MOTU Classics.Com:
Fisto Review (17 Pics)

NoisyDvL5

It turns out that whether intended or not there is some compatibility. Fisto’s fist was made to slide over the standard Tri-Klops forearm. That particular design also allows it to stretch a bit and fit over Roboto’s arm. Again, I’m probably doing some incremental damage to the plastic on the fist, but it works and it looks as awesome as I thought it would. I’m still bummed that it doesn’t work precisely (and Trap Jaw’s left it out in the cold here), but this soothes my “rage” somewhat. It also means that, should Jitsu be done the same way, we still have the possibility of Mattel doing a future weapons pack with a fist in Jitsu colors and an open hand in Fisto colors that would allow the two to swap and for Roboto to be included for the ride.

Since Fisto features the basic MOTU Classics body, the articulation is pretty much what we’ve come to expect. The only things of note here are the internal joint on the ankles which makes ’em super-tight and that the fist still includes the basic wrist swivel since it simply pops over the standard forearm. The armor does come down over the ab crunch for the most part, but it is flexible enough to not get in the way.

For paint, Fisto walks that line where I’m not sure how much slop is okay. In hand, I thought Fisto was painted extremely well. And, in the pics under closer scrutiny, most of that holds up. The head is fantastic, the little gold details are sharp, the paint apps on the accessories are good too. But when I look at these pics, man that armor looks sloppy. It doesn’t look that noticeable in person, so I’m not gonna knock too many points off the score, but some of these pics left me scratching my head. Oh, and Mattel spent money on painting the wristband under the non-removable fist. I don’t mind, but that’s unlike them. It made me want to pop a normal hand on there to see what having a Malcom figure would be like.

One other thing of note is that the lower torso is in silver (like normal for an armored figure like this), but the upper torso is flesh tone. This was likely done to keep Fisto’s neck the right color without the use of paint which is preferable to him having a silver neck, but it does make the figure look a fair sight odd from the back.

If you’re keeping your Fisto strictly vintage then you only get to play with one accessory (seriously, if you’re anti-MO2K you best be putting all those other pieces away!), the classic purple sword. Ye olde Fisto sported Tri-Klops accessory in purple and the same is true here. It works. Looks good purple and marks our third colorway for this accessory (the other being a gold/silver cardback art version from the weapons paks).

Now, if you’re ready to get your MO2K on, then you’ve got a lot more options. I already mentioned the MO2K head (I’m calling it that every time I reference it because it makes me happy), but you’ve also get an extra belt and the aforementioned giant ass sword. The giant ass sword was not included with the MO2K Fisto (he came with a snake grabber thingy) so it’s excellent to finally have it here.* I love the size, the level of detail in the sculpt, and the fact he can actually stow this bad boy on his back – because a guy with a giant fist really needs to have a place to store all these relatively unneeded weapons, y’know?

* – I did end up with an excellent ‘garage kit’ version of the sword from the Org’s Royaltus!

The other MO2K piece is the belt. I still wish Fisto could’ve gotten the longer loin cloth because I think this belt would look much more kickass in that combination, but I love the belt nonetheless. My Fisto isn’t going to be caught without it. While the front looks great with the bull’s head and hammered bronze, it’s what’s around the back of the belt that really sells me: two little pouches, one with a sculpted flask, and the book. I wish I knew if these were anyway related to media or are just cool 4H add-ons, but I don’t. The book has a neat little bit of detail on the cover too.

Overall, Fisto rocks. My chief complaint is that the fist wasn’t worked up to be compatible with Trap Jaw & Roboto, but it did end up slightly compatible so I’m not going to get too uppity about it (which is great because as Matty lets us know Fisto was never supposed to have any type of interchan- blah blah blah… I feel that uppity coming on…). Also, I begrudgingly admit that it’s not really an essential part of an awesome Fisto figure. So with that, I’m left my only real lament – the lack of a longer loin cloth which would’ve look great with the belt.

Anyway, Fisto is solid figure. Some original thought went into the design instead of just a straight vintage redo, the new pieces are all sharp, the colors great, the head sculpt amazing, the accessories are loaded and kickass, there’s display options, he’s just an overall amazing figure for the line. If you’re a vintage fan, you should be thrilled. If you want MO2K elements, you should be thrilled. If you just want MOTU to have cool standalone figures, well Fisto fits that requirement too.

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44 thoughts on “MOTU Classics.Com:
Fisto Review (17 Pics)”

    1. Ugh! I already had to fix that one once (I misspelled surprisingly) this review took way too long… 😀

      Thanks for the catch!

