Rattlor includes three accessories, but only one really matters to me and that’s the neck extension. It’s a key piece that replicates the vintage figure’s action feature and works as well as Mekaneck’s I love it.
The other two, not so much. The Horde band is fine – the vintage Rattlor came out in the line at an odd time and ended up debuting in the She-Ra cartoon as a Horde member. His introduction in the mini-comics followed suit with his being transported from Etheria back to Eternia to again serve King Hssss (Rattlor had fallen in with the Horde after Hssss had been imprisoned). It’s a nice piece. I’m always thankful for extra bits, but I’ll be giving it to Cy-chop (who shoulda had one…).
The other accessory doesn’t work for me either. In the vintage line, nearly all the Snakemen had the snake staff, similar to how the Horde nearly all carried crossbows. In Classics, and maybe in the vintage line I don’t know, the crossbows have unique elements to differentiate them to their owners. Rattlor’s staff is simply a repaint of Hssss’. Also, it feels to me like the staff has taken on more significance – it feels like it should be reserved for King Hssss from all the mythology and bios. I don’t think every Snakeman needs one anymore.
But, you might say, “Noisy, you love unique accessories like the power sword getting dozens of colors!!” And you’d be right. In fact, I think I’ll be tossing the neon green snake staff and giving Hssss this one. Anymore, normally I don’t mind the value of added in bits like the Horde arm band or even “fun” repaints of existing weapons, but Rattlor did have a piece cut, his MO2K armor. I’d much rather have it than either/both of the accessories. It may not be that simple, cutting both may not have allowed enough room in the budget for the armor, but it’s a bummer to me. Luckily, it’s tooled so we have hope that it’ll end up somewhere.
So has Rattlor made me appreciate the Snakemen more? Maybe a little. I’d really like to figure out a good way to repaint those eyes and I’m still holding out hope for that armor, but the body sculpt on the figure is fantastic and the color palette downright gorgeous. Rattlor pops on the shelf. That’s high marks from me despite the drawback. Snakeface, Tung Lashor & Sssqueeze still have some lifting to do though.
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Gotta say..this is one of the best MOTUC reviews on IAT in terms of humor in pics
loved every single one of them! 🙂
Thanks, bmnbinc!
Excellent review, pics, and comics, as always!
What bugs me about Rattlor’s eyes is the angle of the pupils: they’re supposed to be vertical, and I’ve seen samples online (my Rattlors haven’t arrived yet) with various cants all the way to near-horizontal. Other than that, there’s not a lot else one can do to sculpt the eyes of a creature that doesn’t have eyelids.
As an issue, though, paint would probably be the biggest for me. Besides the paint-over-black-plastic hoo-ha, his rattle should really be a glossy ivory, instead of two-tone. I will be fixing that, you betcha.
And, yeah, the vintage Horde mostly had unique crossbows. I think Dragstor re-used Mantnenna’s, though.
Thanks, Beedo!
I wasn’t sure if the vintage guys all had unique crossbows. And now you raise a new point – Dragstor needs a unique crossbow – I’m not in favor of him just getting Mantenna’s so it’s “just like we remember!”
Still waiting for my Rattlor turn up – but he seriously looks amazing – I think this may be the MOTUC figure of the year for me – based on pics alone.
I just hope Mattel STOPS using the black plastic – I want to pose my Rattlor so the joints will rub and show black plastic. Why do they use it? It really is mind boggling.
using regrind plastic is a cost saving measure… and some would argue it’s also a form of recycling (which it is, in a technical sense)
We don’t have any evidence that black plastic is regrind plastic. The impetus for cost savings on the black plastic was the ability to run much larger batches of the individual pieces in a uniform color. The regrind plastic is still fan speculation as far I know.
true, but regrind is a regular feature of the plastics industry… and it comes out black. i suppose that could be coincidence… and perhaps those black folks on dutch sailing vessels were all stowaways.
Black plastic aside ( stupid idea I agree) I dig this guy since likes him as a kid but admit not a fan of snakes in general. Glad we had the rattle, the pic with Mekaneck is good fun. Enjoyed the review, a nice mood lifter right now.
Thanks!
As I only collects POP characters (sort of)I was going to get one of these to go with my horde display but I missed out on the day of sale. After looking at your review I’m still not sure if I should be upset at missing out or not.
Anybody else notice Matty isn’t doing any MOTUC reissues this month only the essentials stuff.
Scott said they were assessing inventory levels. It sounds like they’ve mostly burned through their leftovers.
I %100 with you on the opened mouths. I really wish this guy was sculpted with a closed mouth. It would have been a good way to include a “classicized” version of his Millennium head.
A closed MO2K head is a great idea!
