Fearless Photog

Happy Action Figure Friday everyone!

To kick off AFF (Action Figure Friday) I received Fearless Photog in the mail today. Fearless Photog is the first of the 30th Anniversary of Masters of the Universe line up.

As we covered in my Matty Sale blog Fearless Photog was created by a fan in a contest and has now been 20 years in the making. At first I wasn't sure how well I would enjoy this character once he was announced. I thought "Oh God, this is gonna be a crap figure." but now that I have him in my hands I absolutely love this figure.

Of course as with all MOTUC figures Fearless Photog comes in a white mailer box. Nothing fancy with this box. I will say that for the new mailer boxes he was relatively easy to remove, not like Demo-Man was.

So we do see printed on the box the Masters of the Universe Classics logo and the name Fearless Photog clearly printed on the front.

On thing I thought would be a nice touch is if instead of the Masters of the Universe Classics logo we got the 30th Anniversary logo on the front. It would really help set this collection apart from the normal subscription while still unified since it still says Masters of the Universe.

Here's the man of the hour, Fearless Photog. Ok, so I don't have a picture of him in his package. When I got him I wasn't thinking about a blog post and I was excited to get him out of the package.

The package is your typical MOTUC packaging so nothing special there. There is a burst on the package that would normally say "The Original" however for Photog is states "Created by Nathan Bitner."

Fearless Photog comes with what you see here, himself, a shield, and a blaster. Pretty standers type accessories since everyone has about two.

You can see the "running man" emblem on his chest. As you move Fearless Photog the running man actually moves as well.

Fearless Photog's head is shaped like a movie camera. Which is a really awesome design. The curvature at the bottom of ....only what I can assume would be a chin line does hinder the articulation a little bit when you try to move his head to the side.

One other notable feature is that his head also has a telescoping zoom with the use of a lever. The lever is hid near the back of his head and becomes visible in his profile as it slides forward.

From what I gather from forums and Mattycollector's facebook page is that some people receive Fearless Photog with a cracked lense in the front of his face. Taking a close look and under a light I didn't see such a crack in mine. I do see "inclusions" from how it was made in order to rest in the molding so the head can be put together, but no crack. Maybe I'm not seeing something that is there, but then again, maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones.

In this picture you can clearly see the running man on his chest and in the above picture, hopefully, you can see how it is supposed to move.

Fearless Photog's accessories are a shield and a blaster. The shield is made of two parts. The first is a grey backing and the front is made from a yellow translucent plastic to look like a camera lens.

His second accessory is one that wasn't created by Nathan Bitner. The original design of Fearless Photog did not include a blaster. The Four Horsemen (4H) have designed a blaster that takes its design from a movie camera.

One thing that I wasn't  happy with was that the paint app could have been better. Some of the back on his leg seems light and dirty and even the yellow seems a little dirty. I'm not one to really complain about paint apps, but this one is a bit of an eye sore.

In this picture you can also get a good look at the film reel style belt for Fearless Photog.

Overall, with Fearless Photog, the joints are solid and we get to enjoy the standard articulation as we get with most of the male MOTUC figures. While the paint apps leave a bit to be desired in some spots, Fearless Photog is  vibrant edition to the MOTUC line and a great way to kick off the 30th Anniversary of Masters of the Universe line.

Nathan Bitner, if you or anyone who knows you are reading this, thank you for this wonderful and completely original design of a character.

And to quote a follow collector that I read  couple days ago, paired with Roboto, "Yes, these are the droids I've been looking for."

-"Nurd" Pat!

Matty Day

Happy Matty Day everyone. What is Matty Day? Matty day is the day where we all run to our computers to purchase figures from Mattycollector.com and wait and wait and wait on the white screen of death.

Today is a big day on Mattycollector.com for a couple of reasons. Reason number one is we have the opportunity to purchase what was supposed to be the first official figure of 2012 in the MOTUC line the Sorceress and also the Febuary figure Fisto. In conjunction with these figures we get the first of the 30th Anniversary figure line with the Fearless Photog. Also on Mattycollector.com Blazingsword Voltron becomes available if you didn't pick him up at the 2011 SDCC and last but not least we get the Red Lion of the Lion Force and pilot Lance.

First up is the Sorceress. I was really excited to get this figure when she wasn announced into the line and kind of sad that she was pushed back into Febuary. This figure beautifully represents the way she looked back in the '80's Filmation series. Sorceress also comes with her staff and Zoar, the falcon she transforms into when leaving Castle Greyskull. Zoar also comes packaged with her perch and armor.

 

The Febuary figure to be released is Fisto. Fisto is the brother to Man-At-Arms who was beleived to have deserted during the Great Unrest but actually had amnesia. After shattering his hand while protecting the Masters from the Snakemen, he was given a mechanical hand by his brother Man-At-Arms.

Fisto is a great looking figure and I'm really happy Mattycollector recanted on thier postion to do away with anything that has to do with the 200X design. With Fisto not only do we get his deco of from the '80's, we also get a new head, belt, and sword for his 200X look. Both are impressive looking so it will be hard to decide how to display him.

The first of the 30th Anniversary of MOTU line is Fearless Photog. Mattel once held a contest for children to create a new Masters of the Universe character and the winner would not only have a figure made of the character but would also recieve $100,000 towards a college tuition. While Mattel did make good on the college tuition Masters of the Universe died out before a figure could be made. Here we are celebrating the 30th year of MOTU and Mattel makes good on its promise. I honestly can't think of a better way to celebrate than the release of Fearless Photog.

All of the figures above could be yours for the price of $22 if not a subscribed Club Eternia member ($20 for members) while supplies last.

This year not only marks the 30th Anniversay of MOTU but also the first year that Mattel has access to Filmation characters. The first Filmation character to recieve the plastic treatment is also the Club Eternia exclusive, and the number one fan requested character, Shadow Weaver.

I really like the Shadow Weaver figure. It very much matches the Filmation look. I'm a little be skectical on the solid base for legs because it doesn't leave much room for posability and i'm concerned that it will either be A) solid and heavy or B) be hollow and feel cheap. Only time will tell until I recieve it in my mail box.

I am displeased that they decided to make this figure the club exclusive. It would make more sense for her to be accessable to more people and to some who buy multiples. It didn't make sense to me other than to drive subscription sales. In the past we saw non essential characters for the club exclusive such as Wun-Dar and a Preternain He-Man, also known as Hamberlar He-Man.

Blazing Sword Voltron was first available at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con and later on Mattycollector.com There doesn't seem to be any kind of a change in packaging so essentially apprears to be the exact same offering. It is nice to see that Blazing Sword Voltron is avaiable again with the first Lion to be release in the Club Lion Force subscription.

Blazing Sword Voltron is available on Mattycollector.com $30.

Now we come to the big boy of the sale, the Red Lion of the Lion Force. I wish I could have picked up on this one but the price is overwhelming when you consider that I'm a Club Eternia member.

As part of Club Lion Force you will recieve the Red Lion, Voltron's Right arm, and the Red Lion pilot Lance. The will be boxed individually however shipped together. Once all 5 lions have been collected you can form Voltron, standing an amazing 23" tall! Each pilot also comes with a piece to create Voltron's blazing sword.

Words can NOT describe how disappointed I feel knowing that this is on item I will have to pass up on this sale. I was a fan of Voltron in the past and I love collector pieces. I wish I could have picked him up today, but the price point is just too much right now. Also not being part of Club Lion Force, there is always the possibilty of missing a lion in the end. Hopefully one day I will be able to pick up on this set on the secondary market.

The Red Lion and pilot Lance can be yours for the hefty price of $50.