SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Commander 2014 “Sworn to Darkness” EDH Deck

November 11, 2014 by spartannerd

This year, a big revision is made to the rules for Commander…Planeswalkers can now be your general! I supposed technically only the five that were released for Commander 2014, but it isn’t much of a stretch to see all Planeswalkers allowed as commanders. (Evidently some circles of players were already doing this regularly.)

The decks this year contrast the decks from the past two years, in that they are a single color. At first I was like, “Mono-colored Commander decks…BORING!” I didn’t do a lot of spoiler reading or anything, only really checking out what each Planeswalker Commander could do, and skimming deck lists for notable cards. But after really looking at “Sworn to Darkness,” I see that this is one of the finest decks ever produced for the format! (Remember, I unboxed and reviewed all five of the Commander 2013 sets.)

The first thing I have to say, though has nothing to do with the product so much. Commander 2014 costs more than 2013. $5 to $10 more. I think when you see this review, you will see where that value is.

First, the packaging.

A nice package. I finally learned… (five decks later!)…That it is best to OPEN FROM THE BOTTOM! Anyways, the package shows the oversized “Ob Nixilis, of the Black Oath” card, with flavorful purple styling complimenting the black shadows. The yellow burst says that there are 15 brand new cards in this set. It also says that there is a 100 card deck meant for multiplayer formats. The backside of the deck shows Ob Nixilis again, along with five amazing cards, including Ghoulcaller Gisa, who we will revisit in a minute. You get some hype about the deck, and that’s about it.

Here are the contents. Notably, this time, you only get one oversized foil card. You get the same kind of deck box that we’ve seen before, which is really pretty nice. All five of my others have stood the test of time! You also get a guide to the deck, a general guide to playing Magic, (But commander is a variant, so…) And then you also get the deck of course. It’s cool that you get Ob Nixilis’s emblem on top.

The propaganda that comes with the deck gives you some of Ob Nixilis’s story. You also get a blurb about Gisa. The other side most importantly features the decklist. I suppose I should mention that I think the art is pretty good. Ob Nixilis is a pretty detailed character, if he does have a boring color scheme. But hey, he is “Of the Black Oath,” so I guess that is forgivable. (or is it unforgivable…hmmmm.??)

The Deck

When you get the cellophane off of the deck…first you get a ton of tokens on top!

But this time a new twist….DOUBLE SIDED TOKENS! Great Idea, Wizards!

The backside of all of these cards is a Zombie.

Alright already! What does this deck really do?

There are so many rares…I’m not even sure how many. Most of the cards in this deck!

I am going to present the cards as pictures with some commentary where appropriate.

First the potential generals. Ob Nixiis of the Black Oath is VERY GOOD. On turn five of every game, you have the opportunity to have a 5/5 flying demon. WOW! (That was his negative ability.) Or you can choose to drain a little and plus him up 2. But if you are able to get his ultimate to work, you can get a machine going

Ghoulcaller Gisa is a great sac outlet, and a way to get zombies out and over-run your opponent. And this deck has plenty of fatties to sac! (Anyone else notice that her initials are “GG”?

Then there’s Drana, who can destroy anything and swing in for nasty damage. She really punishes large creature strategies. But also she can be pumped by targeting your own creatures.

GG and Ob Nixilis are the two most obvious commanders for this deck. It is good that we get Gisa in case some players object to the Planeswalker as a commander.

What else? Here goes! I will show you each rare with some commentary where it is most significant

Morbid is some of what makes this deck fun! Here you get a 5/5 black demon with flying if something died this turn. And lots of things die with this deck, either to kill spells, in combat, or being sacrificed!

I can’t say enough about Lashwrithe. If you get this on the field, then just pay two life to equip it, you make a creature with huge power. And then sac it with Gisa…BAM tons of zombie tokens!

Wow. The first command I own!

Black Sun Zenith. YES!

I really don’t like the art on this one. Look closely….

You get a suite of sweepers! The more stuff dies, the better creatures tend to get in this deck!

