It’s the MOTU Classics packaging and it never gets old, even if I no longer have a lot to say about it. You should be familiar with it by now. Clawful fills out the bubble nicely and the back panel of the card includes the ubiquitous bio blurb. Oh, look… for once, I actually own all the figures pictured on the back.

And there he is, Clawful. Let’s start with his head sculpt, because he’s got the dead, soulless eyes of a killer. Ok, maybe not. In fact, Clawful easily has the most goofy and cartoony looking head of any of the MOTUC figures released thus far, and in the freakish world of Eternia, that’s saying quite a bit. His combination of googly eyes, Groucho Marx eyebrows and, Gamara tusks really are quite a site to behold. You have to be pretty comfortable with your MOTU fan status to accept this guy’s head sculpt. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have appreciated a second head, but I’m still perfectly fine with Clawful’s goofy looking head.

The rest of the figure is plenty cool. You may recognize the legs and feet as a reuse of Buzz-Off and Whiplash. Clawful also has Buzz-Off’s left hand. His front shell, on the other hand, is a new sculpt, as is the back one which attaches onto him via four pegs, just like Buzz-Off’s wings or Whiplash’s back/tail piece. His giant pincer claw looks good enough to eat with drawn butter, and despite Mattel’s insistance on outlawing “action gimmicks,” the claw still snaps shut when you open it and let it go. The coloring on the figure is pretty great, although I would have preferred his feet be the same color as his shell. As it is, it looks way too close to the color used on Whiplash’s feet.

Whiplash comes with two accessories: A mace and a shield. I guess maybe you could count his back plate as an accessory, since it comes off the figure in the package and you need to attach it. The mace is simple enough and cast in bright green plastic. The shield was actually a complete surprise for me. I knew he came with the mace, but not the shield. It’s a very nice piece, with a sculpt that continues the crustacean theme, and clips onto his wrist. Very cool!

Clawful wasn’t high on my list of MOTUC must-haves, but he looked like a pretty fun figure, and that’s exactly what I got. I think the biggest issue some collectors may have with him is the cartoon he has for a noggin. Most figures in the Classics line have gotten some degree of realistic update to their sculpts, but it seems as if Clawful missed the memo. Still, he’s just another example of how even the back-benchers in this figure lineup usually wind up winning me over in the end. As for that Club Eternia subscription? Well, I’ve still some days left to think it over.

Yep, standard MOTUC style packaging. Whiplash is packaged holding his spear and wearing his vintage style head and with his tail piece detached to help him fit under the bubble. So, yes, there is a little assembly required with this figure. There’s no “The Original” sticker on the package, so I’m guessing these figures were just a little left over stock that was being cleaned out. At least that would explain the lack of sticker and the fact that he sold out faster than either of the first offerings of the month. The package has the standard bio blurb on the back, which I actually didn’t bother reading.

Whiplash shares a majority of his parts with Buzz Off. In fact, from the neck down the only differences are the hands and the paintjob. It sounds crazy since one is a lizard man and the other is a bee man, but the shared parts with the appropriate paint look great on both figures. The fact that Buzz Off’s wings and Whiplash’s tail are separate pieces made customizing the body for use with the two figures pretty easy for Matty and none of it compromises either figure. Whiplash’s two-tone green along with his blue and orange trim make for one rather garish looking figure, and I mean that in the most complimentary of senses.

As hinted above, Whiplash is one of those figures that comes with two swappable heads. The one on the figure is based off the vintage toy, whereas the extra is patterned after the character’s appearance in the MYP series. The sculpts of both heads are quite excellent and it’s a close call as to which one I prefer to display on him. Ultimately, I went with the MYP head, which was a little surprising to myself, since I wasn’t fond of him in the more modern series. Nonetheless, in the case of the figure, I just like that version of the head better.

You get standard MOTUC articulation on Whiplash. That includes a balljointed head. The arms have universal joints at the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and elbows. The legs feature universal movement at the hips, as well as hinged knees and ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and features the ab crunch hinge. The tail is not articulated at all. It is a bit bendy, but not poseable.

Whiplash comes with two weapons. You get a pretty simple spear cast in orange plastic, and you get one crazy ass looking bladed weapon. I really have no idea how he’s supposed to use it, but I guess it has enough edges on it that he can swing it or jab it in any way possible and still do some damage.

I was a bit concerned that Whiplash would be one of those figures that suffered because the gimmick that inspired the vintage figure was removed. As it turns out it really doesn’t matter and he still has a big tail that can knock shit over. He’s a great, colorful figure, and he looks fantastic standing among Skeletor’s minions. I’m really glad I had a second opportunity to add him to my collection.

