Masters of the Universe Classics Vikor: a Special Preview and Review!

He-Man has always been a force for good, with the best of intentions and moral standards. This isn’t a review for He-man, though; well, not exactly. Today, we here at MTV Geek are bringing you a review of Vikor, the next Masters of the Universe Classics figure to be released by Mattel on their Matty Collector website. While Prince Adam takes the time to instruct kids on not talking to strangers, Vikor (He-man of the North) spent his days crushing his enemies, seeing them driven before him, and hearing the lamentations of their women! Wait, wrong barbarian… sorta. We’ll get into that later. For now, let’s check out Vikor, who is such an f’n tough guy that it was a battle to even free him from his packaging! Here’s his bio, courtesy of that prison-like blister card:

Shortly after King Grayskull’s Death, Vikor, a great warrior from the north was chosen by the Goddess to help protect the Sword of He while all of Eternia waited for a true heir to be born. Already a master of the battleaxe, Vikor’s legend soon spread across Eternia as he quested to vanquish evil – battling the remaining renegade Snake Men and defending the Valley Of Gnarl from the Fighting Foe Men. Although his time as a He-Man was relatively short, his contribution to the legend will never be forgotten in the great archives of Eternia.

Vikor’s unabashed badassery comes to us courtesy of the Four Horsemen’s intimidating sculpt. Vikor is based off the original concept art for He-Man from when the line was first being pitched. So, if you’re thinkin’ this guy looks strikingly similar to Conan, you’d be right since that was basically the original idea for the MOTUC. Most of Vikor is new, even some parts you might think were re-used. His head features a grim visage, long hair, and a horned helmet. While Vikor retains the basic facial similarities as He-Man, you can tell he is a completely different character thanks to the rest of his headsculpt. He also has new forearms, which are enclosed by busted manacles with (real metal!) chains hanging from them. His cloak and loincloth are both new sculpts as well, and are extremely detailed. The cloak is made to look like the furry hide of a skinned animal… possibly a Shadow Beast. The loincloth hangs down a lot longer than any previous figures, which is a testament to just how much junk ol’ Vikor thinks he has to keep hidden. Hell, the loincloth alone would fill other MOTUC characters with a secret shame! There’s a leather strap sculpted around his right bicep… for reasons unknown to us, and that we also don’t care about. Lastly are his boots. While they may appear to be the standard He-Man style, at the ankles there are no longer any exposed ankle pegs; but, we’ll explore that a little more when we get into the articulation.

The paint on Vikor helps to give him a more realistic feel, while still managing to keep him grounded in the insanely magic-filled and sci-fi themed line of toys. His helmet is painted to look like iron and the horns are colored to match the color of bone or tusks. His long black hair has a drybrushing effect to bring out the detailing. His face has clean apps for the eyebrows and eyes, without any spillage, crookedness, or any “lazy eye” troubles. His body, while molded in the proper skin tone, has been highlighted with a darker color to show off the sculpt. In comparison, the painting technique seems to work even better here than it did on previous figures like King Grayskull. His cape, boots, and loincloth are all done in browns and assist in giving him an Earth-y feel. There are also smaller details added like the bone-laden clasp of his cloak, and the small gold belt visible at the sides of his waist. The only real slop seen at all, on our review copy, is on the small skull and bones that hang around his neck.

Cona… errr, Vikor has the usual MOTUC articulation model. A ball-joint head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, hinged torso, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, hinged knees, swivel boot tops, & dual-hinged “rocker” ankles round out his movement. His head movement is limited, due his flowing locks of lovin’; but otherwise, all the joints work properly and are tight. That’s right, ALL of them! The ankles are no longer a problem thanks to the new design, and we hope that Mattel retrofits these boots onto any re-releases of figures who were sadly saddled with the originals.

Are you ready for battle, because Vikor sure as hell is! He comes armed with a sword, battleaxe, and pointed shield that all look ready to chop, hack, and stab their way into the evil forces of Eternia! The sword and axe are both sculpted in a simple design, with the handles of each showing grooves made for blood-soaked hands to grip easier while in the throes of slaughter. These are all business and are sculpted in a sleek way, and appearing more advanced than anything in the other He-Men arsenals. These are likened more to the 2002 inspired weaponry of Grizzlor than the Sword of He. Actually, the shield and axe are more like something you’d see being toted around by Robert E. Howard’s most famous creation, so let’s not kid ourselves. Vikor’s sword can be stashed horizontally across his lower back thanks to a handily-placed leather strap that’s attached to his belt. The figure is able to easily hold all of his weapons at once thanks to the placement of the clasp on the shield. This allows it to sit really high on his forearm, while still giving full coverage and protection to his arm. The weapons are silver with green detailing and slight brown airbrushing to give the effect of rust.

We’re sure this review seems like blatant bragging and back-patting to Mattel; but, this figure really is amazing. While we LOVE Masters of the Universe Classics figures, this guy just goes a step beyond and would be perfect on anyone’s shelf regardless of their toy collecting desires. For fans of MOTUC, Conan, ass-kickers, fantasy, RPGs, & horned helmets we HIGHLY recommend you to click your way over to the Matty Collector website on January 18th and get Vikor for yourself. Now please excuse us while we go get some red paint. We’re thinkin’ Vikor could use a little “blood splatter” on those weapons of his!

 --

Discuss this story in our Toys forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

Tags Action Figures, He-Man, Masters of the Universe, Mattel, Toys, Vikor