Check out the next four cards.

Sadly, I find the first major quality control issue I have ever seen in a new Magic the Gathering product. I’m sure there is some machine somewhere that prints these cards and assembles the decks in a uniform order. The machine must have been malfunctioning. All of the cards, fromPestilence Demon through Bad Moon had a blueish ink spot on them. At first I thought it might be part of Pestilence Demon’s art…it made it look extra pestilence-y. But apparently not after seeing the same smear on the other cards.

I intend to call the Wizards and see what was up with this. Anyone else had such an issue? I also hear there are people who collect misprinted cards.*(nope. See below)

What? The D-word on the SpartanNerd blog?

GRAVE TITAN! Someone somewhere has read where this is one of my top three favorite cards! It is one of the first rares I ever pulled from a booster pack! It continues to be amazing!

Luitenant…a new mechanic for this set. It is way better than “tempting offer” in the last set.

This guy is scary!

Here is the opposite of Platinum Angel!

How the deck plays.

As of this review I have played exactly three games with this deck. I tried out Ob Nixilis and Gisa both as generals. They are both excellent!. I am trying to get out a speedy review, so I might update this section later.*

My first matchup was great because it was against a largely vanilla Prossh, Skyraider of Kher deck, from Commander 2013. The matchup was about an hour and fifteen minutes long. Prossh tries to get tokens on the battlefield and then sacrifice those to make stuff bigger. Most of those tokens are chump blockers. Eventually, I barely lost. Both of us were drawing cards and finding win-cons. Prossh was just more ready at the right time.

Ob Nixilis’s ability to get out 5/5 flying demons is killer! You can do a lot with those. Big flyers. Sacrifice them to get card draw or beef stuff up. Block chump flyers. Or pile up and attack! The +2 drain ability is the almost irrelevant part. I never got to ultimate him, so haven’t tried out the emblem thing yet. The Prossh deck made a lot of irrelevant tokens. I was able to sweep those several times, while the 5/5 fliers lived on! I was able to remove Prossh and other baddies by bouncing Shriekmaw a few times, at least once with Profane Command. Also, Drana’s ability is a great removal.

In my second match, against some kind of hexproof deck, I had mana screw. The thing about this deck…It wants to have at least five mana. So OH WELL!

The third match was against a Karn Silver Golem deck. My opponent was able to get out all kinds of nasties. Platinum Angel was one of them, Cranial Plating was another. And lots of Myrs, and a Bonehoard. I won this match, though. This time I made Gisa my general, and I think I will use her from now on. She is AMAZING in this deck! I think she might have moved up on my list of favorite cards. Her ability, pay a swamp and sac something for 2/2 zombie tokens equal to the sacrificed creature’s power, isn’t anything to sniff at. Especially when you are making 5/5 demons pretty regularly, equipping Lashwrithe on something pumping its power big time, or other things. In fact, you can just start a chain reaction of zombies, if you think about it, if you start with sacking one zombie, then you get two. choose one of those, then you have three. Get it? She is amazing. And this deck was able to overrun that wimpy affinity thing.

What will I change?

This deck needs some Lilianna. Of every flavor. I think I will switch out some of the mana rocks. For instance, Charcoal Diamond enters the battlefield tapped, can be tapped for a swamp, and costs two. WHY? Welcome to the deck, Elbrus the Binding Blade. (Oh how he loves Commander!) Otherwise, I think I will keep this deck as it is. Maybe changing in or out one or two creatures. Maybe Geralf’s Messenger or something. I don’t even really want to play Vampire Nighthawk, another favorite card! I was really down on the inclusion of Swiftfoot Boots. This was in EVERY DECK LAST TIME. But then, I equipped in onto a 5/5 demon on the same turn he came out, and changed my mind. Haste and Hexproof isn’t irrelevant after all! Some of the mana could be made more interesting. And why doesn’t this deck have “corrupt?”

My rating for “Commander 2014: Sworn to Darkness.”