Standard MOTUC packaging and it looks great. These are pretty big cards and bubbles to begin with and The Faceless One manages to fill it out pretty nicely. The back features a bio blurb that retcons the character into the new all inclusive canon that Mattel has been weaving for the Classics line. Oh yeah, shipping costs were too high and the packing was non existant. Not much else to say here, so let’s rip it open and check out the goods.

The Faceless One actually does have a face, but not much of one. He kind of looks like a well worn statue or maybe the bastard love child of Skeletor and Scareglow. He’s a pretty hefty figure, thanks to his massive rubbery cape and cowl. The entire thing is one piece and comes off without even having to pop off the figure’s head. Underneath, there isn’t much to look at, as there’s virtually no detail at all on his chest, so he’s best displayed with it on, since there’s some awesome bone decor sculpted onto it. The paintwork on the figure is really gorgeous. I love the shades of purple and mauve and the way it contrasts with the bone white and black.

I’m a little irked by the limiting sculpt of the figure’s left hand, which is good for holding the Ram Stone and really nothing more. Maybe you can make it look like he’s throwing an open palm strike, but I think it would have been cooler to put the Ram Stone on a little chain or something and sculpt his hand so that he could hold another weapon, or wield the Havoc Staff in both hands. Seriously, though, I’m nit picking.

The Faceless One comes with two accessories. You get the Havoc Staff, which appears to be the same sculpt, partially cast in a red translucent plastic, which makes for a really cool effect. So cool, in fact, that I’m tempted to replace my Skeletor’s Havoc Staff with this one. You also get the Ram Stone.

TFO has standard articulation for the line. He has a balljointed neck. His arms feature universal joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. His legs have universal movement in the hips, hinged knees and ankles. He can swivel at the waist and has the ab crunch hinge in the torso. The problem is that with his bulky cape and cowl, old Faceless really can’t make very good use out of all that articulation, so he’s pretty much a one pose kind of guy when displayed on the shelf.

Love him, hate him, or don’t know who the hell he is, it’s hard to deny that The Faceless One is a great looking figure. Was he a must-have for my collection? Nope, not at all, but then that third reason I bought him was to use him as some easy custom fodder for my skeletor. The cowl and cape fit right over Skeletor’s body and I think it looks amazing. Still, he’s a cool enough figure to be displayed on his own, even if it will likely be in the back ranks of the shelf. I’m by no means a completist on this line, but I buy what I like, and there was just something about this guy that I thought was cool.

I guess Matty was using shipping mailers for a while, but I never got anything I ordered from them in anything other than a box. Of course, this shipment came with all three boxed figures thrown into a bigger box with absolutely no packing whatsoever. Matty sure charges a premium for slow and crappy shipping and I’ll keep pointing that out here until they decide to change it. Anyway, Teela comes in the standard MOTUC packaging. The presentation is still awesome, and it’s still a line that I wouldn’t mind having a second of every figure to keep carded if only they weren’t so expensive. I was half expecting some kind of sticker on the bubble to somehow single this figure out for being such a strange, niche offering from the minicomics. Even holding the packaged figure in my hand, I was still questioning its very existence. The bio on the back tries to tie it in with the main line, but even so, I can’t think of this figure as Teela. Let’s look at the figure and see why.

Well, for starters it looks nothing like the Teela we all know. Ok, she actually shares the same arms and legs from regular flavor Teela, but she’s wearing wearing a valkyrie-type metal bra and furry diaper. The bra is a separate sculpted piece, which is appreciated since you can use the strap on the back to store her sword. I also suppose it would be pretty simple to get off if you were some kind of perv and so motivated. Her furry diaper is basically just a female version of the stock kind used on He-Man and so many of the other figures in the line. The sculpted bracers and bicep straps have been repainted from original Teela to match this figure’s belt. Overall, it’s a pretty cool looking ensemble for a warrior chick.

The body sculpt is nice in that she’s both powerful looking and feminine at the same time. The new torso is fairly close to Teela’s build but that’s where the similarities end. The head sculpt is more angular and chisled than the Teela I know and her lips are slightly pursed, as if she’s pausing to decide whether to shoot you or hack you to bits. Her blond hair is sculpted as if its blowing a bit and unfortunately it really inhibits the articulation in her neck. Again, it’s a great looking sculpt, but if you’re expecting the same old Teela in a different outfit, this isn’t it.

Teela comes with two accessories: A laser pistol and a sword. The whole mix of swords and technology has always been one of my favorite things about the MOTU universe, so I’m always happy to see a figure come with both a gun and a blade. I really like the sculpt used for the laser pistol and the silver finish fits it nicely. I was a little irked that the barrel on mine was warped in the package, but it’s managed to straighten out fairly well. The sword is a nice, simple design with a broad triangular blade and a straight crossguard.