Okay, well, truth be told, I’m a little nervous! After two months of just news & checklist updates, the site is finally getting back to toy reviews! What did I ever say to fill up all those hundreds of pages the last five years? I have no idea. It’s kinda like this is all new to me…
I decided to start things off with Tung Lashor from MOTU Classics. Not because I have some special connection to Tung Lashor – I never had him as a kid, I don’t even quite remember if I bought the staction, money was tight back then. No, I chose Tung Lashor because MOTU has been a huge part of what made IAT popular over the last five years. It’s still one of my favorite toy lines and ol’ Tung Lashor is the most overdue from that line (if we overlook Castle Grayskullman, Benedict’s aptitude for humor is intimidating, okay?). He came out in October, I believe, and the poor guy – I haven’t opened any MOTUCs since then. I knew I’d get to the reviews and I wanted it to be fresh, so these poor figures have been stuck in boxes for months.
I’ve been trying to think if Tung Lashor has any really memorable roles in the various media. Like nearly all the other Snakemen, Tung Lashor never appeared on the Filmation cartoon. He just came out too late. He did make a few sporadic (& confusing) appearances on the She-Ra cartoon, where he worked for the Horde, for Skeletor, alongside Rattlor, etc. I don’t think any one appearance was particularly memorable, I don’t even know if they ever got his name right; he was typically referred to as Tung or Tung Lash. The first thing that really springs to mind is Queen Marlena stabbing & pinning his tongue down in MO2K. Not his finest moment, but hey it sticks out!
The thing I loved most about Tung Lashor when I pulled him out of the box is his color palette. Much like my fascination with Batros or Stinkor, or my obsession for Faker. I love the garishly colored figures. They pop on the shelf and bring a much cooler presentation to the overall display. Tung’s bright pink skin with purple markings is fantastic. It’s painted well too, but this is the original design brought forward and it looks great. He went from being a figure I thought I’d get as sub filler to being one of my favorites. Maybe, it’s just the getting back into things talking, but I’m pretty happy with the overall look.
Since I primarily remember him from the MO2K era, I thought I would be put off by his size. It’s been known since day one that the hulking presence some characters had in MO2K wasn’t going to happen. So, that’s put to bed. I only bring it up here because I’ve come to not mind at all. On some of the others, I liked them bigger and I do miss it. On Tung Lashor, the normal size works for him great. Overall, the entire sculpt is solid – the new torso is fantastic as are the new hands & feet (I think they’re new) are all great additions to complete that unique look. Even if it’s not very… snakey…
The big part of his look is, of course, the head. I was really torn on this one. I thought, going in, that I’d prefer the tongue-retracted head sculpt. I’m tired of all the Snakemen and their open mouths (I know the 2pk had closed mouths, that’s how they get displayed!), so I was happy to add another closed mouth snake-dude. Then he got here. The regular head is a great sculpt, but it has a strange dissatisfied look to it. Like he’s had a bad day already and then dropped his groceries in the driveway. The tongue head came out much more menacing, which is what I wished all the monster villains pulled off, so I’m going to stick with that one. It doesn’t take up as much space as I thought it would and it does have that bit of MO2K flare with the spikes, so it ended up the go-to head after all. Continue to Page 2…
Reviews are back and as fun as ever! Huzzah!
This guy’s a pretty darn good update of the Vintage. As you say, no vestigial thumb-wheel, which is nice, but I ain’t fond of the tongue-teeth. I cut those off mine and touched up the paint.
Awesome that you are back at reviewing :). Can’t wait to read the rest while you are catching up. Tung Lashor was always a totally cool figure for me. Although I never had the figure (however I do remember a situation when I was desperately begging my Mom to buy him at the local grocery store but she refused to) I loved the tongue-roll-out-feature.
He looks like one of those tropical frogs to me. Love the paint job, at least. not sure about the snake on his chest. is it supposed to be glued or branded on?
also, the tongue thing is just hilarious as well as an awesome head sculpt.
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coincidentally, I ran across an article on SW deleted scenes today and never realized Palpatine’s right hand um…Twilek? (4 horns dude, 2up, 2down) also flickers his tongue before he speaks. (the WhatCulture link I shared on FB yesterday)
welcome back! and I was very pleased with Tung Lashor
Welcome back!
Nice review of Tung Lashor. I too am drawn to the figures that have bright, vibrant color schemes and Tung Lashor is one of the brightest and most vibrant in the line.
I’m digging the pics with all of the Snakemen stuck with their mouths open. I imagine them all getting frustrated because they’re unintentionally capturing flies in their mouths left and right while Tung Lashor (I always thought he was more of a tropical frog) keeps trying to pretend he’s not interested so no one knows he’s a frog even though he really does want those tasty, tasty flies.
The return of the reviews! Very nice! Hope the baby is doing well.
I know you keep the pics PG, but not having all the female characters falling all over themselves trying to convince Tung Lashor to join their team after he revealed his prodigious oral appendage feels like a missed opportunity. (Sorry if I just drug your review into the gutter.)
Great Review. As mentioned by someone else, I too always thought of tongue lashor as one of those tropical frogs. I love the figure, he is great to finally have and I cant wait for squeezze
Overall very happy with Tung Lashor. Like yourself I am sticking with the tongue out head.
I love this frogman! One of my favorites, when I was a kid, and he’s one of my favorites of MotUC so far. They really knocked this one out of the park, in all his froggy glory.
…now we just need to find him a race of frog men to be a part of and he’ll no longer feel the heart wrenching loneliness of being the only frog among the snakes.
Owned the vintage. Never saw the static one. If had the $$$ at time know woulda ordered. (That or was getting Figuarts at time. Expensive habit) Can see I love the MOTUC take a lot and thats from pics alone. Gotta save great comics in this one, the finally openned one was my fav. I got to thinking if TL gave off an order and finally was openned and how that woulda played out.
Will keep watch on this one. If can get to a local toy show or the 2ndary market.
Awesome review! I missed out on buying this figure so I may need to track him down now. As a kid growing up, I got into MotU in 1985 so the majority of my small MotU collection was Evil Horde and Snake Men. Tongue Lashor I had as a kid and it’s so funny that after the last 30 years I never realized he was a frog and not a snake. Makes total sense when you think about it; the tongue, the shape of the head, the hands and feet, heck even the Dragonfly crossbow weapon makes sense as what do frogs eat?
I know when Sssqueeze comes out in June I HAVE to get him, I saw the 4H fiddling it’s it on Pixel Dan’s Toy Fair 2015 MotUC video and they nailed the arm bendiness of the vintage toy. He was always one I wanted to get growing up and I even remember a friend of mine having him and being wicked jealous.
Keep the new reviews coming sir, awesome to see them again. 😎