Of the many official Commander decks I have seen, I think Sworn to Darkness stands a head taller than them all! I would give it a 6 out of five if I could. the only thing I found wrong is the little misprint that was on four or five of the cards. I will keep my readers posted on how or if the Wizards make it better for me somehow.

SO I RATE “SWORN TO DARKNESS 5/5. DO you agree? Let me know in the comments!

*Update #1…

I took “Sworn to Darkness” to the sealed deck two-headed giant tournament at the Tangled Web this past weekend, and got to play some multiplayer with this deck. The mana-hunger of this deck is no joke. And that seems to be where it is weakest. On the other hand, sitting without that much land to do things makes you less of a threat.

I chose Ghoulcaller Gisa as my General. People were surprisingly unfamiliar with her. (The other commanders were Freyesa, the green planeswalker from this set. Narset from Khans, and Derivi from last years set.) Anyways, the green Planeswalker guy scooped early, frustrated because he “washed out” all of the islands, making the other two players choose him as a target. This gave me plenty of time to bake my strategy. The surprising card of the day was “Crypt of Aberdeen.” That card produced insane mana as creatures were hitting the graveyard due to their sweepers, etc. Once I had Gisa and Drana on the battlefield at one time. Could you imagine! Before I could activate the combo and load the board with zombies, they were both killed off! Gisa was cast no less than five times, thanks to that cool little land. The other surprising card is Shriekmaw. Because the deck reanimates things so readily, I was able to get several creatures destroyed with his enters-the-battlefield trigger. One more big surprise…Aether Snap! This kills off stuff with counters, including Planeswalkers! Someone had a Gideon out attacking people. Aether Snap put an end to that! I wound up losing this match being next to last. My opponent put Raving Dead under Mimic vat, and began attacking me with multiple copies. Cards like that in the other set have also proven to be risky…(I’m thinking about Serra Avatar in Oloro. Ageless Ascetic’s deck.) The deck was fun and held up, so once again, very satisfied!

I have since swapped a few cards. I removed one of the lands and switched to Reliquary Tower…this deck gets enough card draw that it might be useful to hold cards. On the other hand, ditching cards in the graveyard fuels stuff up…I swapped “bad sol ring” out for Elbrus, and added Lilliana Vess and Lilliana of the Dark Realms. Someone asked me about Ob Nixilis Unshackled. I DO have a copy, and might consider adding him. My opponents were cracking fetch lands, so Ob Nixilis Unshackled’s ability would have been useful! Can’t readily remember the other swaps. But They were cheaper to cast, and involved zombies, usually.

One more thing. People were really interested in the misprinted cards, especially Pestilence Demon. I was encouraged to hang on to them, as the aftermarket value tends to be pretty high nowadays for such cards. The wizards don’t let that stuff slip out too often anymore. Even more so since it makes the Pestilence Demon look even cooler! So I won’t be sending them in, Hub City Geeks.

SpartanNerd Unboxing, Playtest, and Review….Journey to Nyx Event Deck

June 7, 2014 by spartannerd

All week I have been preparing for a modern MTG tournament at The Tangled Web, the only local comic book and cards store here in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The only problem…when I got there..I found out it was a STANDARD TOURNAMENT!

So no “Amulet of Vigor/Primeval Titan” action for me…and furthermore, I hadn’t brought a suitable Standard deck!

Luckily there is a product for one such desperate weekender as me…an EVENT DECK!

(Many thanks to the store owner for knocking a little off of the price for me in my situation. It was much appreciated, and I implore ANY reader to find this store and shop from there. They are very nice people. And the community of Magic players there are very competitive, generally kind, welcoming to new people, good sports, and challenging opponents as well. You people who don’t live near here only WISH you were so lucky to have such a thing near you to regularly express your nerdery!)

All that said. Here are pictures, and my review of the product!

Here it is. Fresh in the package just before opening. (It is sitting on my angel playmat.)

This is what the box looks like unsleeved.

