Sy-Klone’s articulation is what we’ve come to expect. The unique design of his chest radar leaves him unable to crouch forward, but I’m so happy they retained that joint that I don’t mind in the slightest. The arm fins don’t block the arm articulation and, of course, it’s fantastic to finally have a Sy-Klone with poseable shoulders. Sure, I miss that I can’t spin him right round, but I’m happy to finally have him fully poseable.
Sy-Klone is mostly molded in the appropriate colors with little paintwork needed. Annoyingly, that little paint work is sloppy. The red from the rings spills over to the boots and gloves pretty much all around (see why I’m wishing they were separate pieces). And some of the Sy-Klone’s we received had random paint marks – red paint lines on the thighs or torsos and paint chips on the face. Those issues might be minor, but we again remind ourselves that we’re paying $20 a pop for these figures and we can’t choose which ones we get like we do with retail lines.
Sy-Klone includes his vintage shield. This time around it’s sculpted more like a shield than the disc of old, but the surface designs are there and they’re the same. I did enjoy his “Saturn shield” from MO2K, but this shield is more universal and could see reuse somewhere in the line, so I’m cool with it. The one problem with it though, is that it’s molded blue and painted yellow! Sometimes Mattel makes me want to bang my head into a wall. Why mold it blue and paint it yellow? Logistics, no doubt, but it’s a bad recipe. The shield color doesn’t quite match and, of course, if it takes any damage, the paint chips and it turns blue.
His other accessory is part of his sculpt too. One of his most drastic MO2K changes was the addition of a large ring that folded down around his shoulders.* That ring was brought into the future with the classics version and it’s actually much cooler now then it was then. It sits lower on his back and ends up around his waist when it’s moved forward (which looks better to me), but the interesting thing is that it’s removable and doubles as an accessory. It’s a little weird for him to wield at first, but you can get him into some cool poses with the oversized “blade” once you get used to it.
* – In the pic on the first page, I mistakenly have those rings angled down. They are intended to be displayed sticking up as they are on Classics Sy-Klone, but I’ve been displaying them that way for so long it didn’t even occur to me to fix them for the shoot! Oops!
And here’s why the review is a bit delayed. As you saw in the comparison pic, the MO2K era gave us a really sharp looking red version of Sy-Klone. I don’t have too many MO2K toys anymore, but I had to keep that one. I love that look. And I wanted to replicate it in Classics. When Sy-Klone arrived, I quickly set out to make the red version. I hurried along, hoping to get the review out quickly, but some parts (like painting the ring gold or dying the shield red) just wouldn’t cooperate with me. Undeterred, we finished him up and I’m really happy with how he turned out!
Overall, I can’t say Sy-Klone was a home run. The paint issues and the bad decision to mold the shield blue and paint it are still negatives, but honestly they don’t affect his score too much. He turned out pretty nice despite them. Vault thinks he’s too bright, but I think the brightness was part of the appeal of the original – though the sculpt does look great in the muted red version – and I think it’s doing the same job here. The ab crunch and working shoulders are definite improvements over any other version, and that lenticular sticker is still awesome nearly twenty-five years later. It is the best Sy-Klone figure to date.
Do I want this line to have more details? Absolutely, but Sy-Klone makes sense as a streamlined kinda guy. I’m still going to appreciate each and every one of those rivets on Man-E-Faces though…
For more MOTU reviews, check out our
MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide.
first to post! as always..an excellent review Noisy! Is is just me or does Psy-KO-Klone look better than the original..
I thought Zadoc wanted to go neutral…(source : the very first weapon shop comic)
Points for remembering Zadoc! LOL
When I was a kid and sharpied my first Zodac armor it was with the intention to make him a Cosmic Tyrant: http://www.itsalltrue.net/?p=101
Wow, I like your red version! That must have taken a lot of work.
Thanks!
It was simple when it started out. I disassembled and died the yellow red and the blue slightly red to get the effects I want. It worked out well except for I looked like I had blood on my hands for days!
The gold paint though gave me trouble, the ring especially. I got it to where it looked okay in person, but in the review it seems to still have a pinkish hue.
any reason you customized a Sy-Klone to be red? Am I missing something?
There’s a red on in MO2K (he’s in the group shot above) and I was merely replicating it classics form.
two questions on the custom- did you strip the yellow off the shield before painting ot dyeing it? and second- how did you die the torso w/ the sticker? or was that painted (very carefully?)
as to the figure himself… they’re likely try to hook me later w/ a 200x syk that comes w/ the legacy stones, but they could have coaxed me into this figure if they’d have included those… instead, they cheaped out, and they lost out. whatev.
On the shield, the blue is dark, so I took a shot at dying the paint. It worked, but I did chip it here and there in the process, so now it’s red with dark blue spots showing through.
The sticker was carefully removed before the dye bath. It wasn’t too difficult to remove and replace.
I’d love to get extra little accessories like that. It’s been awhile since the Reliquary…
OK, so what IS the deal with the red version from the past? Was it just a repaint for a cash grab by Mattel or was there an actual story reason?
That line featured repaints of most of the main characters. I actually liked a lot of those repaints too…
I applaud the return of Dark Roboto.
Noisy I absolutely love the Red Sy-Klone I was wondering who would post a custom first. I might have to do that if I ever grab a Syk (I never had him as a kid so theres no huge draw for me other than making a complete set).
Thanks! I think he might be a very “nostalgia required” figure. It seems that a lot of folks who didn’t have the first one find him easy to pass on.
By the way, don’t think that your ‘Crisis of Two Earths’ homage pose got past me, I see what you did there… 🙂
I don’t know what you mean… 😛
Very nice, even-handed review, as always. And while I’m not a huge fan of repaints, that custom Red Sy-Klone of yours is making the look grow on me.
I think I’ll wait to see if they do one of these officially later down the line. Used to be, I’d spend up to two days making a “Star Wars” custom of a figure I thought they’d never redo or get around to, only to have Hasbro produce an official version as little as a year later, only with paint that doesn’t come off when you move the joints. And I DO so hate having my hard work, time, money, and raw materials be spent in vain.
Looking forward to Panthor!
Red Sy-Klone wins everybody over. 😉
He does stand a chance of seeing a regular figure though. I do hate it when my custom gets made by the company. Though it’s even worse when they outright steal your custom… LOL
wow I had several MOTU2K repaints, but never saw that red Sy-Klone! There aren’t any even in ebay
He was towards the end. He might be one of the overseas ones like Talon Attack Stratos and Snake Armor He-Man?
another excellent review.Love how you caught him spinning!
You should keep placing those story points at the end of every review. I really like those, it gives the reader something to look forward on the reviews (aside from the obvious review, and since your the only reviewer that has a story/continuity).
Keep up the good work.
Thanks! I’m glad you like the story bits. They may not be in every MOTU review, but I’ll try to add them into more.
those Evil/Mirror(?) variants look cool.
I see you pull the hair/helmets off a lot of your MOTUC figures to switch around. What do you think the best method to do this is? I have been trying to ease a snake head out of one of my royal guards all morning and am a little afraid to start cutting into him. Thanks!
It’s not always easy, but you just have to pry it off. Some are easier than others – the hair is usually easier than the helmets. I had a heck of time with Sy-Klone here and with the guard helmets, but it can be done.
The two biggest areas for error are to scratch the face paint and/or tear the hairline above the forehead (it’s thin there). But I don’t have any real tips. I use two small flat head screw drivers. I work one in until it’s wedged and holding it open then I use the second one to try and get further in, and switch back and forth until I can pull it free. Sometimes it’s easier if the head’s heated up by running it under hot water for a minute or too.
Good luck!