Tag Archives: Evil-Lyn

MASTERVERSE Revlations Evil-Lyn

by

4

Many years ago, at about 5th-6th grade (I’m on the older side, so I might have been 11 turning 12,) I got some of the final Masters of the Universe Toys I would ever have for Christmas. These were Tyrantisaurus, Rio Blast, Extendar, and Evil Lyn. So I took Tyrantisaurus and Evil Lyn with me to my grandma’s party, where I was promptly made fun of. (That’s a doll! You have a girls toy with a purple dinosaur!) Didn’t matter to me. I loved those toys! 

I haven’t owned an Evil Lyn since, (if you disregard the many MEGA ones I have.) So I didn’t even feel bad about picking up two at the same time. I got MASTERVERSE Movie inspired Evil Lyn, and MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil Lyn. (See the review of Movie Evil Lyn Here.)

Revelation Evil-Lyn came in this basic style of packaging that all of the first wave of MASTERVERSE figures used. You can see everything you get clearly. Unlike other figures I have opened in the line, this one had a “double blister”. And if I was keeping it MIB that would have been very nice. The top images, you can see that my crop tool hasn’t been working right, but you get the essence of the rest of the packaging. There is a nice artwork of Evil-Lyn on the side. I heard somewhere that Eamon O’Donahue was doing this artwork? I don’t think there has been a piece of MASTERVERSE artwork that I haven’t liked. I might not care for some of the Revelation designs, but this artwork is very good. Evil-Lyn has the tag “Evil Warrior Goddess,” which I am pretty sure was the vintage toy description. (I am saying it one final time, I don’t like this blue window box.)

I was tempted to get the “Bat Sorceress” version, which was SO Eternity War. Maybe I still will someday. But I got this one because she fits with the style of the rest of the bad guys that were dear to my heart. Now I am only waiting on Whiplash and Clawful! Then I will have the whole of MY bad guys. (I place Modulok in with the Horde. Never had Webstor, Ninjor, or Jitsu. Cobra Kahn and Tongue Lasher go with Snake Men, and that will be another collection for me when they ever come out.)

Here’s what you get. Evil-Lyn with an alternate, not helmeted head, a short staff and a long staff, a pocketbook, a pair of punching hands, another gripping hand, and another spellcasting hand. This is a lot of stuff, considering Movie Evil-Lyn came with basically nothing. I am especially fond of the un-helmeted head with white hair. In Filmation we only saw this a couple of times…maybe even only once. 200x and Revelation did this right. In fact, this updated Revelation design has absolutely nothing wrong with it. Nothing to complain about. The sculpt is great! Not sure if it was intentional, but the white haired head also has two-toned eyebrows, giving the appearance of some age. Notable that the other head doesn’t have this detail. (I don’t like God-Lyn. But I do really like the reformed Evil-Lyn (just Lyn?) design. Beautiful and princess-like.)

You can tell that the same designer did these two hairstyles. I in fact double checked to see if this was a re-used part. (It isn’t). The short staff and the long staff. I believe they are the same weapon…she can extend it to use more as a bo staff, and for general magic casting she uses the short staff.

Notice that these 6 to 7 inch scale figures with staffs like to be posed in this way. I have already posted a few pictures of mythic legions, Savage He-Man, and also of Mer-Man doing this pose. Probably even more characters. I will say that the joints are much looser than I would like, and also I was afraid I was going to break the right hand thumb on the gripping hand trying to get her to hold this.

And because Movie Evil-Lyn came with basically nothing, one of the staves is a good weapon for her. Either one only needs one magic staff at a time anyway. Despara here is taller, but doesn’t she seem more stiff? It isn’t an accident. The more recent figures are more posable. Movie Evil-Lyn has no problem standing or being posed. But Revelation Evil-Lyn has looser joints.

Let’s talk pocketbook. If I remember the Revelation Part 1 series, Evil-Lyn carried something around in her pouch. It contained some of the last magic left in Eternia. But no one would have to know that, would they? This is a fine purse, for any female figure actually. I couldn’t resist making this photo!

The alternate head goes nicely on Masters of the Universe Classics Battleground Teela’s body to make basically an entirely different character. I’ll concede that Evil-Lyn has less of a tan, but if she is wearing makeup then this is a fine shade of skin for her face. At least we don’t usually see Evil-Lyn in barbarian armor. See how nice of an added detail the purse is?

