Yeah, you've read about a thousand reviews of Adora by this point -- but we're willing to bet that none of those reviews featured a figure with a semi-prosthetic left arm! (And no, we're not talking about an appearance by Trap-Jaw.) Equally a toy review, a tale of woe, a lesson in how not to fix a figure (or a tutorial, depending upon what you want to do), and a damning critique of subpar mass-market quality products at double specialty market prices, Wes shares his thoughts on the most sought-after offering (judging from how quickly Adora sold out) in the MOTUC collection.
Name: Adora
Line: Masters of the Universe Classics
Manufacturer: Mattel
Released: January 2010
Price: Retail: $20 (before shipping and freaking tax), Online: $30+
Scale: 7.00 in.
Accessories: Belt w/ blaster holster (not removable), blaster, and Sword of Protection
Sponsor Listings: Ka-Razy Kings of Toys-$31.49(sale price), Past Generation Toys-$29.95
The word "plain" best describes Adora. That's not really the fault of the Horsemen, though -- Adora's character design was kinda bland to begin with. Nevertheless, it's well represented here, with smooth yet fit limbs, a vest with minimal sculpted details at the shoulders and down the center, forearm guards with etched lines in them, and (among other things) boot cuffs and a belt that respectively sport slight wrinkling and texture. The face also looks decent, with that bland yet chiseled look of the animated Adora, though the soft sculpt of the hair detracts from the sharp facial features. And as others have noted, the so-called "granny panties" come across as more of a skirt here, so that element doesn't look nearly as bad in person as it's seemed in photos. Still, I do wish that the Horsemen (or whomever) had either tweaked the figure to give it an actual leotard look (whether that meant using V-hips combined with thigh swivels, for example) or adjusted the design to make this into a bonafide skirt with sculpted wrinkles and such.
For all of her resemblance to her animated counterpart, though, the holster on the gunbelt probably sports more impressively sculpted details than Adora herself -- which unfortunately doesn't make her an especially striking addition to the shelf. When it comes to characters like this, I desperately long for the creative license the Horsemen were permitted to take with the 2002 MOTU line.
Oh, and see that blemish on the back of Adora's left shoulder? Ignore that... for now.
Sculpt Score: 7 / 10
This figure is almost entirely cast in the appropriate colors, so there's really not much to say about the paint. The forearm guards are painted red, the belt buckle and shoulder... thingies are painted gold, the belt itself is painted black, the boot cuffs are painted a slightly redder red... and aside from some paint on the holster and blaster that's pretty much it for everything below the neck. And with that paint, you get general mass-market quality -- nothing especially sharp or impressive, and the cut lines could be better (especially around the gold shoulder things), but there's little slop and only a few missed spots (as on the boot cuffs). Really, the most glaring thing about the paint doesn't have to do with the paint at all -- Adora's feet were cast in a different shade of red than her ankles and calves, so that can look really bad if you fixate on it. But since you'll rarely find yourself staring at a girl's feet (unless you're trying not to stare at something else), it's not a huge deal.
As for the face, while it's well painted, it unfortunately suffers for its resemblance to the animated model. In the cartoon, Adora (and most of the women of Eternia and Etheria, actually) had a sort of dead fish look to their faces -- unless they were sneering or smiling evilly, their expressions had all of the emotive quality of a mannequin. Adora's vapid stare and slightly bared teeth match that well, but they're still a vapid stare and slightly bared teeth.
Paint Score: 7 / 10
PAIN. First off, the positives. This is a great articulation model (or would be, if everything worked as it should), and Adora's ankles are particularly useful for getting her into a number of deep stances while keeping her feet flat on the ground. I hear that the harder plastic used for Teela and the Goddess limited their hip motion and prevented the waist from turning, so you should also be aware that the softer plastic of Adora's skirt allows for both -- even if the tunic looks really bad if turned too far to either side. In general, the leg articulation on this figure is superb.
It's above the waist that the problems set in. First, Adora's head is a bit of a bobblehead -- and while that's not a huge problem because it's held in place by the hair, the hair is a problem because it limits any expressive tilting or effective turning of the head. It is still possible to turn the head, but the hair will end up forcing her gaze downward... so unless Adora's supposed to be staring at baby Stinkors it's not really that attractive. I understand why Mattel didn't go with rooted hair, but -- on top of its nostalgic flavor -- I would've preferred it for the increased neck range it would have afforded.
And the arms. Damnit, the arms. Or, rather, the shoulder swivels, since the shoulder hinge, bicep swivels, elbows, and wrists worked just fine. The shoulders on my figure were so fucking loose that I'm calling bullshit on Mattel's "no action features" line -- Adora popped out of the package sporting windmill punch action. Even with nothing in her hands, her arms fell limply and rapidly to her sides in response to my every attempt to pose her with them up, so don't think for a second that she was capable of holding her Sword of Protection or blaster in anything remotely resembling a dynamic pose. (Well, I guess having her shoot from the hip would have worked, and she could do poses with her arms straight out -- as long as the weight of whatever was in her hand didn't cause the shoulder to swing around -- but that's beside the point.) It pretty much made the figure's accessories worthless -- hell, it arguably made the arm articulation altogether worthless -- and prompted me to contact Mattel, and since Mattel never got back to me it set the stage for the unfortunate mutilation that followed.