  6. Thanks for the extra helping of killer pics. Man, even his hair is finely detailed. I have a sudden craving for chocolate Zingers for some strange reason. (His hair reminds me of Zinger icing.) Fisto’s awesomeness only improves with age, due in no small part to that terrific belt and big ass sword. Well worth the wait, I’d say.

  7. Awesome review! I remember the “there could be 2 Fistos” comment in Whiplash’s review…and guess what? We did get 2 Fistos..the original and the 200x versions 🙂

    1. LOL! I had totally forgotten that picture. I could’ve looked real smart had I paired them off in a fighting pic instead of Clawful!

  8. i said it in the forums here, but i’ll say it again in the comments… best figure in the line to date. all the “necessary” add-ins, vintage details and mo2k elements both classicized, and the best head/face sculpt in the line due to it being a one piece design. this is absolutely how the line should be done, and had it been from day one, i likely wouldn’t have half the complaints that i do.

    that said, i will add that i think the fist has some serious QC issue. reading ’round the interwebs and it seems that the removability of the fist is largely case by case, and we can even see it between you and i’s fistos… i pulled, hard, and mine’s tight as a nun’s honeypot. i suppose i could really torque that sucker and get it off, but i certainly risk damaging the limb doing so. so while yours seems removable, mine definitely does not. not to nay say or incite panic, but i wonder if the removable fists are the flaw, or the permafist is?

    BTW, going out on a limb, but i bet the book is filled w/ poetry he wrote the sorceress while they were living in sin. and maybe a sketch or two of her sans feathers, if you get what i mean.

      1. It’s the gynocentric imagery embossed on the cover. Seriously.

        I mean, it COULD be his Daytimer(tm)…

        “3:00. Meet Clawful. Hit with fist. 4:00. meet Spydor. Hit with fist. 8:00. Meet Sorceress. Hit that.”

  9. Man, the comedy just goes on and on. The fist isn’t supposed to be removable yet it is, or might be, depending. It’s not supposed to be removable yet they spent the extra time and money to paint the bracelet. I mean, I have to assume the factory didn’t throw a paint app in there for free, right?

    I really don’t know why they had to be such dicks about this whole thing. “all that discussion about a removable fist didn’t happen. You can’t prove it.”

    “That’s SO Matty!!”

    but I’m glad that overall this was a ‘out of the ballpark’ figure instead of “Oh, well, it exists’.

    And I want to know what in the bottle! Emergency booze? Muscle rub for his massive right bicep?

    1. i predict some man at arms home brew, the stout stuff, for times when a soldier needs to steel his nerves.

    2. The guy’s right hand is a giant metal fist. If that’s his jerkin’ hand, I guarantee you it’s Man-At-Hands super lube.

      1. Oh, now, I was trying to not go there, because, y’know, Fisto, it’s the obvious joke… 🙂

        One thing I’ve never been sure of. The Giant Fist. Is it ONLY a fist or can he use it like an (ab)normal hand?

    3. My annoyance for their handling of this particular fan request is tempered by that is still works “accidentally”.

      This actually makes me want to get a 2nd Fisto to frankenstein into that Malcom version and have it all the time, then convert the extra fisto to a real roboto attachment by gluing one of my extra claw hands in there.

  10. Pingback: MOTU Classics.Com: Fisto Review (17 Pics) | Toys Are Cool

  11. I love this character, I love this figure (now that he finally arrived in the mail). I really wish mattel didn’t give him that smooth silver stomach. I would prefer to have the option of displaying my Fisto without his armor (just like my figure looked as a kid after the plastic pegs broke and it wouldn’t stay on). I know that they are trying to preserve that ab crunch, but the plastic is plenty soft enough that the cut-out for his lower back is unnecessary and ugly. Demo-man’s shirt covers him pretty well all the way around, but I don’t feel like I can’t use his ab crunch, because there is some give there.

    However, if they just had to use that silver stomach, then paint his torso silver so it doesn’t look funky from the back. They were able to do that with battle armor He-man, they could have done this with Fisto. I know I’m nitpicking a great figure, but for some reason not being able to display him without armor is really annoying to me.

