Sunday, February 2, 2020

Action Figure Review: Kittrina from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Super7

   With wrapping up all of the cool stuff from 2019 and reviewing some of the cool stuff showing up in January of 2020, I'm just now getting the chance to check out the final series of Club Grayskull/ He-Man and the Masters of the Universe figures from Super7. In early January Super7 shipped out the last series of Masters of the Universe Classics figures and then a week or so later they shipped these out. I'm going to start making my way through these figures and first I'm checking out Kittrina, a member of the Cat Folk from the Filmation episode "The Cat and the Spider." This is the first action figure of Kittrina ever made and I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed that she showed up in this line versus MOTUC. Since MOTUC began the idea has been to bring all characters together into one cohesive style, and even Filmation based characters like Lizard Man were augmented just a bit to it in with everyone else. The Club Grayskull figures were intended to be Filmation styled variants of the key cast. Kittrina is one of the rare characters to show up in the Club Grayskull line with no MOTUC counterpart (Uncle Montork and Dree Elle are two others), so I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that we didn't get a MOTUC version of Kittrina. Still, we did get her, and she's a new character, so let's check her out after the break...



 The Facts:

Height: 6 3/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, hinged knees, swivel/hinge hips, swivel tail, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, and a balljointed head.

Accessories: Claw baton, claw whip, and flame sword attachment.

Non-Scalper Price: $35 dollars



 The Positives:



* I actually watched "The Cat and the Spider" last night in preparation for this review. It's a really good episode of the Filmation series (it kills me we never got Melaktha in MOTUC, especially since he appeared in 6 episodes of the show) with a lot of humor and some great action scenes. Overall, Kittrina definitely looks like her cartoon counterpart. Her costume is simple but clean and recognizable, and she definitely looks very feline thanks to some clawed hands and feet.

 * Kittrina is an excellent warrior (she goes toe-to-toe with Teela) with tremendous agility, so it's nice to see that she's quite well articulated. Her articulation isn't actually any different than most other figures but the range of motion in each joint  seems much better. Kittrina takes battle poses well and feels like a very solid, very durable toy.



* Her tail is articulated at the base and manages to add to her feline charm while not causing her to tip backwards. It's quite well done.


* Kittrina uses a baton that can turn into a whip (which is very similar to Tygra from Thundercats, right?). Her whip is molded from a very pliable material, meaning the whip can actually be posed and moved around quite a bit.


* Super7 also included the standard Claw Baton. It's much simpler than the whip but it's a crucial accessory for the character.


 * Just like in the show, Kittrina carries her baton around on her left leg. She has a non-removable holster for it that does the job.


* Kittrina's baton is also capable of shooting flames, so a flame attachment is a must. This is actually a translucent piece of plastic that fits over the standard baton accessory, making it look like a flaming sword. Groovy.
 The Negatives:

* My biggest complaint with this figure is that I really just don't like the headsculpt. It doesn't look like Kittrina to me. I definitely think the paint is too heavy, but I also just don't like the look of the sculpt. Rarely have the sculpts of any of the MOTUC/ Club Grayskull figures not satisfied me, so this is one definitely stands out to me.


 * Kittrina has a few places where errant streaks of white paint are noticeable. The most noticeable one I noticed is the white paint on her neck.


* It might be hard to see in the picture but the holster for Kittrina's baton seems to be coming loose a bit. It actually even looks like the plastic between the loop and the rest of the belt cracked, so be careful.
   I'm not thrilled with this figure and it's not just because she isn't in the MOTUC style. For the price, I really would have liked a few more accessories. The Grimalkin Statue would have been a great item to include with the figure to add some extra value for the $35 bucks Super7 asked for these. Of course, there's also the fact that I'm just not a big fan of the portrait itself. It just doesn't seem like a good likeness of Kittrina to me. I know Kittrina has a lot of fans, but this feels like a very Eh and a 1/2 figure to me. MOTUC completests and Filmation fans will need her, but others might want to skip this one.




This is the first figure of Kittrina I've reviewed. For more figures from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Super7, check out the following:
Fisto
Grizzlor
Mantenna
Prince Adam (Laughing)
She-Ra
Tung Lashor

4 comments:

  1. interesting figure. Thought it might be Thundercats at first.

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    Replies
    1. She would probably fit in OK with the Thundercats except she's less detailed than the Thundercats Ultimates figures.

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  2. Just... why oh why did they go that far to make her look like the character, then giver her flat, non-anthro feet? Lazy... Super7 just wanted to save a few dollars by going off the character's actual body structure.

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    Replies
    1. I'm guessing that if she had arched feline-like feet she'd be nearly impossible to stand. They could have included a clear stand designed just for her (a few other lines have done something similar) but I'm guessing they were trying to keep things consistent. Personally, I wish they would have put her in MOTUC and given her more detail and some redesigned elements.

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