Bow Special Friend who Helps She-Ra Masters of the Universe Classics Action Figure Item No.: No. T5792 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: Bow, arrow, alternate head, alternate chest jewel, cape/quiver, harp Action Feature: n/a Retail: $20.00 Availability: February 2011 Other: As seen on the She-Ra cartoon
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The Masters of the Universe Classics line has numerous challenges, not the least of which is integrating what were essentially dolls in the 1980s into the world of super-articulated action figures for collectors-- male collectors-- using mostly existing parts. Through the magic of the subscription program, Mattel can get away doing some really cool things, with the higher price points ensuring they stay cool. For example, Bow here has two heads and an alternate, swappable jewel for the front of his cape so you can pick between his animated and toy incarnations. Do you prefer the moustache? That's doable. Do you like little hearts? Not a problem. The toy comes packaged with the shaven face and the red circle, but it's hard to not stick with the moustache because of the TV show appearances.

Mattel really did a bang-up job making this former girl's toy into a fairly cool action figure. Sure, he's too good to wear a shirt, but that's consistent with the line. Mattel gave him bend-and-swivel hands, plus specially posed fingers so he can hold an arrow in a fairly nifty way so he can pretend to aim it at the evil Horde. (Getting the arm joints to line up just right is tricky-- after all, this is the same basic body that He-Man used.) The retooled waist has a jewel which matches the round red one, and the legs are fairly standard fare with a nice gold-and-golder design on them. The tights-- these aren't pants, let's face it-- are pretty bright blue and go with the red cape rather nicely. There's a lot of gold here, including on a rope on his cape which can be used to make it look like he's wearing the quiver for his arrows.

I should point out, said quiver? Not removable. Bow even includes a harp, which really means as far as gear goes he's clearly one of Mattel's favorites. Both the bow and the harp have a nifty horse head design on them, and are all colored to match the metallic bits of his cotume.

With all the new tooling here, it's a little disappointing the arms weren't tweaked to better aim his bow and arrow. It's a great looking figure with fantastic gear, but most of these figures rely on an excellent pose to bring them to life. (Unless you leave them packaged... which... well, whatever man.)

I can't honestly say I'd have thought to buy Bow had he not been part of the subscription package. I've seen many an episode of She-Ra and he's a fairly competent heroic character... aside from having that oh-so-popular hero blindness we see in the likes of Lois Lane, Commissioner Gordon, J. Jonah Jameson, and the pals of every other superhero ever. Mattel's decision to allow fans to customize the figure probably outweighs my quibbles with articulation, and any time they can build in tributes to the Filmation series I'm generally quite pleased. Bow has turned out to be an excellent looking figure, and while I wouldn't suggest you get him unless you're already into all things Bow I can't fault it. Well done, Four Horsemen and Mattel! I can't wait to see who's next for She-Ra's entourage of "special friends." (Can't she just have a gang or a cult?)

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