While only five inches high, the diminutive Gwildor is almost a completely new sculpt. This is a rare representation of a Billy Barty character in toy form, complete with the fluffy hair from the Masters of the Universe body rather than the restrained 1987 action figure incarnation. The only recycled piece is the redecorated smaller Cosmic Key, as far as I can tell everything else is completely new. As such, the savings were passed along to you.
An oft-requested and largely unsuspected figure, Gwildor has one of the absolute most intricate sculpts I've seen in the line. His hair and robes are bonkers - it's very realistic, rather than being very toy-ish. The trim on his robes is amazing - check out the close-ups below, and be amazed. Tiny chains are sculpted and painted, as are buttons on the back of the figure. Mattel decorated details that most companies - and I include Mattel on this list - would leave unpainted. One eye is a tiny bit bigger than the other giving the super wrinkly face a lot of personality. It's both grotesque and wonderful, capturing the feel of short, hairy characters from 1980s toy tie-ins. There were quite a few of them, too.
You can get some decent poses out of this little guy, although if you ask me they wasted resources by jointing the knees and ankles. And hips. And really, the waist too. The best you can do is get him to lean forward a tiny bit, and given the need to cut costs on new tooling I'm surprised they didn't simplify him like they did with the wonderful Shadow Weaver. His left hand can hold a staff or the smaller Cosmic Key, while the right looks like it's about to make adjustments on the larger freestanding version of the Key.
Each Comic Key is basically in the same color as the original toy, wheras Preternia He-Man's was close to the movie coloring. Each one has a series of moving "forks" on the side, which adds a little something to play with for you. His staff has a white tip and some subtle wood shading, so it looks good but it's not immediately obvious that someone put a lot of work into it. Some wrapping around the handle blends in nicely, while the top is a smattering of electronics. It's quite nice.
The amount of sculpted and painted detail on the Cosmic Key accessories, combined with the detail work on Gwildor himself, make this a great set. It's expensive, sure. It probably costs more than you'd like to pay for it too - but how can you resist your very own Billy Barty toy? While he's never appeared in any of the cartoons, this piece of He-Man movie history is a welcome addition to toy line as we count down what I assume will likely be the final year in its current incarnation in 2015.
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