Super 7's retro line of vintage style, 5 inch figures, based on Mattel's original Masters of the Universe (MOTU) toyline, but if they looked closer to their Filmation cartoon design, has had its ups and downs. Just previous, Super7 released a cracker of a Man-At-Arms figure. But there's also been a disappointing She-Ra that barely stood up and didn't resemble her cartoon model. A vintage Teela in a She-Ra costume, and now I'm reviewing that very figure, sans cosplay. Will this Filmation style Teela succeed where She-Ra failed?
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| My camera tripod isn't wonky, this is how she stands |
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| Teela's trademark "vague interest" expression |
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| In profile, you can really see the improvement in Teela's face sculpt |
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| This shot took over 10 minutes to set up. |
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| Side side comparison with her dad, also from the Super7 |
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| Side by side with vintage Ram Man |
Comparing Teela's facesculpt to She-Ra's, I can instantly see a marked improvement. The face doesn't quite capture the likeness of the Filmation character model, but looks much more like an adult woman (unlike She-Ra's Miley Cyrus face) and it's not like I'm expecting Hot Toys levels of detail- simply because you can't get that from something about the size of my fingernail- but Man-At-Arms set the standard, so I can't just ignore that the face sculpt doesn't quite capture the cartoon likeness the way her dad did, but it still looks pretty good. The profile is sharper than She-Ra's and the paint apps are done well, although the eyes aren't 100% dead on, but doesn't ruin the face. The hair sculpt (making her resemble a young Mrs Cunningham from Happy Days) and tiara are also excellent- absolutely nailing the cartoon look. I think if the face was painted with arched eyebrows, as Teela had in the cartoon, then it would have been near perfect. Her (for lack of a better term) swimsuit is really well realized- what with Filmation wanting to keep detail to a minimum (makes for easier and cheaper animation)- even though there's not much to to her outfit, other than the ram horn top, the flaired collar, and that leaf thing that hangs down from the middle of her waist all look correct. The dark gold are a good match for the cartoon outfit, although the gold on the swimsuit is coloured plastic so it has a shiny finish as opposed to the same dark gold on the tiara and arm bracers which are painted with a flat finish. The only paint issues are the arm bracers, the white paint is a bit sloppy at the edge and there is a white speck on the arm. Speaking of arms, because this figure shares the same mold as She-Ra, that means she also has the same weird left arm with the downturned hand that looks a bit like an empty, flesh-coloured glove. I know, Super7 is just keeping things faithful to the original Mattel design, but it looked bad back in the 80s and it looks bad now. I still can't fathom why a professional toy designer would make such a...wait a minute, I think I've figured it out...
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| "Hey, baby. Check my flex!" |
Normally I'd go through the articulation from the head, down to the feet. But I felt I had to go straight to I was slightly dreading, after what I went through with She-Ra I had to address main issue with the vintage Teela design, those sanity breaking legs. Sadly, but not surprisngly, the legs are in the same, akward position. Thankfully, Teela's legs are nowhere near as loose as She-Ra's, and, although stuck in the wierd stepping forward position they aren't as terrible to pose because there isn't a solid skirt to restrict leg movement. In fact, the legs have more mobility than any male MOTU figure, they rotate at the hip 360 degrees and pivot out so there should be no problem sitting her in any MOTU vehicle. So that's a nice payoff for all the pain you'll go through just trying to get her to stand. So, as always, get some MOTU stands. Anyway, back to the usual formular...
The head rotates 360 degrees, both arms rotate 360 degrees at the shoulder- so She-Ra's skirt was hindering the left arm as well as both legs it seems. The waist turns as part of the classic MOTU "power punch" action feature. Although the spring on my Teela seems a little off as the torso is a little off center no matter how much I try to click it back. Don't gert me wrong, the torso does face forward, but to a pandantic weirdo like me, I can notice how it doesn't quite 100% line up straight, and it winds me up.
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| "For just 9.99, you can sign up to the Eternian captain yoga" |
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| Yes, the shot Filmation's animators seemed quite fond of |
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| "Throat kick! Wait, do you have a throat?" |
You don't get anything extraordinary with Teela, there's the always exccellent art card, depicting a georgeous image of Teela in the Filmation style, with a short blurb about the cartoon design originating in an animated advert for Castle Greyskull on the reverse. You get the Filmation style sword which- thanks to Teela's evolutionary development of a thumb- holds in the right hand a treat, as it should do as the handle is huge compare to the figure. It almost looks like it belongs to a larger scale figure, but it holds in just fine. Even the power punch wont dislodge it.It is a tight fit though, so I would imagine if you keep the sword in there for any great amount of time, the hand would bow out. Less stellar, but just as welcome, is a shield, which clips above the wrist and looks the part, and, being a circular shield, doesn't look weird when the arm is posed up or down. Unlike the sword, it doesn't hold on very securely, so take care if you do the power punch.
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| *plays "aso sprach zarathustra"* |
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| That's not shifting |
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| CLANG! |
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| Side by side with Super7 He-man |
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| Full tooled up captian of the guard |
In spite of the limitations of the vintage Teela base, Super 7 have done a decent job in bringing the Filmation design to three dimesions- like installing central heating and broadband in a stately home. The paint job is mostly on the money and is a better figure than the She-Ra, although that's a low bar to jump over. Teela was a major character in the Filmation show, and, as a fan of said cartoon, this figure passes muster. Where the She-Ra looked like another character dressed as She-Ra, this (even in passing) is absolutely cartoon Teela. But save yourself the misery of posing her and get a figure stand as well.
Company: Super7
Price paid: £21.97
Bought from: Kapow Toys
Age: 14+
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