These two finally reunited! (The 200x story presented The Faceless One as Evil-Lyn’s father. He was the original protector of the Havoc Staff, and that green face in his off hand is the Ram Stone…magic that can take down any wall.)

That these two bonded in Revelation was quite a surprise. We got more backstories for both characters from that!

I read the Revelation comic book that detailed Skeletor’s origin story. (Spoiler…he is like the Joker. You can’t tell if he is being truthful). My point is…I don’t think Evil-Lyn could be attracted to Skeletor. Not as a bare skull face. She is too beautiful herself for that. True, she lusts for power and Skeletor provides that for her as something to admire as well as gives her an ambition to overthrow. 200x was more believable, that she thought Keldor was handsome, but then the transformation “hideous.” January 25, 2024 UPDATE- Watch Revolution! See how this turned out!

There is a loyalty of Beast Man to Evil-Lyn. Why? I don’t know. She treats him bad. And in Revelation Part 2 she turns him into a gigantic attack dog, that gets thrown into the abyss. AND that is a loose end for the next installment I suppose.

So my rating for this figure. I only have one complaint, and it is that the joints are a bit loose. She can stand just fine, and hold her weapons (but be careful of the thumb). But it isn’t as tight as I would like. I am surprised at how small she is compared to the male figures. (Trust me. Most of the camera shots I took has her standing more in the front, skewing the effect of this). Beast Man pictured above kneeling really makes her look small. But I appreciate her femininity, especially in comparison with the design of Teela. Loose joints, but lots of accessories, another head sculpt that can be used on almost any other female figure with a removable head, a great sculpt and terrific paint job. A versatile pocketbook accessory. Two wand staffs. Nice artwork on the package. I am giving this a 5/5. I mean…maybe 4.5/5 if that is allowed. (Why not. It’s my rating system).

So what do you think, Hub City Geeks? Am I right? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE “Movie” Evil Lyn

by

4

I picked up two Evil Lyn figures…Movie Evil Lyn and Revelation Evil Lyn. My reasoning? Movie Evil Lyn will be necessary to own. We have never had a figure of her! But she doesn’t look right with the non-movie figures. I’ll review MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil Lyn later. Let’s look at Movie Evil Lyn first.

(Find my recent thoughts on the 1987 movie here)

Here is the packaging. This is the newer style, that gives us more cardboard and less plastic. The wraparound artwork is great, showcasing other things from this movie that MASTERVERSE will surely eventually bring us, including Movie Beast Man and Air Centurions.

At the bottom on the back we can see some upcoming figures. I am very tempted to get this Man-At-Arms. I have not gotten MASTERVERSE Teela, but they have to give us the right one. Soreceress Teela is fine, but I would rather have a good Teela and a good Sorceress. I hate the Revelations Teela, and it keeps warming the pegs at Wal-Mart too. Guess I’m not the only one. I picked up Trap Jaw, and we’ll just have to see about Skeletek. There is a “variant vibe” to him that gives me a nostalgia feeling like from the 1980’s. Of vintage variants, I had Battle Armor Skeletor and Dragon Blaster Skeletor. Never had Terror Claws or Lazer Light. But Skeletek is a new design, with a big goofy Havoc Staff arm. There is a Locutus of Borg feeling to this figure.

Anyway, on to Evil Lyn.

Here is what you get.

Evil Lyn has a removable shoulder armor with soft-goods cape, two extra hands, and a glittery translucent bluish-white Cosmic Key. AND THAT’S ALL.

Why all caps? DUDE. They could have included all kinds of things for Evil Lyn.

Now the sculpt is terrific, and this time it captures the actress, Meg Foster, very well. I know there was money thrown into those rights. I know that this sculpt and paint cost the big bucks. I know that this is a retail figure. They could have sold it as a deluxe and given us something else. A wand staff. Or some of the props from the movie (Scanner and Collar of Alldrabad come to mind). Instead we get what probably nobody wanted. An unpainted Cosmic Key.

I didn’t take a pic, but if you remove the cape Evil Lyn looks like she is dressed for the prom. You can see in my photograph I was trying to get her to do the “Batman” move with her cape. (She did this in the movie a couple of times. I couldn’t get it quite right here.)

