One of the things about She-Ra that made everyone here at IAT rejoice was the paintwork. Normally, we have to look through all of them very carefully and then bargain with each other to see who takes the bad ones. Last month, Vault ended up with “air bubble” Optikk as his extra. In April, I took an Evil Lyn with a chunk of eye shadow missing because I needed her for a custom. This month there was still some warble here and there, but by and large everyone got to go home with nicely painted She-Ra’s. The face details were clean all around, and the lines on the chest emblem were sharp on each figure. The only area where we saw many problems was the front v on the belt, but nothing so bad that we docked the figure points.
She-Ra includes three accessories: a sword, a comb/ax, and a shield. We saw the shield at the G1988 show as one of the teaser pieces. The shield is a great update of the original. It follows the classic design (including its small size), but has much better detailing and the jeweled center is finally a “jewel”! The shield will fit on either arm, but it’s designed for the left arm primarily. An interesting thing to note, on the back of her package, she’s holding the shield at her side in a classic pose. It’s not the most stable configuration, but the figure can be posed this way too for a little more variety.
As accurate to the old toy as the shield is, the sword goes in another direction and, color aside, is a closer match for the classic artwork. Collectors have received this sword before, with Adora, in the accurate silver color. She-Ra’s sword is done in gold, to match the classic toy despite the design change. It’s a nice two-tone color which better matches the line than the monochrome silver sword that came with Adora. Catch all those matches? I think I’ll keep She-Ra with the gold sword because it looks good with the overall aesthetic, but the desire to give her the proper silver sword is pretty strong.
Finally, we get the combination comb/axe accessory. I find it more cute than necessary, but the 4H did their usual best in making it a nice blend of homage and interesting. The comb part is reminiscent of the shape of the original, right down to the design on the handle while the bladed side makes it much more deadly this time around. And, thankfully, it’s not pink (Weapons Pak, anyone?). Since She-Ra has molded hair for the first time, the comb side won’t be getting much use though.
Overall, She-Ra is one of the better figures this year. With two heads, three accessories, and several new pieces, I think she’s a better value than some of the figures we’ve gotten. Or maybe I’m just happy to not get another Teela dress. The only real issue I had with her is the head functionality which Mattel has been having problems with since day one with Teela. I like the look of the figure, but I have to wonder how long it’s going to take Mattel to get the heads right on the female figures.
Still, I’m glad to get She-Ra into the group. She’s an important part of the royal family and with her bio adding some future history about her further adventures fighting along side the Masters on Eternia, she’s become a more important part of the mythos overall. As long as the heads finally get on par, I’m ready to see the rest of the POP characters in MOTU Classics.
There was a lot of death in this review. LOL
And it’s crazy how small She-Ra makes Barda look. I know Barda was too small, but geez!
I only killed Hordak and She-Ra…
And they got better!
Love your blog and your reviews! Great pictures!
Thanks, Chanel!
I actually like She-Ra with the Adora head. This review was great!
The skintones aside it does look pretty good. 🙂
Man, the comics were flowing like water this time. The CSI reference was great, but on some occasions I find that Skeletor is more Caruso-like than Faker.
Thanks for pointing out that the She-Ra head may be more than just a simple reuse of the Adora head. I was considering buying an Adora to use her face for a tiara-less She-Ra custom. But indeed, there is something that makes the She-Ra head a bit better in most pics. I don’t know if it’s paint or a slightly different sculpt.
I may have been having too much fun. 😉
Faker for the tab because of the red hair, but I could see Skelly as Horatio!
HAHAHAHA!! I’ve read every review and loved them all…but the last pic had me rolling. I knew what you were going for before I even noticed the little caption in the lower, right-hand corner. Bravo, sir.
Thanks, Sephron!
I have to ask: When you said the head wouldn’t fit, did you happen to mean it wouldn’t “click” in? My She-Ra head doesn’t click either, yet it stays on.
The other guys here had ones like that that wouldn’t “click” in, but mine would absolutely not stay on without modding it.
Loved the review, but the Horatio Caine reference needed a dramatic pause between fame and went.
LOL. I can see that.
Funny as all hell!
Love how She-Ra’s head looks on Teela’s body. I wish She-Ra’s body was that detailed!
Thanks!
Yeah, She-Ra’s dress is accurate, but a little plain. I like the head on that body, something like a more battle ready She-Ra.
