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So, I've made no secret of the fact I don't like Revelations. I haven't gone into any detail because I don't have any desire to argue with anyone.
When the Masterverse line first came out, it pretty much looked like it was a Revelations line, and they've of course recently announced non Revelations figures.
One thing I have been trying to do is look into ways to increase the number of female characters for the Origins line, through customizing, 3d Printing, etc. due to the fact that my buddy's daughter considers any of the male figures to be "boy toys." She did enjoy playing with She-Ra, although she's young enough that she thought the shield was a hat.
Target currently has several masterverse figures at a roughly $10 price point on sale, so I finally bit the bullet and bought the Andra figure that I'd been eyeing before when they were on sale for $14.
I don't really have an issue with Andra as a character, except the way she's been used. Aesthetically, her design isn't terrible, but to anyone who hasn't watched the show she's largely been portrayed as Teela's sidekick (or side piece depending on how much you read into it.) If she had been introduced on her own instead of showing up with Teela after her exile and with her new butch hair cut, I think Andra might have been better received. Now I have not watched the show, and I have no idea what her role is, and I don't really care, so please don't enter the thread and decide to "correct me" because again: I don't care. The fact is, of all the "rumors" about the show, I've heard almost nothing about Andra except she's shown with Teela when she returns.
Anyways... getting to the point.
I have to say I unboxed her tonight and I'm pretty much disappointed all around. I've said before, the Masterverse figures might be loaded with articulation, but some of them just don't appear to be well sculpted, and Andra exemplifies this exactly. I'm sure there are women in the world built like this Andra figure, but they are few and far between.
Her legs are too long, her torso is smaller than her waist piece, and her forearms are bigger than her upper arms, which is exasperated by weaponized gauntlet she wears. The bulky belts that appear to be completely un-removeable contribute to the problem and the one that runs diagonally pretty much hides her breasts completely. Now I'm not pointing this out to be a creep or misogynistic, but my point is, the character is so poorly sculpted that if you put her battle helmet head on her, you can barely tell it's a female figure.
It's also pretty disappointing that so many bits on these Masterverse figures are close to the scale of origins, like her head, for example, and yet they fit differently for no discernible reason. Like why did they have to make the neck joint so much larger on the Masterverse figures?
Her only accessories are a cloth cape (never been a fan of cloth accessories and this is no exception), two extra sets of hands, a head, and one more thing. She comes with what I first mistook for a dagger that was so poorly designed it wouldn't fit her hands, but turned out to be a blaster prop that plugs into her wrist cannon that I only discovered by looking at the box art. Other than that, she has no weapons, no shield, no anything good.
Lastly, the packaging...
I've always been more of a collector than someone who plays with their toys (at least since becoming an adult.) If you want to play with your toys, I have zero issues with that. For me though, when I do open a figure, I end up posing it a bit, and then I end up putting it aside. Because of this, I find it largely pointless for me to open them, unless I'm just examining a new line, and I often buy figures in pairs; one to open, one to keep in the box.
I mention this because when I open an Origins figure I always attempt to carefully remove it in such a way that it could be put back in the package. I'm really enjoy customizers who make "boxed" customs, or MOC customs. Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out which chemical will safely remove the bubble from the cardback on an Origins figure. They're glued very well and they've so far been impossible to remove without damaging the card.
But the Masterverse figures come in more of a box, than a card. I was really disappointed to see that after cutting the tape with my pocket knife, I still managed to tear the box with only a tiny bit of pressure while trying to open the flaps. If I hadn't torn the box, I probably could have safely returned her to the box with no one the wiser, except that removing her from the plastic mold was insanely frustrating compared to Origins figures. The rubber bands were extremely tight and I ended up having to cut them loose and even then it was an effort to cut them without cutting the figure.
All in all, I was pretty disappointed with my purchase overall. I'm not quite sure what the final results of this purchase will be. For now she's getting wrapped with all her accessories into her cloak and placed back in the box because I see nothing worth displaying.
