We’re pretty behind on just about everything, but it seems like the MOTU figures have been piling particularly high.  So in an attempt to cut down on our backlog, I thought I’d follow up Noisy’s MOTU review with one of my own.  So let’s take a look at Fang Man!

Even though the Filmation subscription hasn’t started yet, Fang Man does kind of give off the vibe of its first unofficial release.  Originally appearing in the episode The Time Corridor, Fang Man follows Skeletor and Tri-Klops back in time to destroy Castle Grayskull before it’s even built.  They never say what happened to the character after He-Man defeats him in the past, but it’s revealed in the new bio that Skeletor just left him there.  (While doing an image search I did find a picture of him in the background of a foreign MOTU comic book, but he was colored green.  Very odd.)

Fang Man is one of those characters I didn’t really expect to be made.  Even after the issue with the Filmation license was sorted out, he was still a pretty obscure character with an oddly shaped body.  Luckily for us the Four Horsemen are pros when it comes to working out these kinds of design issues.  You may not know it by looking at him, but Fang Man’s body is almost entirely reused pieces.  It’s easy to see on the arms, legs, and feet.  What I was surprised to discover is that his torso is just a blue version of the scaly chest and abs.

What really gives Fang Man that extra bulky look is the soft rubber shirt piece.  It’s a bit bigger than the average muscle-man tunic and has been designed to set hunched over the shoulders and forcing the body underneath to bend forward for its natural look.  The back of his shirt has also been given some really fantastic sculpted details giving the regular torso the impression that it has back spines and wide shoulder blades.  This is a fantastic effect and a great way to add more diversity to the MOTU body type.

As for the rest of the pieces, Fang man also has some new trunks with a nicely sculpted metal face on the belt.  His hands are also new and have long fingernails.  Interestingly, the index finger of his right hand isn’t in line with the others.  To top off F-Man’s unique look, he has a newly sculpted head and neck piece.  The sculpt is pretty accurate to the Filmation series.  I love the extension that the extra neck piece gives the figure.  It really adds to the feel that he’s hunched over.  I do think the head sculpt is a bit cartoony, but it still fits into the line without any issues.  (And I wonder if that tongue is a hint at what we might see with Tung Lashor.)

Fang Man’s paint job adds a nice amount of detail to his figure also.  He’s got some airbrushed highlights over his skin which really brings out the muscles and wrinkles.  His shirt and loin garment also have a similar highlight, only this time in dark maroon.  This really does a great job of bringing out all those sculpted details on his back.  That yellow center line and orange bracelets and collar also do a great job of breaking up the reds and blues.  I think his eyes are my least favorite part.  Those beady dots look very cartoonish.  I was surprised with his shin guards though.  They seem to be molded from a glittery red that isn’t anywhere else on his body.

Fang Man has the same standard articulation that we know from MOTU, but there also a couple of added bits.  Both his head and neck piece are on ball joints.  You’d think this would give him an extended range, but the shapes of the two pieces actually hinder him a bit.  He can look in all directions, but not extremely well in any one way.  I really wish he could look from side to side a bit better.

The other new piece of articulation is his tongue.  It’s held into the back of his mouth with a swivel joint and can move back and forth.  F-Man’s jaw isn’t actually articulated, but it is made of a soft plastic and can be pried open so that you can move his tongue to the sides if you want.  Continue to page 2…