This is the final - that we know of - Masters of the Universe Classics action figure to come out of Mattel. It's been an amazing journey, some chapters of which still need to be discussed - there are many stories you don't even know you want to hear yet. Some of those include this final year's line, how it got planned, and why it got cut off - needless to say, Clawful is a strange choice. Skeletor, He-Man, Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, Evil Seed, and Trap Jaw all make good sense - they have distinctive colorful designs and are popular recurring (except Evil Seed) characters. Clawful... uh... well, he's distinctive. He definitely looks different, like some sort of clawed lizard man - and for that reason, he's a neat finale to this era of the line.
The Four Horsemen gave us something that gives new meaning to the word "inessential," but at least it's nice. The dark red figure has exceptional decoration, with wonderful shading on his body, perfect orange armor and boots, gorgeous yellow eyes, and a nifty blue gem to compliment his man panties. This is a perfect translation of something you didn't want in the first place.
25 points of articulation are the norm here, building on the same buck we've used for nearly every figure for ages now. Clawful even has nipples - you may not see them, but they're there. So's an ab crunch joint, rock-ish ankles, and some pretty worthless hands. There's not much give to them, so getting him to hold his included club or Horn of Evil is sort of wonky. They can rest on or in the claws, but they're not exactly the best at gripping things. I'm hesitant to even say "it gets the job done, because it really doesn't. It's OK - not great.
Thankfully the figure looks great, with a big, open mouth complete with painted tongue and teeth. The open maw looks great, a change from the toothy customs you've no doubt seen and a great way to add some more personality to another thug in the toy shelving. The feet and boots should look familiar, but the claws are new - and not the same, either. The right one is open a little more than the left one, but neither is going to do much holding without brute force or boiling water. At least the sculpt and paint job of the figure are dang near perfection.
The Horn of Evil is pretty neat, if giggle-inspiring thanks to the skull on the tip of a long, somewhat dangly design. The coloring is great, the sculpting is excellent, and the interior shading is exquisite. It's joined by another green club accessory which can't be held particularly well, and it's much simpler and more flexible than the other one. I'd say you wouldn't miss it had it been left out, but maybe you would. I don't know you. I just know it isn't doing much for me.
It's unnecessary but good. The color and sculpt are spot-on, and it may be more in line with how you want the toy to look if you grew up primarily with the cartoon. If I only could have one Clawful, I'd probably prefer this one - it's simple, but it looks like the TV show. That's where my heart is, and even though it dropped the larger claw it's not like it's some grand tragedy. This is a wonderful little figure, but hundreds of figures in to this line things like the enhanced articulation and superior sculpting are likely taken for granted. He's just going to go on a shelf - the days where you'd thoroughly explore and enjoy a new toy in this line are long gone. It's just one more for the pile or the shelves, and a reminder of just how many times you waited for the mail from Mattel - and paid a lot of money for shipping - to get figures that, on the whole, did not always impress. This is a good one, any way you slice it. I think this subset of 7 figures would have been a great line had they never been fleshed out beyond this group, but now that it's over I do wish we had an equally cool Man-At-Arms or cartoony companions. If Super7 ramps up and gets us some new figures, that would be lovely. If they don't... well, it's not like we didn't have a spectacular run for a collector line that managed to last a few years beyond its expiration date. Now that this era is over, I really need to get that display finally figured out.
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