You get this rather un-inspiring message…the deck is titled “Wrath of Mortals.” REALLY! (MTG has a famous card, “Wrath of God,” which supposedly destroys all creatures with one big move.) So this is kind of a lame title. Wrath or Mortals.

I’m glad the life counter actually matches the deck this time. (If you have been reading my blog, you know it kind of bothers me when the dice doesn’t match!)

You get this divider

And these two pieces of paper. You know what is going to happen to the one on the right?

These three images show the important stuff on the papers. Note the DECKLIST! I really enjoy the art from “Journey Into Nyx” That’s why I’m showing you this!

Here is the suite of creatures you get. These are really good creatures, in general. There are a few that I generally sided out, or just plain took out before the match. More on that later.

These three were the best creatures. Especially “Spellheart Chimera.” I have actually made a deck for SpartanSmurf #1 featuring this card before. He wouldn’t ever play it…(he said he didn’t like the way the chimera looked…ingrate!) But when I saw this in the deck at a full four copies, and that “Young Pyromancer” and “Guttersnipe” were in here, I knew that this wasn’t going to be an entirely new thing for me after all! For once, it seems an event deck has a solid strategy!

For this deck, I could take or leave these guys. “Aetherling” is a great card always, and he got me one win. I never saw “Ogre Battledriver” all night. I actually added more “Battlefield Thaumaturge.” But he isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. Usually he would get burned off before you could use him. And this deck has a curious lack of “strive”cards to allow his first ability to work. You also probably won’t ever get his heroic to trigger in this deck. There isn’t even a single aura spell in the deck. “Daring Thief” was always killed off before he could untap. I only saw “Oracle of Bones” once all day. I did get a free burn spell out of him!

“Chandra’s Phoenix” is almost more burn spell than creature! Too bad you only get one.

Now for the instants and sorceries.

The most notable of these is “Lightning Strike.” You get four full copies. But it is rather generic. The most fun is probably “Searing Blood.” I mean, a card like this is really format warping. Creature burn with player burn all for just two red…amazing! Great for hitting those mana elves. I was pleased to get a copy of the red board sweepers, “Mizzium Mortars” and “Anger of the Gods.” I never saw “Steam Augury” all day. But “Divination” was a star!

(“Searing Blood” is comparable to “Bile Blight”, in my opinion. A card that really discourages chumps.)

Now for the lands. This is where the trumpet says “WAA, Waa, waa.”

You get 12 mountains, 8 islands, and 4….GUILDGATES. REALLY? NOT EVEN A SINGLE SCRY LAND? NO SHOCK LAND? NO MANA CONFLUENCE?

Nope. You get slow-butt guildgates for mana-fixing. They might as well have just given us 4 more islands.

This is one of the areas where Event Decks in the past generally drop the ball as well. The main deck cards are pretty good, so I guess they decided to skimp in this area. Don’t want you to be too successful.

This deck came with a sideboard as well.

I sided in every card here at least once, except for “Izzet Staticaster.” Not really sure why he is here. I guess to flash in and block someone but not actually hurt them. I think I will change this card to “Goblin Electromancer” when I get the chance. The Elixir is always a star. Basically, I swapped out the Battlefield Thamaturges whenever I sided, as well as “Ogre Battledriver”, “Aetherling”, or anything else that I only had one copy of and switched to a more “control” game. It is hard to straddle the fence, though, playing burn and control. The upside is, the “Spellheart Chimera” got to be a surprise big flyer a few times. Too bad his toughness is only 3. This makes him susceptible to being killed by bigger flyers, namely “Stormbreath Dragon.”

PLAYING THE DECK.

Before I began, I asked my opponent to oblige me in letting me get my head around the deck. I had a few minutes to “improve it.” First thing I did was swap two guildgates for “Mana Confluence,” which was in the modern deck I intended to play. Next I added two more “Battlefield Thaumaturges” from my trade binder, and added “Keranos, God of Storms” and “Niv Mizzet, Dracogenius” from SpartanSmurf #1’s trade binder. I can’t remember what I swapped out…. Regardless, I was wrong about Battlefield Thaumaturge. He sucks in this deck. Maybe not some other deck. But this one isn’t a place where he shines. Keranos was good. He got me at least one win, but I never had my devotion high enough to make him a creature. Niv Mizzet got me two wins.