The head that she came with fit, but I couldn’t get the other head on her without working out a bit of the plastic with a knife and hoping I didn’t destroy the head. She’s pretty sweet and I’m always glad to get another female figure to keep the display varied.
Both mine were that way, neither would go over the ball. She’s a good figure though, I just had to do a little work to get her back on par.
Great review as always. That sucks about the head you got though. I’d be more pissed about it personally.
The thing that always keeps me in check is that I see a bunch of them get opened at once, so any problem is lessened over if I was just getting the one. It puts things in a different light for me.
I love the She-Rafied watermark! You’ve made a great site for MOTU fans.
Thanks! That was a last minute addition!
When I opened my She-Ra, her head popped off… I guess production line couldn’t get the heads popped on either lol. Awesome figure. Now, bring on the other POP’s! Glimmer!!! …. I think I called her Glitter before… ugh…
I want to see Mermista, Frosta, and Castaspella, I think. LOL I always have to check the names…
LOL. I guess it was She-Ra day today. Loved all the reviews.
It was a bit of a bottleneck, but I appreciate seeing all the different takes!
Great review as always, Noisy. Loved CSI: Eternia & dead Hordak!! The head on my She-Ra requires Herculean effort to swap and I don’t like the toy head so mine will be go on as a one head princess.
Thanks!
It just took a bit of cleaning out to become a normal head. I wasn’t worried about doing too much since the peg was wobbly anyway.
love the pics!
Thanks, Elaine!
Got mine today but I’m cautious especially with the reports of the breakage while trying to switch heads. I’ve had problems before with figures that require assembly on the joints and the arm peg breaking. The issue doesn’t seem isolated to just Mattel’s figures even though the popular belief seems to point in that direction.
Mattel, and surely other companies, seems to fall prey to odd interior architecture like the triple barbell or the MOTUC ladies and their keyring necks. I don’t know where those choices are being made, but it seems to be different than back in the day when most toys had a basic internal setup that rarely varied.
Damn, the headswap with Teela looks awesome! I’m tempted to pick up both of them now. How’s the skin tone match? I know Adora has lighter skin than She-Ra.
And yeah, the hologram stickers on the alternate head gave me flashbacks too.
Adora & Teela have painted faces while She-Ra has molded skintone, so it’s a little off there too:
Another great review, but man, does Mattel even HAVE a QC person over in China checking this stuff?
Two things. Has anyone tried the ‘heat soften’ approach to getting her head on the peg? either hot water or a hair dryer to soften the plastic of the head just enough for it to fit? Or is the plastic too hard to allow that? (this is an old trick from my GI Joe fandom, also used in the construction of soft vinyl model kits from Japan)
Second. Um, is something wrong with She-Ra’s legs? Is it an optical illusion due to the paint and the difference of seeing it 2-D via a picture and 3-D in life? I’ll try and explain what I’m seeing. (and I’m sorry if it sounds dirty, there’s no other way to try and say it)
Her thighs don’t seem to ‘point’ where her shins point. Visually, her thighs seems to point ‘out’ while the calf and shin seem to curve ‘in’, then it sweeps back out at the ankle. It’s not *exactly* a knock-kneed look but it’s not a splayed ‘heroic pose’ look either. It just seems…odd to my eyes. I think it’s the most obvious in the Barda pic.
Thoughts?
Thanks, Steve! Glad to have you around!
The heat approach has worked for a lot of folks. The majority of the cases that I’ve heard of were what like RageTreb described – where the head will fit on the peg, but not “click” in. The heat approach seems to fix that. In my case, that was something I tried unsuccessfully and had to resort to the dremel.
I think the Barda pic is largely due to my bad posing. I was so focused on getting her to hold up Barda that I wasn’t paying attention to the feet. But looking at her, there might be some odd curvature in the lower calf area too.
Another excellent review. We need more female characters. Bring on the rest of the POP female characters!!!
Thanks, Sy! I was never a big POP fan – I couldn’t tell you one thing about the majority of the characters, but I’m excited to see some of the figures. I do wish they’d hurry it up.
I just pre-ordeded She-Ra today from BBTS she looks sexy and she comes with lots of accessories.BTW cool review
Thanks!
One thing I’ve noticed about some figures is that they look great on their own and others look great with a group. I think I tend to favor the standalones. She-Ra is a group figure, I liked her, but looking at her over there in the pack she stands out. It’s a weird thing.