Faceless One Ancient Lord of Zelsia Masters of the Universe Classics Action Figure Item No.: No. T5796 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: Havok Staff, green Ram Stone, large cape Action Feature: n/a Retail: $20.00 Availability: June 2011 Other: As seen on the 2002 cartoon
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If you read the forums, the Masters of the Universe Classics line is the worst thing ever. I disagree-- even when the figures get weird like the Faceless One here, usually there's something to like. I do have a complainey observation, though, so let's get it out of the way. On the cartoons, he had a glowing, shadowy face-- which I assume is tough to translate to plastic. The actual head of the figure seems quite well defined, unlike other "faceless" toys like The Blank (Dick Tracy) or The Question (DC Universe). Action figures are, like comics or trading cards, another way to interpret characters so some changes are often made to make for a better, more interesting, or cheaper plaything. In the Faceless One's cases, I think it was just a stylistic decision-- because with lips, pronounced lines on his head, a nose, and dark eye sockets, he's not really all that faceless. The head is really cool and a little ghoulish, which I have no problem with, but to make it match the packaging art would probably require some forced painted shadow deco-- which, actually, Hasbro has used and it does look neat when done right.

Nikolas Powers' (that's his real name, you see) body is largely held over from Count Marzo, specifically his left amulet-clutching hand and armored legs. The greaves are pretty simple, looking sharp and relatively normal compared to his insanely ornate costume. I'm used to dudes in bandoliers and fluffy underoos, so seeing this guy-- with a decked-out armored skirt and a massive, chunky cape which covers his back and a lot of his front, well, it feels quite different from the rest of the line. He's bulky, he's meaty. The cape holds well, and comes off easily-- very easily. Some figures are next to impossible to get out of the package because of the death grip the cape holds on their necks, but this one came out quite easily. Since it's largely going to be a display piece, that's OK-- I just want it to hang there anyway.

Compared to the art, it's pretty close-- the costume has most of the major elements, but the colors are tweaked and the "skirt" is different. Rather than have his robes reach the floor, they cut off at about the knees. Articulation is standard MOTUC fare, 19 joints (or more, depending on how you count) give him a decent range of movement-- but some of those are going to be restricted by the big bulky plastic costume. If you remove his cape, he can bend his legs a fair amount so it's entirely possible he could be placed in a vehicle someday.

So the sculpt is good, and the gear is acceptable. One accessory is the Skeletor staff with the head cast in clear red and painted purple. If you display it with the light just right, it gives the accessory an otherworldly magic quality which really is nice to see. His other losable item is a ram amulet, or Ramulet. The Ramulet is metallic green and fits nicely into his hand. Like, perfectly. I couldn't ask for an accessory which fits better into a hand than this-- the staff requires low levels of force, but this just plain fits nicely. Oh, and I should note that despite the hands being sculpted like gloves, you can see fingernails and wrinkles on his digits if you look close... so don't look too close.

As Evil-Lyn's dad and a potential baddie who was underused, this figure's greatest success is existing. A limited number of new characters from the 2002 show got made as toys, so it's nice to see one, even if he isn't a perfect translation of the animation model-- he's a neat, evil looking figure and I think that's ultimately what counts. The original guys feel a little more ramshackle, so this figure's elegant lines and additional coloring almost seems out-of-place compared to the almost-naked classic combatants... but I still like it. He'll go on the shelf, in the back, but his presence is such that even on the back shelf, you can't miss this guy and his creepy empty black eye sockets.

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