The sculpt and paint look very nice. More accessories please!

So, there is an elephant in the room. A pink elephant. A pink bodysuit elephant. In the movie, her outfit was gray and gold. This figure presents a pink outfit with very muted gold armor.

There is something else…

I know that Evil Lyn came first, so somebody should sue somebody! Liliana is from the Funko line of Magic The Gathering action figures. A very short-lived line. You can see those tattoos all over her, and Evil Lyn has something similar going on.

She looks really good with Skeletor. (How about this Diorama? I have been working on it. I am new at making the pieces, and am learning.)

Here is the whole set of MASTERVERSE movie figures, with most everything we have minus extra hands.

Because He-Man doesn’t have Dolph Lundgren’s head sculpt, that makes him feel like the weakest offering. I know Dolph is hot commodities nowadays, playing in Aquaman and all. His likeness probably costs a ton. But is this He-Man? In this picture you can see Skeletor’s painted Cosmic Key for comparison.

And here are the ladies. You can see that Despara (from Masters of the Universe Classics) is a little bit taller.

I failed to mention that Evil Lyn (both of them) are my first female MASTERVERSE figures. Movie Evil Lyn is sturdy, but I can’t say the same for Revelation Evil Lyn. Oh well, I’ll write about that later.

My rating of Movie Evil Lyn. It irks me badly that they didn’t include any cool accessories. The sculpt looks good, and it looks like Meg. They didn’t paint the knees, and so there is an interruption of the pattern that is a little jarring if you care about details. The gold on the bodice and armor is too muted and what was gray is now pink. Why? To reflect the movie lights on the Grayskull set? Maybe. But this isn’t paint job…it is design choice. I am giving Movie Evil Lyn a reluctant 3/5. As a movie action figure a score of 4, as an action figure in a vaccum, a 2. So let’s average it. 3/5. Her sculpt looks good and the paint isn’t sloppy. This is the first representation of Meg Foster as Evil Lyn in figure form, and I have to give a point for that. But the lack of accessories is unforgivable considering she used many objects in the movie. So unforgivable. 

Hub City Geeks, do you agree or disagree? Should she have come with more items? Do you think it looks like Meg Foster? How might you improve this figure? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE Revelations Tri-Klops

by

3

What is on December 21? The darkest day of the year? The Winter Solstice?

Nope. The SpartanNerd’s birthday!

So I went to the Toy Federation in Greer. I intended to pick up a Mythic Legion or two. Instead, I picked up two MASTERVERSE figures, and one Mythic Legion. So here is my review of Tri-Klops.

This figure is of the Revelations design for the figure. I got him for $20, specifically because I had a lonely Trap Jaw at the house that seemed to need a Tri-Klops.

[VIDEO OF THE PACKAGE]

Tri-Klops came in the package you would expect. It is blue and boring around the window. There is artwork of the character on the side, and some information and art on the back.

I think it worthy to mention that they have the figure in the vintage style armor…with the priest of the techno cult clothes and armor beside him. Mattel knew they couldn’t sell this toy if he was in that robe.

Here he is out of the package…

As you could see in the box clearly, he came with this armor and sword, an alternate “pope hat” head, alternate “praying” hands, armor with a cape, and a robe. The cape and robe are soft goods.

I almost lost my temper, though. It took me awhile to get the visor on both heads to spin. I thought, “surely they didn’t sculpt this without that specific action feature!” It seemed like it, but then, with enough force, I got the visor to move. And I feel better about it now. The eyes should turn more freely than they do. But at least they DO move.

This sword…

It is the only accessory besides the alternate hands and costume. I am underwhelmed. I prefer this extra sword from the MOTUC weapons pack. What do you think, Hub City Geeks?

Tri-Klops’ sword…the thing about this sword was that as a kid, when I rarely lost He-Man’s sword, I gave Tri-Klop’s sword up to him. While traditionally it was green, it was bigger and perhaps cooler designed.

Check out this little comparison…just for fun!

This is a Super-Deformed, a Mega Bloks (Ok, MEGA,) and the MASTERVERSE Tri-Klops.

As just this…the MASTERVERSE figure is in fact just fine. He is is a bounty hunter, after all.

And he fits right in with this lot…(The only characters I am missing are Whiplash and Evil-Lyn.)