Adding these cards got me some attention. People said “Really? That comes in the Event Deck?” But I had to set them straight that I modified it so that I could have a fighting chance.

This deck performed well against green decks that depend on “Elvish Mystic.” It did well against a Dimir deck that tries to mill you to death and hit you with “Consuming Aberation”. It did well against red-green at least once.

The deck didn’t do well against “Courser of Kruphix”, who pretty much takes away your burn advantage. It also didn’t do well against “Prophet of Kruphix,” who makes it so that your opponent can always respond to what you are doing and gives every creature flash. So Kruphix is the enemy of this deck, it seems! Also “Stormbreath Dragon” did pretty well against it, but I was able to “Fated Conflagration” him more than once, as well as a “Palukranos, World Eater” once. Surprisingly, I didn’t see a Black Devotion deck for the entire tournament!

At the end of the day, I had five single wins. Which means I went 2 wins 3 losses. Not bad for a deck I never played before, and just bought so I could have something to do instead of pout about bringing the wrong deck.

The JOURNEY TO NYX Event Deck gets 3/5. I took a point off for a poor mana base. The other point comes off because Battlefield Thaumaturge would probably be better replaced with “Omenspeaker,” who at least lets you Scry 2.

Do you agree? What would you rate the Journey to Nyx Event Deck? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…VINTAGE ALERT! 200x Two Bad

January 20, 2014 by spartannerd

SpartanNerd, you wanted a MOTUC Two-Bad. Well. Too bad!

So I will settle for the next best thing. 200x Two-Bad.

IMHO, the vintage 1980’s Two-Bad was not very good. I remember making him punch the opposite face all the time. And that’s about it. He couldn’t stand very well, because he was top heavy. He couldn’t hold weapons because his hands were permanent fists. And his shield didn’t fit on his arms correctly. I did enjoy the power of punching with the spiny loaded arms and waist feature combined, however. This was the strongest action feature in the original figures.

200x Two-Bad doesn’t have any of those problems, and the action feature is also pretty cool. So he is an advance in every way!

Here is Two-Bad in his original packaging. Notice the price tag.
The dude at the Barnyard Fleamarket shaved a little off.

This back is different from Beast Man and He-Man. We get a nice large pic of the figure. It still has the annoying foreign languages all over the package. They should have made a different card for the foreign languages, and gave people something else to collect, rather than this all-inclusive strategy. I like the white outline around the figure.

I took this pic when I removed him from the packaging. Impressive!

Two Bad has no problem standing. The weapon is cool,
sporting a hinge between the two pieces.

No big button behind this figure. His arms are spring loaded themselves.

Notice that the Baddra side of Two-Bad is the exact same color as Spikor! In this pic you can see that Two-Bad is noticeably shorter than the MOTUC figures. 😦 Also, both heads seem a tad smaller than He-Man and Beast Man’s heads.

Here is a shot of all of my baddies together. The best thing about Two Bad is he helps fill my ranks a bit!

So, what is my rating of Two-Bad? I like that he is an improvement on the 1980’s figure in every way. His arms are way better. The Horsemen sculpted him, and he is very detailed. He has excellent weapons. He stands nicely. The only point was taken off because of his slightly off scale build, which was probably done to save money on a fig that was fully tooled.

I rate 200x Two-Bad 4/5. Do you agree? Let me know!

SpartanNerd Review…G.I. Joe figures from Dollar General…Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander

December 31, 2013 by spartannerd

Here at the edge of the world, we don’t have too many stores. At one time, there were more, and then the apocalypse happened, and almost everything moved out. And then Dollar General Market came in and filled the void.