Articulation Score: 5 / 10
If you got an Adora with great quality control and working articulation, I imagine it would be quite fun despite the overall bland look. Extra points if you've got Hordak, since the former force captain looks great alongside him (their reds even match).
But as you can imagine -- even with awesomely poseable legs -- a figure that can't do a goddamned interesting thing with its accessories or even arms is not very much fun at all. It was so unfun that I sought to address this unfunness by using clear nail polish to tighten the shoulders... and when that failed (clear nail polish flakes away, so it's really best used to correct problems with looseness in closed areas -- tightening ball joints, etc.) I broke out the super glue. And since there's very little clearance to apply it in the exposed space between Adora's shoulder and body, I did it wrong and fucked up, because even with me moving the arm the glue set in quickly and locked the shoulder hinge in place. (This did end up fixing the swiveling, though, and because the figure was misassembled -- it looks like they failed to push the halves of the chest together fully, which resulted in the original looseness -- such that there was more clearance on the right side, I was able to successfully apply the superglue without screwing anything up.) This was just about as unfun as the original problem, so since it was glued pretty solidly I ended up cutting the fucking shoulder off of the hinge in order to reattach it and get it moving. And since initial attempts to reattach it didn't work out so well, I ended up just making a mushroom-shaped hole in the back of the shoulder and driving a fucking screw through it.
Admittedly, the final phase of this experience was a tiny bit fun -- I now have a better idea of how to approach several custom projects and figure repairs on my to-do list -- but Mattel gets no credit for that because I shouldn't have had to exert any effort whatsoever to enable a freakin' $30 action figure to hold its goddamned arms aloft.
Fun Score: 2 / 10
First, a reality check. If I sound excessively enraged or obsessive about a toy, keep in mind that my vitriol is half affected for your entertainment. I understand that there are far worse things than a loose-shouldered and subsequently mutilated action figure: rampant suffering in Haiti, unacceptable human rights abuses and pollution in China, perpetual war in the Middle East, the diseased reign of AIDS in Africa, and, among myriad other ills across the globe, unfortunate economic circumstances in the United States that have affected a great number of families and individuals -- myself very much included.
And with that said, a little obsession is warranted, because -- in this depressing economic climate, might I add -- Mattel has released what is at best a $15 figure with subpar mass-market production values and sold it for $20, plus shipping, plus fucking tax. As such, assuming one bought only this figure from MattyCollector, Adora ended up costing nearly $32 -- over twice what I paid for any of NECA's superior Street Fighter IV figures and roughly three times what I've paid for Hasbro's superior 6" superhero figures or Transformers deluxes. And while you might argue that these examples aren't that much better than MOTUC figures when prices are taken out of the equation, let me remind you that my Adora figure couldn't even hold her fucking arms up. I was about to write that I've had dollar store figures with tighter joints than Adora's shoulder swivels, but the truth is that every articulated dollar store figure I have ever gotten has had tighter joints than Adora's shoulders -- yet they cost $1 and Adora cost between $25 and $32. That is fucking unacceptable.
Also, whereas any other mass market figure could simply have been returned to the store and/or exchanged for another for whatever reason, Adora is was a MattyCollector exclusive that one could only have gotten (without paying secondary market fees, anyway) by being at his/her computer at 12:00 PM on a set date and hoping against hell he/she got past the RSOD because the goddamned figure sold out in 27 minutes. And Mattel didn't respond to my e-mail, which I assure you contained G-rated language and a much more civil tone than this review. So yes, while I hope that you're able to laugh at my pain (and Adora's), I think a little obsession is warranted here.
Value Score: 2 / 10
7 / 10 - Plain Jane, but a good match for the animation model.
7 / 10 - Average and boring -- but again, that fits the character..
5 / 10 - Fantastic leg articulation, limited neck movement, and god-fuckin-damn everything else to Despondos.
2 / 10 - Um, no -- unless you like figures with shoulders looser than an immortal Etherian prostitute or attempting to glue said shoulders to rectify this problem... and cutting apart and drill-baby-drilling one of said shoulders to fix any unfortunate fuck-ups.
2 / 10 - $20 plus shipping plus tax plus whatever time you waste by having to be at your computer at a precise time for a toy that's inferior to figures 1/3 its price and has looser shoulders than most (all) articulated dollar store figures? Ha ha ha.
42 / 100 - This is a Poor Toy
Even with the figure's bland looks, Adora would have been much better if not for poor quality control -- or a (much) lower price, or a purchasing setup and/or responsive customer service that would have facilitated an exchange in the event of problems. Honestly, after opening the excellent Battle Armor He-Man, I was this close to eating the terrible price and getting on board (Trap-Jaw and Battle Cat do look pretty cool), but after my depressing experience with Windmill Punch Adora and Mattel's invisible customer service I'll have to go back to buying only characters I really, really, really like... if I buy any at all. And during those other months, if I find that I want to piss away $30 on something I'll possibly grow to hate, I'll pass on buying toys (even ones for "adult" collectors) and do what real adults do -- I'll go to the bar and buy drinks until I vomit.
-Wes
This could be the figure given away in this month's Review Commentator Contest. Join the discussion by leaving a comment on this review for a chance to win!
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