    1. Yeah if you want to take off the armor, he just looks funky. When I was poping the parts around to see how he’d look with the long loincloth, I put the Grayskull harness on the naked Fisto chest and the lower straps cover the ab seam to make for a weird looking shirt/tunic. I probably should just grab a pic of that…

      1. Yeah, I used Grayskull to make a better 200x version. That longer loin cloth works a lot better with that belt. Nevertheless, I’m going to display him mostly in his classic style. If I was better at doing mods I would sacrifice one of my extra He-men to give him a new torso like I want him to have.

          1. Hm. You know, with just a little deco on it that can sort of look like a back support or ‘kidney’ belt, don’t you think?

            or sheer vanity. “My abs are so rock hard and ripped I have to KEEP THEM IMPRISONED IN STEEL to protect others from their awesome power!!!”

            Hey, that could be an Old Spice ad! 🙂

  12. It seems I have one Fisto that easily pops off his hand while the other takes some pulling. At least there is no peg to break, as the fist was designed to be held on by the front edge of the wrist guard.

    I think my only complaints concern the second belt. It bunches up the chest armor, making him look fat, and he can presumably reach that bottle with his left hand fairly easily, but if the fist is solid, there is no way he can reach that book without removing the belt.

    Also, you missed a great opportunity for a Game of Thrones joke with Fisto as King Robert. Then again, you also left out the obvious double entendre of his name. so…call it even?

    1. Yeah, Vault also got one that won’t come off. I kinda want to see one of those to see if it’s glued or if the silver paint didn’t dry before it was placed on. As long as the fist isn’t mangled when it’s pulled off, they should all come off with damaging the figure…

  14. Excellent review and hilarious pics as always, my favourite being “Damn robots taking our jobs!”

    Not having the long loincloth, the attachment mechanism for the giant fist, the odd moulding and colouring of parts . . . all valid points to bring up, but the one thing that gets me most about this figure (which hasn’t arrived at my house yet) is: why that vambrace on his left arm? They’ve got the mould for the “correct” piece of forearm-wear, so why use the wrong one? Weird.

    His bottle contains mead. Everyone likes mead. The book is his Hello Battle Kitty sticker book disguised to look like a necromonicon so nobody opens it and discovers his secret love of small cute fluffy Garanimé animals.

      1. Fine, but I’ve got the intellectual bagsies on the idea. Also “My Little Stridor.”

    2. Thanks, Beedo!

      I didn’t think much about his left arm until I used Grayskull to assemble a long loincloth figure and he ended up with the correct left forearm. I’m not sure why they did that. They may be trying to keep that a “He-Man” piece because they almost never give it to anyone anymore. (Who besides M-A-A has it?)

      1. Well, both from memory of my own collection and looking at Mattel’s page, I know Faker also has that particular vambrace (which, if it’s meant to be a He-Man piece, makes sense), but so does Marzo. I don’t have a Wun-Dar at my home (a pal in Maryland is holding onto one for me), but the Mattel site carded photo looks like he has one. And it’s been a long time since I looked under their armour plating, but don’t the Eternian Guards have it as well?

        I know a lot of the Vintage MOTU figures had that vambrace (and whole arm) for cheap ‘n’ cheerful recycling purposes. But they actually sculpted a whole new left arm for Fisto with that exact same piece of armour on it. So why they didn’t use it in their even handier mix ‘n’ match parts scheme is beyond my capacity to comprehend.

        Everyone say it together, now: LOGISTICS!

  15. Know what we REALLY need? A Fisto role-play toy. That’s right, a giant silver foam fist. Maybe with a motion sensor sound chip so it goes “SPLARK” and “BOONT” and “KALNGGG”.

    That’s what we really need.

    🙂

    1. I hear they’ve re-released the “Hulk Hands” as “Gamma Fists” for the Avengers movie.
      Grab some decent silver paint and go to town!

      1. nah, the new hulk hands are puny. the real hulk would want to smash them, but not in the good way. compared to the original set of hulk hands, these like they were designed for your kid sister.

        1. Saw them at Toys R Us (and I continue my crazed journey slowly buying Lego blindpack figure vol. 6) and wow, talk about underwhelming. Puny Hulk!

          Also saw some of the Avengers branded 4 inch figures. There’s some fun looking stuff there, but I can’t wrap my head around a Captain America exo-suit. 🙂

          ($15.99 for Comic Book Cap with parachute? the hell?)

    1. Well, what else is he known for? The guy you can always beat playing ‘rock paper scissors’?

      His name is Fisto. He has a really big fist. This is a family friendly site (mostly), they’re not going to show the other thing, right? 🙂

      Could have been worse. Could have named him Fist-Man.

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