I visit this store almost everyday, and saw these on the pegs right around Thanksgiving. But I refrained from purchasing them. I don’t collect G.I. Joes, and the SpartanSmurf’s have a history of owning them but not playing with them. I admit that I was tempted, though. I have never owned as awesome a Cobra Commander as they had on the shelf. Furthermore, the figures seem to be painted in 1980’s generation 1 cartoon colors, and they were on sale for only $6.00. (The cheapskate in me screams…”What a deal! G.I. Joes are running almost as much as $15.00 at department stores!”)

So after Christmas, these were still hanging on the shelf…And the SpartanSmurfs had some money they were itching to spend…so where did I kind of point them???

Only one taker. SpartanSmurf #2. He is fond of Snake Eyes (and Ninjas in general), and thought Cobra Commander was cool also. They also had a Duke, who looked nothing like Duke. So neither one of us was interested. (See…He takes after his old man!)

Here are some pics and a review, followed by some comments and a rating! (I promise I took a pic of the box. But somehow that is nowhere to be found? The box is a window, prominently featuring the G.I. Joe branding, and on the back showcases six total figures from the line, but all painted in different colors than seen at the Dollar General Market. You’ll just have to take my word for it I suppose. The only figures we saw were the ones mentioned here.)

Snake Eyes. CLASSIC!

Cobra Commander. CLASSIC! This staff is also a sword.

Cobra Commander and his accessories.

Snake eyes and his accessories.

He’s holding a pistol.

A battle pose, by SparnanSmurf #2!

Thoughts on these figures.

“‘Ow Be-zar!” (Spoken in that dreadnok voice). The marketing strategy here is…..I guess maybe some kid will come through with his weekly allowance, or maybe will come through with his mom and ask for this, and it is certainly reasonable as an impulse buy. On the other hand, it seems it should appeal to people like me, more nostalgic types who have that 1980’s childhood aesthetic sense about them, who would see them and recognize them on account of their paint job.

These figures are excellent. Cobra Commander especially. (I am more fond of the all black suited Snake Eyes rather than the early versions.) Cobra Commander’s eyes could be shoddily done, but they are not. The work is clearly good. And you get a stand! (I am not sure, but don’t most Joes come with a stand nowadays?)

The only difference in these and what I might find at say, Target, are the accessories. They seem a little scant. But hey. It’s a $6.00 G.I. Joe! So I guess the corners had to be cut somewhere!

My rating? I am going to say 4.5/5, taking off a point only because there aren’t many accessories. Other figures at Dollar General seem to have the same trend though, for instance the Marvel characters they have on the pegs have no accessories. So I guess these guys are better than them! But still, it isn’t a full on G.I. Joe experience without the backpacks, extra guns, knives, swords, etc. And I also wish the back of the box had a bio of the characters, (like in the old days!) Anyone disagree with my 4.5, let me know!

Masters of the Universe Classics Unboxing and Review….Sky High with Jet Sled

December 25, 2013 by spartannerd

OK. So I had some worry about this package arriving. I ordered it on Cyber Monday, and it showed up on Dec. 23….(This was supposed to be a holiday special item). As I worried, the tracking information indicated only that it was in Georgia. I was going to call and complain, when lo and behold, the information updated to Greenville SC, and it was magically at my post office before the end of the day.

As I moved from my car to the house with box in hand, I thought…”Odd. Seems a little light.” Indeed, compared to the box that came with the Griffin and Teela, it was a little lighter. But it was something else that added to my worry….(was it really there?)

But on with the show.

The item was in the box…It was boxed in another mailer box, as expected. I was halfway expecting one of the brown boxes that people have been getting. Boxes that are supposedly more environmentally friendly or something. But this is the exact same kind that all of my other figures have shipped in!

The first thing I noticed when I opened the mailer was WOW I CAN SEE THE DETAILS ON THAT ~~SKY~~ JET SLED ALREADY!

