If you aren’t up on your MOTU Origins news, the regular line has gone exclusive to Mattel Creations and that’s where that line and I parted ways. Hovering over pre-order buttons and hoping to get lucky is a young man’s game. I’ve done my time in the trenches of Matty Collector and I’m more than willing to give it up to collectors with more time and patience than myself. But, for the rest of the retailers, Mattel has re-launched Origins with figures based on the Filmation cartoon. So we get to do it all again! How far am I willing to go? I honestly don’t know, but I’m definitely in for all the main characters that were regulars on the cartoon. These figures are shipping in assortments of only two characters per wave with one hero and one villain. So far we’ve had He-Man and Beast Man, Skeletor and Man-At-Arms, and now Teela and Trap-Jaw. Let’s go…

Oh sweet lord, do I love these cards! They’re so colorful and pretty and the figures look simply amazing on them. Each figure includes a mini-comic and an episode-specific accessory from the cartoon, as well as their regular weapon. I hate to mangle such beauty, but I have to rip into these so we can take a look at the figures. Let’s start with Trap-Jaw.

Easily one of my favorites of Skeletor’s minions, Trap-Jaw’s gimmick of exchangeable arm attachments is just such a great play gimmick. Sure he was a blundering idiot like most of the villains of Snake Mountain, but he looked good doing it and he kind of talked like a pirate. This cartoon version is a total rework of the Origins vintage style figure and it looks glorious! The torso and left arm are standard reuse colored in bright blue plastic, but you get the black cap covering where his right arm would be and acting as a connecting piece for the artificial arm. His thigh armor is much larger than the vintage style with lime green segmented pads and his lower legs have red armor with some black cut outs. The lime green belt is smoothed over and omits the skull and crossbones from the vintage style and has a slot to store his spare arm attachment. This is a glorious transformation to the cartoon style and such a colorful figure!

The head sculpt is also fantastic, making the vintage style head look like a lumpy mess by comparison. The cartoon likeness is spot on and you get an articulated jaw. The creepy soulless eyes from the previous release have also been reworked to the more normal Filmation style. The zipline ring at the top of the helmet is a bit more pronounced than I remember it being in the cartoon, but I’m guessing Mattel had to enlarge it to keep that play gimmick viable and that’s cool!

On the downside, you only get two attachments for the artificial arm: The hook and the laser gun. The arm attachments are straight recolors of the ones from the vintage style figure, so it kind of sucks that Mattel couldn’t include the claw as well. I guess, you can still use the vintage-style attachment, if you don’t mind the colors not matching. Each can be attached to the end of the articulated arm, or you can plug the laser directly into the shoulder like he did on the cartoon.

The cartoon-based accessory is a piece of Eternium Rock from the episode Double Edged Sword, where Trap-Jaw chomped down a piece of Eternium to get super strong and take on He-Man. But it just kinda wore off and he got his ass beaten for his troubles. Oh, Trap-Jaw, when will you learn? It’s not the most exciting accessory in the world, but it does go well with the character. Let’s move on to Teela!

Teela gets one of the biggest transformations from vintage-style to cartoon, which can be good or bad depending on your preferences. Don’t get me wrong, this is a pitch-perfect homage to the Filmation look, but it results from smoothing out and omitting a lot of the excellent sculpted detail on the vintage-style figure. Teela’s golden armor covers her chest and shoulders and features the familiar ram’s horn motif, a high collar, and a bit that hangs down toward her nether regions. This whole piece is cast in gold plastic and looks really nice. Her white one-piece can be seen under it, and she has sculpted bicep rings, each painted gold, and white bracers on her forearms. Her red boots have some sculpted crisscross patterns and have sculpted white furry fringe at the top edges.

As for the portrait, well holy hell, Mattel did a fantastic job on this one! I think this is hands down the best Filmation style Teela head we’ve seen so far. The hair and tiara are both great, but it’s the facial features that absolutely nail this look. The eyes and eyebrows are just beautifully done, as is the perfectly sculpted nose and and lips. She is gorgeous!

Teela comes with her sword and shield, both of which are solid accessories. I like this no-nonsense sword design with the needle-like point to the blade. It’s cast all in a silver-gray palstic. The round shield is cast in a reddish-brown plastic to match her boots and it is super-shiny! There’s a simple grab bar on the inside for her to hold it.

Her cartoon-based accessory is a sparring droid, which I think turned up in a few different episodes. It’s cast in gray plastic and has some basic articulation where the arms connect to the body. As much as I dig the idea behind this accessory, it’s kind of useless wtihout some kind of stand. I wish Mattel had at least given it a peg hole in the bottom so I could make use of some of the stands I have around here.

Damn, this Cartoon Series is really hitting hard, and this duo is another strong addition. I think this is the best cartoon version of a Teela figure we’ve seen yet, and Trap-Jaw is no slouch either. The Classics toon versions of these characters were great, but it’s cool to get them in these more affordable option that lean in more toward being toys rather than collectibles. If I had one nitpick it would be that I wish Teela were a little taller, but it’s just a personal preference. The prices on the Cartoon Series seem to be $19.99 each across the board. Sure, it’s higher than when Origins started, but I still think that makes them a pretty decent value on the pegs these days. This catches me up on the Origins Cartoon releases, but we’ve already seen a bunch of new figures teased, including Evil-Lyn, Prince Adam and Cringer… bring them on!