Most of the figures are nifty, with even the fearsome characters looking more fun than scary. But then there's Mantenna, a She-Ra villain with a goofy cartoon face and a generally impotent demeanor. The toy, on the other hand, looks like a terrifying Hell demon and is easily, without question, the most disturbing thing Mattel has put out in the line. The original figure was goofy and a little freaky, while the 2002-era design was pretty intense. This thing? Freaking horrifying.
Fans of the cartoon saw Mantenna with all his edges sanded off. The toothy vagina mouth was replaced with a much cuter fish face, the tusks and generally hard lines were smoothed out to something more palatable to a potential young girl after-school audience. The figure always had a bit of an edge to it in the old days, but they have nothing on this guy. He now has yellow eyes (to match the cartoon) and the Four Horsemen gave his head a level of extreme detail that makes this figure look like a bargain at $27. If Mattel charged you $40 for this guy, you'd say "Yeah, OK, I get it." It's almost a shame this isn't the final figure in the line, because in many respects I can't imagine how they can top it in terms of sheer visceral repsonse. The shiny yellow eyes have tiny black dots on them, just like the cartoon. You can pop off his mouth and the eyeballs, swapping in eyes which stick out from his head - this is also particularly freaky. There's more going on in this figure's head that other figures in the line are boring by comparison, and that's not even mentioning the exposed spiny running down his skull and back, the finely wrinkled ears, or the subtle black shading on the red head.
The body is no less impressive, and is packed with tons of new parts. The finned arms and legs are great, cast in blue and highlighted with a delightful matching metallic blue color which makes things a) pop and b) feel more expensive. The Horde symbol appears on each one of the greaves plus his chest armor, which is the kind of overkill you want in a dumb thug. Each thigh has warts and a skin condition, plus it's worth noting that you get a whopping four legs - a first in this line. For those of you looking to make a Centaur of some sort, start with this buck if you can. Mantenna sold out rather quickly, which is unfortunate if you do not already own this figure.
In addition to the swappable eyes, there's also a Horde crossbow with a boar's head on the front. Note the snout and teeth. Nicely done, Mattel. A third-party maker designed a Filmation-inspired mouth as well, which I would have loved to see produced on a mass scale. The current mouth is sort of distracting. You can't un-see a toothy hole like that.
2013 was a tip-top year for this line, kicking things off with figures like Ram Man followed by winners like Clamp Champ, Shokoti, King He-Man, and the Sky Sled. This figure may well be the best of 2013 (or indeed the entire line) in terms of overall impressiveness, combining cartoon elements with design features of the existing toy and the Four Horsemen design from a decade ago. It's Mantenna as seen in your imagination, assuming you were ingesting some illegal substance and freaking out. If you're at all on the fence on this guy, buy him as soon as the price is right. You won't be sorry, unless you see it in the middle of the night trying to suck out soul out of your face.
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