I can see freaky lady bits in their open mouths…
I gave the armband to HH now he looks more Filmationy… The staff is property of Hsss… now My Rattlor is weaponless… Any suggestions (not from the snake Army builder cause I don’t have it)?
holy crap what kind of ladies have you been with?? 😉
i love the chest piece, i love the arms and legs, the sculptural detail is great… that said, the much vaunted paint aps leave me a little “eh.” on mine, some of the blue clearly bled over before some of the yellow was laid, so i have several green spots that aren’t green in a good way. and the mass of red scales that covers his whole back has no shading or wash to make that detail pop. not a difficult thing to remedy on my end, but not an excusable oversight on a fig who’s talking point to solicit sales was his paint job.
now, i would like to counter the open mouth theory w/ one of my own… had we gotten only a closed mouth head, everyone and their brother would be pointing out that a major fear element of serpent symbolism is their venom, and they need to strike (w/ open mouths) to deliver it. there is something deep in our unconscious programmed to fear a striking snake for the sake of survival. the answer, at least on the snake men, was not to include closed mouths, that would have been dull and boring, the answer was to let the horsemen “real up” the sculpting a bit and make those open mouths really look like a weapon to be feared… which they should be. rattlor in particular needs an open mouth, if you put a closed mouth on the extended head, he’d come out looking about as dangerous as falcor.
Freaky ladies… who may have committed some unnatural acts between man and beast.
I’m more of a two heads for the snakemen kind of guy… (spoiled by Japanese figures with their swappable faceplates and hands) I understand WHY the snakes come with open maws, but Mattel’s safety rules made them less threatening. Then again if I was in charge I would’ve fought for multiple heads AND hands for each figure!
A hinged jaw or two heads would’ve been better. The extending neck does need a screaming mouth. I’m just tired of all the hissing….
Considering how wide real pit-vipers open their mouths during a strike, this Rattlor ain’t too bad. Could be worse: he could have a 170-degree gape and have even more problems seeing straight ahead than Leech. };D
Rattlor’s color palette has always been one of my all-time favorite color schemes for action figures. Period. I’m serious, there’s something about that brown with muted blue and some sandy yellow that just looks excellent.
Oddly, one of the things I’m most excited about for this version of Rattlor? The fact that his tail is properly sculpted all-round. See, the vintage figure had this tail which had only one side, the underside was just a hollowed-out shell. This one is all three-dee baby, and I love it.
Great review as always!
Huh! I’ve never looked at the vintage one closely. How weird.
And thanks!
Yeah, the new tail looks good, but the original Whiplash had the same hollow-tail weirdness, too, so I took Rattlor’s in stride.
What freaked me out about the Vintage Rattlor most (there were a number of things, but this was the worst): He had perfectly human hands, and was apparently wearing leather gauntlets made up of his own hide. Or the skin of one of his relatives. I cannot now look at the Vintage Rattlor without imagine him saying, “It rubsss the lotion on itsss ssskin and putsss the bottle back in the bucket.”
Paint-on-black and lack of action feature aside, this version of Rattlor looks far better to me than the original. Roll on the next Missing Weapons Pack!
His bright colors separates him from everyone. Cool that he has the neck attachment like Mekaneck but me it would look so better with his 200x armor.
Cool review as always.
After seeing it on the picture Mattel posted, the figure looks naked without it now. I don’t have my MO2K Rattlor to steal it from anymore, but they ended up very similar.
Does the arm band actually fit over Cy-Chop’s elbow pads? That MIGHT be enough to convince me on him.
Mine is on Horde Prime at the moment.
Yes. My Cy-Chop is sporting it right now.
Awesome pics noisy!
I’m with ya on the accessories
sorry, I couldn’t get this one. the Brown/Cream/Blue paint apps look gaudy and gives the illusion that he appears skinnier than other figures.
I wanted to like it but I think the 200x update to him is one of the few time i think looks better than the classic.
For what it’s worth, Rattlor looks all kinds of awesome with the red armor, shield, and sword from the snake men 2-pack. When he first arrived, I put the 200x armor and belt on him from The General, and while it did look cool, he looks better with the 2-pack weapons. If you’re not happy with him as is, I highly recommend the look.
Okay thought came to me thanks to recalling the 200x series. What if Rattlor camebwith a head with victims feetvsticking out of it. That or a Hiss head with a whiplash tail sticking out.
Rattlor is one of those guys that made me wish I hadn’t given up on the line so early on as a kid. I love his red, blue, and yellow color rainbow. An awesome figure with neat-o action features.
Neck-down, Rattlor is awesome (as he should be – aside from the loincloth and hips, as far as I can tell, he’s all-new! Yay! Not including that snake minion from the 2-pack, since the tooling was clearly intended first for Rattlor or at least with him in mind).
But that head! Eugh. It’s like a cat. An angry, toothless, malformed cat.
My favourite bit though – which I only discovered after his tail came off trying to pose him – the tail actually rattles! Fun.