It's definitely re-enforced my lack of enthusiasm for the Masterverse line.
When the Masterverse line first came out, it pretty much looked like it was a Revelations line, and they've of course recently announced non Revelations figures.
One thing I have been trying to do is look into ways to increase the number of female characters for the Origins line, through customizing, 3d Printing, etc. due to the fact that my buddy's daughter considers any of the male figures to be "boy toys." She did enjoy playing with She-Ra, although she's young enough that she thought the shield was a hat.
Target currently has several masterverse figures at a roughly $10 price point on sale, so I finally bit the bullet and bought the Andra figure that I'd been eyeing before when they were on sale for $14.
I don't really have an issue with Andra as a character, except the way she's been used. Aesthetically, her design isn't terrible, but to anyone who hasn't watched the show she's largely been portrayed as Teela's sidekick (or side piece depending on how much you read into it.) If she had been introduced on her own instead of showing up with Teela after her exile and with her new butch hair cut, I think Andra might have been better received. Now I have not watched the show, and I have no idea what her role is, and I don't really care, so please don't enter the thread and decide to "correct me" because again: I don't care. The fact is, of all the "rumors" about the show, I've heard almost nothing about Andra except she's shown with Teela when she returns.
Anyways... getting to the point.
I have to say I unboxed her tonight and I'm pretty much disappointed all around. I've said before, the Masterverse figures might be loaded with articulation, but some of them just don't appear to be well sculpted, and Andra exemplifies this exactly. I'm sure there are women in the world built like this Andra figure, but they are few and far between.
Her legs are too long, her torso is smaller than her waist piece, and her forearms are bigger than her upper arms, which is exasperated by weaponized gauntlet she wears. The bulky belts that appear to be completely un-removeable contribute to the problem and the one that runs diagonally pretty much hides her breasts completely. Now I'm not pointing this out to be a creep or misogynistic, but my point is, the character is so poorly sculpted that if you put her battle helmet head on her, you can barely tell it's a female figure.
It's also pretty disappointing that so many bits on these Masterverse figures are close to the scale of origins, like her head, for example, and yet they fit differently for no discernible reason. Like why did they have to make the neck joint so much larger on the Masterverse figures?
Her only accessories are a cloth cape (never been a fan of cloth accessories and this is no exception), two extra sets of hands, a head, and one more thing. She comes with what I first mistook for a dagger that was so poorly designed it wouldn't fit her hands, but turned out to be a blaster prop that plugs into her wrist cannon that I only discovered by looking at the box art. Other than that, she has no weapons, no shield, no anything good.
Lastly, the packaging...
I've always been more of a collector than someone who plays with their toys (at least since becoming an adult.) If you want to play with your toys, I have zero issues with that. For me though, when I do open a figure, I end up posing it a bit, and then I end up putting it aside. Because of this, I find it largely pointless for me to open them, unless I'm just examining a new line, and I often buy figures in pairs; one to open, one to keep in the box.
I mention this because when I open an Origins figure I always attempt to carefully remove it in such a way that it could be put back in the package. I'm really enjoy customizers who make "boxed" customs, or MOC customs. Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out which chemical will safely remove the bubble from the cardback on an Origins figure. They're glued very well and they've so far been impossible to remove without damaging the card.
But the Masterverse figures come in more of a box, than a card. I was really disappointed to see that after cutting the tape with my pocket knife, I still managed to tear the box with only a tiny bit of pressure while trying to open the flaps. If I hadn't torn the box, I probably could have safely returned her to the box with no one the wiser, except that removing her from the plastic mold was insanely frustrating compared to Origins figures. The rubber bands were extremely tight and I ended up having to cut them loose and even then it was an effort to cut them without cutting the figure.
All in all, I was pretty disappointed with my purchase overall. I'm not quite sure what the final results of this purchase will be. For now she's getting wrapped with all her accessories into her cloak and placed back in the box because I see nothing worth displaying.
It's definitely re-enforced my lack of enthusiasm for the Masterverse line.
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