To clarify something, in case I slip. I always called this vehicle “The Sky Sled.” And over the years I have named a few USB flash drives “Sky Sled.” Sometimes including a picture of the vehicle from the cartoon as the icon! I realize that the terms may be interchangeable. To me it is the Sky Sled. To you it might be Jet Sled. Tomato. To-mah-toe.

When you get the box out, you see it is in a battle cat style window box, where you can also see the pilot, “Sky High.”

And you flip the box over for these not so boring details.

You see, Sky High isn’t a vintage figure. So he has no back story except what they included here.

Sky High was one of the model kit pilots from the rarely seen model kit box art. Wow that’s obscure! He really belongs alongside the Fighting Foe Men, who I am a fan of, but do not own. I think the bio-story here is separated from the FFM because the FFM were meant to pay homage to the Four Horsemen’s staff, and Sky High here not so much.

(I run into another nerd problem. Does Sky High fly the Sky Sled? That sounds stupid. His real listed name here is “Darid.” Darid flying a Sky Sled sounds better.)

I suppose I will go ahead and review him.

This is a cool new figure, that seems to largely reuse parts. I don’t own Trap Jaw, but it seems his lower body is just Trap Jaw’s stuff. That is new armor, and a new helmet, but I think those gloves may be Sir Lazer Lot’s. Since the SLL at my house was stolen….

He comes with a weapon that represents the Wind Raider. It fits in his hand in the middle, making a “fan sword” like Hotaru used in Mortal Kombat Deception. Or you can clip it to his back to make a jetpack. I personally think the paint job is excellent. I don’t see any slop. I like his color scheme as well.

Sky High here feels generic. Kind of like Vikor, Blonde Teela, Draego Man, or the Griffin. He could be any pilot, really, and that is what is cool about him. You see, you could just forget there is someone named “Darid,” whose nickname is “Sky High.” This could simply be someone’s flight suit! Just do a head swap! Or maybe He-Man was feeling safety conscious, so he wore a helmet on his romp towards Snake Mountain in the Jet Sled.

Tired of seeing Teela as a Blonde? (The head swap doesn’t really work here. Her peg is too small.)

How nerdy is the SpartanNerd? Sky High’s mask reminds me of Maximillian from “The Black Hole.” I think it is the facelessness of him. And those eyes. He also resembles Boba Fett somewhat.

This guy is heading for Hell. (At the end of the Black Hole!)

Now for the good stuff! THE ~~SKY~~ JET SLED!

It is amazing! Should I get a Wind Raider!? I am super impressed with the SKY SLED! Those sculpted details that I first saw when opening the box are all over it! There isn’t one lazy decal anywhere! Just sculpted, painted, fine details.

I love the Sky Sled so much because it was a Good Buys/ Bad Guys vehicle. Though you never seemed to see the baddies driving one connected to the Battle Ram. Somehow, I also seem to think that the bad guy version looked just a tad more evil, like maybe had a more definite dragon head rather than the cat/bird looking thing the good guys had.* Hey. Maybe I’m wrong, but I did remember Maximillian!

Pictures are worth 1000 words. So here goes!

Classic!

I have virtually never seen a vintage Sky Sled who still had the stickers intact. That will never be a problem with this model!

Both sides are the same. Here I would like to say, clearly this was designed for a future Battle Ram to dock with.

The underside of the Jet Sled also has a ton of detail, and…What’s with that hole? It is a hole for the Wind Raider flight stand. (Not included here. So maybe I SHOULD get a Wind Raider too?) You can also see where the horsemen have added some additional guns!

What does Sky High look like on this vehicle? Pretty cool. But why fly a Sky Sled if you have a jet pack?

The black handles are nice. But in a way they don’t feel as rustic as the vintage method of the figures hanging on.

You can see that my vintage Battle Ram and Jet Sled have really done some serious ramming over the years.

I am including some comparison pictures. The Jet Sled here along with pilot is as large as the vintage version COMBINED WITH THE BATTLE RAM! That just shows that the real scale differences in the MOTUC figures and the vintage figures.

