Action Figure Review: Evil-Lyn from Masters of the Universe: ReAction by Super7

    Today I'm checking out a Masters of the Universe figure from a series I haven't checked out yet: Evil-Lyn from Super7's Masters of the Universe ReAction line. Evil-Lyn is part of the new fourth series of figures, adding another Evil Warrior to the ranks of Skeletor's army. While this is certainly not the first ReAction figure I've reviewed, it is the first MOTU ReAction so I do want to take a second and share a couple thoughts on the line: It's rather interesting to get a vintage styled action figure of a toyline that already had vintage action figures. Masters of the Universe was Mattel's attempt to create a toyline that would rival Kenner's Star Wars, the line on which ReAction figure aesthetic is based. Rather than use the Kenner style in the vintage toyline, however, Mattel went bigger and bulkier. MOTU figures were much taller and way wider than Star Wars, making the denizens of a galaxy far, far away seem wimpy in comparison. It's interesting, then, to see MOTU figures in the vintage Kenner style they shunned. Anyone want to ask Roger Sweet what he thinks about these? Let's check out Evil-Lyn, the Evil Warrior Goddess, after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 3 3/4ths inches

Articulation: Swivel hips, swivel shoulders, and a swivel neck.

Accessories: Wand

Non-Scalper Price: $15 dollars

 Comparison:

* Just for fun, here's a comparison between the ReAction Evil-Lyn (left) with the vintage Mattel Evil-Lyn (on the right). It'a interesting to see these two together as it really shows how radically different Mattel's figures were from what Kenner was offering. You can also see how faithful Super7 was to the details of the vintage toy, too.

 The Positives:


*While the vintage Evil Lyn shared everything with Teela except for the head, this Evil Lyn actually has a unique toros. Know why? Because the ReAction Teela has the snake armor permanently sculpted onto the torso. Evil Lyn is wearing her classic yellow, however, and everything is incredibly accurate. The colors are quite spot on, the paint applications are rather clean and sharp, and you can tell Super7 tried to bring together the vintage Kenner style with MOTU's somewhat bulkier proportions. Evil-Lyn doesn't look too slight; she has a bit of muscle to her. I do wish the left arm had been sculpted to resemble the spell casting hand of the vintage figure, though.

 * If you've ever picked up a retro figure like this, you know what to expect: 5 points of articulation and all swivel joints. Evil-Lyn feels quite well made and sturdy and definitely of a better quality than some of the earlier ReAction figures that Funko put out. Super7 has been very consistent in the quality of their ReAction lines. Interestingly, rather than traditional swivel hips Evil-Lyn has a v-crotch. Those were popular in the 90s (thank Playmates Star Trek or McFarlane's Spawn) and allow the figure's hips to look more feminine. She can's sit normally but that's not a huge deal in a line with no vehicles.

* What do you think of the portrait? The detail on the tiara is pretty accurate and the paintwork is clean. This isn't the most attractive looking Evil-Lyn but compare it to the vintage figure and imagine this being a product of the early 1980s and I think you'll feel that Super7 did a pretty good job.

* Evil-Lyn only includes one accessory: Her light blue magic wand. It looks quite a bit like the vintage accessory and has the cool detail where the orb at the top of the wand looks as if it is being grasped by a claw of some sort.

* The card art on most ReAction figures released by Super7 is beautiful and their Masters of the Universe line is no exception. Evil-Lyn features a beautiful illustration of the character by Jason Edmiston. To preserve the card I actually made a slit in the top of the blister so I can slide the figure in and out. It work great and allows the figure to be displayed inside and outside of the card.

 The Negatives:

* Take a look at the card or vintage figure and you can see that the space between Evil-Lyn's collar and the top of her one-piece outfit is supposed to simply be her skin. Super7 painted too much of this part. It wouldn't be a big deal but you can see how the back and the front of the torso don't match color-wise.

   I'm pretty intrigued by the Masters of the Universe ReAction figures. On one hand it's very odd to have vintage styled toys from an actual toyline that are based on the style of another vintage toy line. On the other hand, they do look incredibly cool and make for kind of a neat "What if?" as to how MOTU might have looked. Evil-Lyn is a Good and a 1/2 ReAction figure. She looks pretty cool, definitely stands out due to her colors, and has beautiful packaging art. These are definitely worth paying attention to if you haven't taken notice of them already. They make for an interesting MOTU collectible for sure.


If you're a fan of Evil-Lyn I've also reviewed the M.U.S.C.L.E. Evil-Lyn from the Masters of the Universe green boxed set and the Mega Construx Evil-Lyn.