This mini marathon of Masterverse figures isn't so mini anymore now that we're moving into series 3! That's right, kids, ol' St. Nick came a little early and delivered your boy Barbecue17 some new MOTU toys right before Christmas. Series 3 is a pretty exciting set and I thought I'd kick things off with a look at Andra, a character who has never before been released in toy form. If there's a part of MOTU lore I'm most unfamiliar with it's the Marvel/ Star Comics stories which is actually where Andra first appeared (issue #9). She also was mentioned in the Masters of the Universe Classics bios and appeared in the modern DC comics briefly as well but at this point MOTU: Revelation is clearly her biggest role in the franchise. Andra's a little different in Revelation (the character was originally Caucasian with short blonde hair) but there is a lot of stuff that is also in line with the previous depiction of the character such as her being a friend of Teela's who joins up with Randor's forces and is quickly promoted. I liked Andra in Revelation and I'm really glad that Mattel got her into the line so soon. It's always fun to get a brand new character! Let's take a look at Andra after the break...
Height: 6 3/8ths inches
Articulation:
Swivel/hinge ankles, boot swivels, double hinged knees, thigh swivels,
balljointed hips, swivel waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge
shoulders, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, and
a barbell jointed head.
Accessories: 6 interchangeable hands, 2 swappable portraits, cloak, and a blast effect.
Non-Scalper Price: $22-$23 dollars
The Positives:
* When we meet Andra in MOTU: Revelation she is a traveling mercenary , like Teela, and thus she's wearing a similar outfit. Different colors, though. I love the combination of green, black, and brown with yellow highlights. It looks fantastic and gives her a rather unique color scheme for MOTU. This looks like the kind of outfit you might see a Rogue or something similar wear in Dungeons and Dragons with the exception of a few pieces of visible technology on her belt and on her left gauntlet. The sculpt is really sharp and the paint applications are neat, clean, and stand out nicely.
* The portrait is excellent. Andra has a great face sculpt, incredibly neatly printed eyes, and fantastic hair. There's definitely a nice amount of detail in her braids.
* While it's not removable Andra's belt is a separate piece. Her shoulder harness is, too, but it's permanently attached in place. Her boots are thigh high leather boots with buckles and armored knee pads.
* When we're first introduced to Teela and Andra in episode 2 of Revelation they're both wearing cloaks and armored helmets. To recreate that look Mattel has included an alternate portrait and a very nice soft goods cloak. The cloak has a functioning hood and two fabric straps that wrap around Andra's arms or torso. There's a bit of Velcro on one of them to help you keep the cloak in place. It's a nice soft goods accessory and works really well.
* And here's the helmet! It's really cool with glowing yellow eyes and a tube that runs from the mouth to the back of the head. It's a separate portrait that you swap out easily and it looks fantastic. I just wish Teela had included one, too.
* Overall I really like the articulation on the figures in this series.
It's probably one of the best lines in terms of the quality of the
figure builds and articulation scheme that Mattel has put out. Andra
moves nicely and has plenty of useful joints with a great range of
motion.
* On her right forearm Andra is sporting a laser weapon. It kind of reminds me of one of those roleplay items for kids that comes out for every superhero movie but it's actually really cool here. It's a laser blaster of sorts and it's nicely sculpted and painted.
* There's even a laser blast effect that plugs into the barrel! How neat is that?
* Andra comes with six interchangeable hands that swap out easily. She has a pair of fists, a pair of grips, and a pair of open palms. It's a nice assortment and between these and her alternate head and the cloak you'll have plenty of ways to display her.
Wow! Andra really surprised me as she's probably one of the best Masterverse figures released yet. Besides her fantastic outfit and her cool wrist mounted laser blaster you also get a blast effect, six hands, and the cloak and helmet to give her a completely different appearance. Mattel really put a lot of effort into Andra and even with the recent price increase for this line she still feels like she's worth the price. Andra gets an Epic from me. She wasn't one of my favorite characters from Revelation or anything but, dang, her figure rocks. Nice job, Mattel!
This is the first toy of Andra made. For more Masterverse figures check out the following:
Yeah I can't wait to get this one. She's got a great look, nice accessories and is a 'new' character (certainly new in this form). Wave 3 comes out here next month and I have them pre-ordered. Yeah I wish Teela had the mask and cloak too. A friend of mine has bought two Andra's and two Teela's to have them on display in both regular outfits and in the mercenary cloaks and helmets (by giving one of the Teela's the kit from one of the Andra's).