“It’s comparison time!”

The Jet Sled feels just as hollow as the original, and I am sure it is. The original has a pretty definite seam running up the line of symmetry…The same thing seems to be the case here, so I wouldn’t REALLY send it in the air, as I am certain it would break in half. This explains the “lightness” of the packaging I am sure, as it is hollow plastic. That said, the seam isn’t pronounced, and really just adds to the vintage feel of the thing!

I rate Sky High 5/5 as far as a flight suit is concerned. 3/5 as a Masters character. I mean, I am deducting points here simply for the fact that he wasn’t ever originally there, and is non-essential to people who are really only interested in updated versions of the vintage figures. His model pilot origins are pretty obscure, so my question here is, why not have included a different figure here? Someone more deserving. You could have put Dekker here, (or who taught him?). You could have included Trap Jaw or Tri-Clops (technology type bad guys). Or even another Man-At-Arms. Why put someone new here and “waste” a SKU, (as Mr. Nitelich points out is necessary to do a figure.) Or even this. How about white space-suit Marlena that people seem to want, or an articulated Battle Suit for Castle Grayskull, which was on sale at THE EXACT SAME TIME. (See…The SpartanNerd knows how this should have been done!)

How do you sell Jet Sleds?

But the Jet Sled gets 5/5…A solid, Solid, SOLID 100%. It feels vintage. Plays vintage. But is totally updated in scale and quality.

Now, I can’t wait until they release a Battle Ram to go with it!

*James Eatock uses the term “War Sled” when referring to the one Skeletor is riding on the “He-man and She-Ra Christmas Special” commentary, which is on You Tube. I have never heard this term, but like it as a contrast in that it sounds more evil. (I will never argue with Busta Toons, and you shouldn’t either!) Oddly, Skeletor is flying a version that has extra room on the seat, as if he intended to carry two earth children when it was designed!

Masters of the Universe Classics Unboxing and Review….The Griffin!

December 13, 2013 by spartannerd

Remember my review of Megator?

Well I think I have an even more impressive figure to review, now! The GRIFFIN!

The Griffin is AMAZING! Who would have thought we could get this? And it seems very calculated as well, being an amalgamation of Battle Cat and Swift Wind.

In the Mike Young cartoon, griffins were the bad guy’s main mode of escape. They would start to lose, and the griffins would swoop in and grab the villains and take them to safety.

This creature absolutely fits in my nerd closet with the Magic cards and other stuff like that. I’d bet I have several dozen Griffin Magic cards…

When I first saw the Griffin, I thought, “Do I really want that?” Then I got Vikor, and thought, “The Griffin would be a great ride for Vikor.” It didn’t take too long for me to figure out, Vikor isn’t riding any steed, with that loincloth. But it was worth a try.

I got the Griffin as a part of the Cyber Monday sale, as mentioned on the Groovy Dork List. And am I glad I did! This figure is the most impressive figure I may own!

He came in this big box. It is so big, I decided to use it as a background!

Here he is in his ugliness! Awesome ugliness at that!

When you take him out of the box, you see that you have to assemble the wings to his body.

Here he is, ready to fly!

Don’t call him four-eyes!

He has a double tail…the kind of thing that was favored on the MYP show.

I don’t own a Beast-Man, so Spikor will have to do. Ugly riding Ugly!

I dreamed of putting Vikor on the Griffin. Alas, his loincloth was too much.
Even with the saddle off. This was the best I could do. It kind of looks like
Vikor is going to slay him in this picture…

You can see that he has a cool mane. His backside is just the Battle-Cat buck, with chicken feet.

What do Griffin’s eat? Temple of Darkness Zoar! (not included of course)

Here is an overhead shot. This figure is HUGE!

I give the Griffin a 5/5! He is solid. Huge. Fits in most contexts. Ugly in a beautiful way. He is one of the best figures I own as far as sculpt, displayability, playability, and on and on!

spartannerd

A blog about everything "nerdtainment!"

Category Archives: unboxing