I hope y’all like MOTU Classics, folks, because it’s that time of the year for FFZ’s Matty Cyber Monday Week! All this week I’ll be checking out the figures I picked up from this year’s Cyber Sale over at Matty Collector. I’ll be honest, the sale wasn’t nearly as good this year. The discounts weren’t as deep and the few flash sales of figures that I wanted were a bust. Webstor was sold before I could get to checkout and as for Kobra Khan, well I went into the checkout with him and some DCUC stands and came away with the DCUC stands and a second King Hsss. I’d like to blame Matty for that, but to be fair I was trying to place the order on my phone, while it was being concealed under a table, during a rather important District Management meeting at work, so I’ll just shoulder some of the blame for that one. Anywho, I did come away with some figures I needed and while the prices weren’t stellar, they were better than going to Ebay. We’re kicking off this week with Stratos.

There’s the packaging! Tuck in, kiddies, we’re going to be seeing a lot of that green stonework this week. I don’t have a lot to say except Stratos has that “The Original!” explosion on the front, which in Matty speak means the exact opposite. This was a re-issue from back when Matty was doing repeat runs on some of these figures. I was very surprised to see Stratos at the sale, seeing as even this re-release was put up for sale way back in early to mid 2011. He’s a nagging figure for me that has been on my want list for a while, more because I consider him to be one of the core characters, and therefore essential, rather than because I have any great deal of affection for him. The closest I’ve ever come to having any feelings toward the character at all was in the MYP series and that was just because he sounded like he was doing a bad Sean Connery impersonation and that made me giggle every time he talked. I know, not exactly a ringing endorsement for this purchase, but it shows how my OCD sometimes bleeds into my collecting habits. Anyway, I don’t usually bother with the bios, but in this case there’s something in there that I never really connected with Stratos. The bio refers to him as a “winged simian.” HOLY SHIT, STRATOS IS A FLYING MONKEY??? How did I miss that all these years??? Maybe I’ve underestimated this guy!

So, the thing about this figure is that I like it, I just don’t love it. There’s really nothing inherently wrong with him, except for his loosey-goosey joints. Seriously, this figure flops all over the place. It seems to be an issue with a lot of the early releases in the line. I fear he’s going to be at the heart of many figure-avalanches in my display case. Nevertheless, he’s got a nice grey buck with sculpted hair, gorilla like claws, and there’s certainly a simian affect to his mouth and beard. The head sculpt is actually kind of soft and it looks a bit dated when compared to the more recent releases. His mask is what it is, I’ve never been overly fond of the design, but it’s OK. I should point out a bit of a QC issue on mine, there’s a chip to the flesh paint on his nose.

Stratos features a set of red feathery wings, which are permanently attached to his arms via his wrist bracers. They’re nicely sculpted, but it’s hard to really pose him in a position that makes them look credible as the means of flight. I guess they’re just for decoration anyway, since the guy has a magical Emerald Staff and a jetpack to actually make him fly. I think the wings work well as shields. I can see him deflecting laser blasts with them.

Speaking of jetpacks, yes Stratos has a harness that holds his jetpack onto his back. It’s a simple sculpt with some feathers added at the shoulders and all cast in blue soft plastic. I dig the look of the jetpack. It’s very retro sci-fi and evokes just a little bit of Buck Rogers for me. As for the colors, the blue of the harness matches his furry diaper and contrasts pretty nicely with the red wings and belt and the grey buck to give Stratos a rather subdued, but still attractive, deco.

I think the thing that bugs me the most about this figure is the lack of accessories. I suppose you could argue the extra plastic went into the wings and jetpack, and I can’t recall whether the original vintage figure had any weapons. My only experience with the vintage figures was going over my best friend’s house and playing with his MOTU collection and he always had all the weapons piled in a heap. My point is, give him something: A battle axe, a sword, a goddamn ray gun. What about that Emerald Staff? I’m just looking for some accessories over here, eh? I suppose that’s what the weapons packs are for.

I searched for Stratos on Ebay every now and again and he was always running in the $30’s plus shipping, which was just out of the range that I was willing to pay for a character I don’t care much about, but still had to have in my collection. As a result, the $17 he went for during Matty’s Sale seemed to hit that certain sweet spot. Plus, since I was ordering a bunch of figures, I only factored in a couple of bucks for his shipping. He’s not at all a bad figure, just not a terribly exciting one for me. And yet putting him into my Masters display has certainly given me a sense of satisfaction and closure.

Tomorrow, Matty Cyber Week continues with King Hsss!