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good idea. I don't know that I'm planning to do that. I wonder why Teela didn't get her disguise? The Eternia Minis line has a Mercenary Teela so it was certainly on Mattel's radar.
DeleteIt's a fine figure, but I wish she were white
ReplyDeleteUh. Why exactly, anonymous person?
DeleteBeing completely honest, I didn't even realize that Andra was a previously established character until after I watched the show. I really liked her in the show, though, and to me she feels like a completely new character. Of course, I doubt there was anyone (though maybe you) for whom the Star Comics Andra was their favorite character. Or even a character in their top...25 favorites, maybe?. So she was a great character to refresh/ reimagine. Taking an existing character that most folks didn't even remember and making her more memorable.
DeleteNice review! Just got her today and looking forward to breaking her out.
ReplyDeleteThanks! She's quite fun and nicely accessorized. I'm really glad that we got at least one new to action figure form character out of Masteverse so far.
Deletedecember 23rd.
ReplyDeleteit's 12th March now and here in UK we still don't have Andra and Fisto. Scare Glow and Stinkor came out over a month ago. :P
That's crazy. I have not seen Fisto at retail yet though I know plenty of others have. Do you have them preordered from somewhere?
DeleteThat's wild. Fisto is the for sure guaranteed Wave 3 in my area on all the shelves. Typically that would be Andra, but she's actually selling through well. Now it's Fisto by far then Stinkor.
DeleteI'm not sure I've seen any series 3 figures at retail that I can recall. I see some series 2 figures, mostly Spikor and Teela it seems, and still a few Skelegods here and there.
DeleteMy Andra and Fisto (as well as Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops) are coming tomorrow. :D
DeleteI'm glad Andra appears to be doing alright. Ok some of that might be cos some people with extra monies are buying two of her so they can give a helmet and cloak to Wave 2 Teela (and have a set of unmasked Teela and Andra travelling with Lyn, Orko and Beast Man and have masked Teela and Andra fighting Stinkor) but yeah. Am glad. :)
I'm glad yours are finally arriving. Andra definitely benefits from being a character new to toy form and having two different looks. Mattel packing all of these at one per case seems like a smart decision as well. Other than the deluxe sets I'm not seeing more than one or two of the same figure hanging around at most places.
DeleteDude! I'm literally removing Andra from her plastic tray as I read that. :P Yep my delivery turned up. Surprisingly they're the US releases (the boxes have the bios on the back, the UK/EU releases don't have bio, just the art and some extra EU-specific logos). I still can't believe the great prices I got these figures for. Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops were £21.95 each instead of their usual RRP of £34.99. Both have risen to £28.95 (which is still a nice chunk cheaper than RRP) so I assume these were mistakenly priced back when I pre-ordered but the company stuck with the price they charged me (even though I hadn't even paid the full requested amount yet, just deposits) and let me have them cheap. :O
DeleteAnyways I go back to unpacking these awesome figures. :D
Enjoy them and congrats on the great prices!
DeleteThanks. They're all great. I'm not sure what you meant about Trap Jaw's head movement cos mine seems fine (unless there's something specific you were doing I haven't). And yeah the gun arm is a lil difficult to swap (well, the gun and hook swap ok on mine, the claw required some strength) but not too bad. Already started tweaking (cos I'm fussy) by giving Tri-Klops darking hair and applying gold and silver metallic trim to his armour to match the cartoon and character model sheet. :)
DeleteAlso I just received a cheque from Mattel for $51.40 cos my Orko (in the Savage He-Man set) had a split shoulder (which I tried to fix with glue but lost the outward articulation but at least kept the swivel) so I called Mattel cos I was kinda gutted about the damage and they said they couldn't replace it but would refund the whole set and to expect it cheque in 6 weeks. And today was 6 weeks and it arrived along with my Masterverse figures (from different sources, obvs the cheque was from Mattel themselves). So if you ever do have issues with your figures, give them a call. Remember as I think we talked about a lil while ago, Mattel replaced people's carpets in the 80s when Slime Pit slime damaged them. My Orko still bugs me a lil bit not having the outward movement of the left arm but he was never the most dynamic, action posey character anyways and to have the whole Savage He-Man set be 'free' sure makes me feel better about it. :)
At first I was having some trouble with the forward movement of the barbell joint on the neck. I'd pull it back to have Trap Jaw look forward instead of down and it would kind of spring forward. After posing it for a bit the problem went away, so I'm wondering if there was some plastic flashing caught inside or something that was interfering with the joint.
Delete