But there is this…

Yep. Tri-Klops has been ordained to the ministry! ”Reverend T.E. Scope,” I presume! We hope he turned over a new leaf…

So this was actually Kevin Smith’s doing. Both Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw are devoted to a goddess they call “Motherboard.” There is a figure for sale of Motherboard, but I probably won’t be picking that up. Essentially, it is a giant robotic woman with techno-angel wings. And she is apparently the herald of the Evil Horde. We saw this in the final scene of the Revelations cartoon, and this figure is set up to prominently drive the “Revolutions” sequal season. 

Am I a fan of this story? I never figured Tri-Klops to be a religious kind of guy. Kevin Smith has lined it up so that it is team magic vs. team technology. Which is different, I guess.

I guess I wish there was another accessory here. Maybe the chalice from the cartoon?

To me, this is the bonus character. I would trade this dumb head sculpt and costume for 200x drones, or a maybe a Grayskull ring accessory, or something else. A shield. A ray gun. 

As a costume, it is OK. The robe covers the whole figure, even if you keep the green armor on underneath. The rubber of the ribbons on the vestment wants to curl. If you pay close attention, you can see that the shapes on the ribbons are the same ones from Tri-Klops’ eyes. Just this Pastor ‘Klops don’t do it for me. 

I am rating this figure 3/5. It loses a point because of how tight it is to turn the visor. THE ACTION FEATURE for Tri-Klops. The other point because of the priest costume. Maybe I am looking at it wrong…now I have the robe to put on someone else. For instance the inner robe reminds me of what “Hamburgler” He-Man might wear. Couldn’t they have made the Pope hat into an accessory somehow? Then it could maybe go on anyone’s head! 

Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Review…MEGA Snake Mountain Packaging and Minifigs

by

5

Well it finally came! After months of waiting. Honestly, I was suprised to see that the arrival date was to be ON OR BEFORE August 31. And in that way of thinking, I wasn’t suprised to see that it did not ship until mid September. Still, it is a faster turnaround than say, Magic the Gathering Secret Lair Drop Series. (You have to wait sometimes a whole year!)

Now I ordered this item because Castle Grayskull was terrific, and I have approached collecting the Masters of the Mega Construx as a sort of selective completist…(I don’t want that Battle Cat or the Havoc Staff.). I have every character on card and loose, almost. Still looking for another copy of Man-E-Faces and another copy of Scare Glow. My point is, I couldn’t pass up on the MEGA Snake Mountain.

NOTICE I KEEP SAYING “MEGA…” Mattel has changed the name again. Why? Mega Construx was a dumb name. But the way they are expressing MEGA now looks exactly like what they were trying to avoid when they moved away from the word “Mega Bloks.” That big MEGA looks like one of those blocks!

What else…I still have Castle Grayskull’s box. Because I must be insane, right?

When I compare the two boxes, it is very noticeable that they have “updated” the design aesthetic. WHY? This is very bad. There was art before…now only photos. Even as recently as the Monstroid and Land Shark, it seems there was more “art.” While it is notable on the front, on the back it is very very apparent. Castle Grayskull had this drawing on the back of the inside of the castle, that called back to the Eternia Maps that they did for the MOTUC line. Indeed, the Wind Raider also had something like this on the back. (I should go look at the other boxes. I am pretty sure Battle Bones, Wind Raider, Roton, and Talon Fighter did.). I believe I might ask Scott Neitich about this… Maybe he’ll make a video addressing it. (I notice that there is a re-issue of Castle Grayskull with this new boring style packaging.)

I am showing you more of the packaging…You can see striking differences on the side. I was curious what I would see as I opened it up. Castle Grayskull had what amounted to comic panels using the minifigures. There was a “drawn” element to them. Maybe not even any photos. But here on Snake Mountain, we just get action poses with the mini figures.

Mattel and MEGA missed an opportunity here. Now not only does this Snake Mountain needlessly mismatch to the first printing of Castle Grayskull, it makes fans like me just a little less joyful about it. The boxes were part of the wonder of getting new toys as a kid. Now we have this big downgrade. This packaging looks alot like the stuff they are doing for the MasterVerse line, (which I am not collecting.). Those boxes are a basic window with the figure on display. I daresay I even prefer what they did with the Heroes line with sporty gray and orange boxes to this style. BOO!!

