be attached onto either wrist, or eschewed altogether if you want to display him with two hands. The thagomizer has a nice metallic finish, making its bright orange stand out even more on the shelf. The plastic used for it is a bit soft, and mine has already begun to wilt a bit after Spikor was posed waving it over his head for a few days. The armor attaches at the bottom on both sides, and slips on and off easily. 

Though a mildly controversial inclusion so early in the Masterverse line, Spikor is a very solid figure. I consider him a few tweaks away from perfection, as I would like more spikes on his armor, more paint apps, and some more detail in the sculpting, but those are really minor issues. As some of them arise from the figure's adherence to the animated source design, I can hardly fault the figure for that! Spikor is another worthy entry in the Masterverse line, and I'm happy to see a relatively minor character appear so early on. For those who don't have the Classics Spikor, this figure holds even more appeal as a much cheaper alternative! The design sensibility is close enough that he will fit into a Classics display just fine. This is another strong entry in a line I'm enjoying quite a bit, and after the Power Con reveals, I'm even more excited for this line's future! That's it for today, but bash your way back here Friday for the next review! Until then, stay safe out there, and happy hunting!