But woefully, I have more to bad news to report…

What the crap! With Castle Grayskull, we got small boxes each containing a large component of the castle. And these boxes each featured the characters that were a part of the set. But here, we only get two large boxes. Not only that, these boxes have this flimsy sleeve over the top.

Now I really like the old Castle Grayskull box. It is useful for storing other MOTU related items. And because it was four interior basically shoeboxes, they lend some sturdiness to the box. There is not doubt in my mind that what they have done with Snake Mountain was a way of reducing packaging. But this Snake Mountain is a premium product with a premium price tag. It should match or exceed what came before. Instead, we have a flimsier box, a worse design choice with the two large boxes and the decorative sleeve, and boring images on the front. This packaging is getting a big F in my summation. I will use my apple pencil and color the images from the inner sleeves on my iPad when it snows or something…I did this with the Castle Grayskull art.

I will give props for ONE piece of artwork. This shows up when you open the box completely.

This is the only thing close to the style of what we got with Grayskull. And this image is on both of the instructions manuals.

SO I’VE GRIPED A TON ABOUT THE BOX.

What about the minifigures.

I’m glad I don’t have to say anymore bad stuff. The Minifigs offered here are very cool and welcome (for the most part.)

Let’s start with our feature character, Dragon Blaster Skeletor.

As a vintage toy, you put water in the dragon and pressed its head down so that it would spit water. It was kind of a specialized water gun. Here we have Skeletor with this dragon on the back. The chains pictured on the packaging look more silver, while these are light-gray-approaching white. It is cool that we have a dragon blast effect. Skeletor also comes with the purple sword. I wish they would give us proper stands with names instead of these green flat pieces. By the way, I had to dig through the boxes to get package number 1 which always contains the figures. The figures were spread across both boxes.

Thunder Punch He-Man.

No caps this time. But on his back the gunpowder cap is sculpted on, and the shield also features one. You can use the holder on the shield to place the fantastic clear-yellow sword.

Ram Man

You never know what they are going to do with Ram Man. There are a few different versions…200x he was huge. In Filmation and the vintage toy he was shorter. The MOTUC version was a very large and heavy figure. No versions have had springy legs since the 1980’s. But here they made a good Rammy. I thought we might get to remove the helmet, but it doesn’t seem to be removable. This is a bummer because you could give him the flat steel bald head. You also could use that helmet somewhere else.

Another Evil-Lyn. This time in vintage toy yellow. But the magic staff she has is much less impressive than all of the other versions we have gotten, including the “Heroes” printing in the same color. If I have to complain about one of the figures it is Evil-Lyn because we have so many versions of her, we already have this colorway…why not give us a Clawful or Jitsu or almost anyone else that we haven’t gotten yet. A Snake Man would have been outstanding, and they are tied to the lore of Snake Mountain. Now I have three Evil-Lyn sealed in box and three out of package. (If I am counting right.)

We get Screech.

This is Temple of Darkness Zoar’s stand, as I haven’t opened the castle yet to get out Screech’s feet and its own stand. It is the same as the other two birds we have, only purple. They really should give us proper birds with the wings spread out.

Webstor.

Here is one I didn’t have as a kid…I was actually only vaguely aware of him for some reason. I am unsure if the vintage one had those extra legs on the back…that seems like more of a 200x detail. He has a rope feature and an orange gun. I feel like he is kind of a plain kind of character without those big insect legs. (I do have some of the cartoons on DVD.). I really like what they did in 200x with this character…extra creepy.

And finally….Trap Jaw in vintage toy colors!

Love it! Notice I used these purple pieces to highlight the black details. I complained about getting Filmation colored Trap Jaw in my review of recent figure releases. And we have Minicomics Trap Jaw that came with the improved turret gun for Castle Grayskull in a Skeletor head set. But here is the Trap Jaw that I remember the best. My only complaint about any of the trap Jaw figures it that there is no little clip to hang the accessories on his belt.

The minifigures recieve a 5/5 because they are great. Snake Mountain’s packaging is a solid F because Mattel has done better and just didn’t seem to try this time. I give that packaging a 1/5. (I’ll probably still hang on to it because I am insane.)

Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments! I will keep posting updates as I work through Snake Mountain. (I have only built six little baggies so far, and there isn’t much to see yet.)