WOW! Alright, let me get through Battleground Evil-Lyn and then we’ll get to…well, just wait for it!

December, the final month of the subscription service from Mattycollector.com—thankfully… Missing is Demo-Man–the concept of Skeletor was delayed until Janurary so for now it’s Battleground Evil-Lyn and The Wind Raider.

Battleground Evil-Lyn is a repaint of standard Evil-Lyn however; it’s a very nice figure and comes with some cool extras. Apparently since the early 80’s everyone wanted an Evil-Lyn with her hair showing and here she is. Her short mop of white hair is exposed and her face sculpt is good—perhaps she appears older to go with the bio? Her outfit is the Teela standard that was shared with The Goddess and original Evil-Lyn and has a purple repaint to look close to the 200X line of figures, too bad they didn’t just re-sculpt the dress to be the one from 200X, doesn’t really matter at this point. BG Evil-Lyn includes a cape to give a slight look from the 80’s cartoon. Included weapons are her staff with a long and short rod and 2 topper globes. One of the globes is standard and the other actually glows in the dark, this one is attached—yet I look for it to glow when I go to bed, but still nothing, maybe I need to charge it close to the light? BG Evil-Lyn includes her dagger, but in order for her to hold it, she has to put down her staff because I guess the designer thought it would be cool or something to use the soft “clawing” hand that is part of the Catra figure—not the best choice for a body part. The final piece included with Battleground Evil-Lyn is a second head that has her crown/helmet and it can be swapped out with the one that has her hair exposed.

The back of the package has an evil grouping of also available characters and her bio which talks about the future. The picture used in the bio is nice—taken from something 200X.

Battleground Evil-Lyn is a great end of year figure and as you can see from the photo, she looks better next to The Faceless One than the original version.

GRADE: B+ (Nice concept and sculpt, just don’t like that left hand)

Man…I’m so glad I decided to open it, the Wind Raider—Battle Ram Chariot? What the hell? I guess they forgot to change the type before they printed the white mailer box. OK, enough of that.

The first vehicle offered after a few years of the Classics line is The Wind Raider: Assault Lander—totally awesome! The box does not have a window however; it is adorned with classic toy art that was done by the original artist. But…for some reason it doesn’t look very close to the original, but it’s nice nonetheless. You can see the baddies (Skeletor, Evil-Lyn and Beastman) flying in Rotons after He-Man in the Raider; I guess the next vehicle is The Roton? Man-At-Arms and Teela are fighting back too; everything is just so small…

The back of the box has a “blueprint” of the Wind Raider that tells “you” what all the parts are, I’d rather have a selection of characters, but it’s fine.

Opening the box and pulling out the item tray reveals an awe-inspiring “holy crap!” to be let out and for the drool-fest to begin!

With minimal difficulty all the parts are removed from the package to see that 2 wings, a tail rudder, base, stand post and body are included along with an instruction book. The anchor is attached to the Wind Raider by a string.

Assembled, The Wind Raider is absolutely amazing! It’s huge and perfectly detailed. The original 80’s Raider had stickers to apply; this one has the design sculpted into the body of the piece. The paint applications are vast and there are so many details to look and overlook that The Wind Raider becomes a piece of art to be enjoyed and examined. The moving parts include the wings which can pivot up and down together; they stay still with a clicking mechanism. The tail rudder swings left and right and the steering grips are made from soft rubber which allows the figures to hold them and to not have to worry about them braking. The best features are first, the opening engine covers which reveal a detailed and painted set of motors and rockets under each. The second and best part is the anchor/grappling hook. The anchor is spring-loaded and fires by pressing a button. To retract the anchor and line the bird-like center piece called the “Eternium Location Device” is popped up and then turned clockwise. The anchor can then be reloaded and the rest of the string can be pulled back into the body of the vehicle. It’s a really awesome set-up and trumps the 80’s original which did just about the same thing except for the anchor being spring-loaded to fire.

The bottom of The Wind Raider has some jet detail, the mounting hole for the stand and 3 rolling wheels. The stand is adjustable and can allow for different “poses” for the large vehicle, it can also handle a figure sitting in the cockpit.

Most figures can fit in the cockpit of The Wind Raider, obviously He-Man should be the pilot, he was so often in the 80’s cartoon, but lets just say Skeletor “borrowed” it, or maybe Trap-Jaw. Some of the female figures fit in too. A lot of the figures might have to have some accessories removed from them before putting them behind the controls, but all in all, its no big deal.

In this final picture–which still doesn’t do justice on the size of The Wind Raider–you’ll see my current set up of most of my loose figures, but for now the huge Wind Raider hangs partially off of the shelf and looks to dominate over the figures and even Battle Cat.

The Wind Raider is absolutely amazing; it is sculpted, detailed and scaled to the figure line perfectly. The moving parts are tough and probably can withstand some sort of play—not from me, but at least the vehicle is built well. The original first vehicle was going to be The Battle Ram and Sky Sled, there was an example at the SDCC but apparently it didn’t get the first vehicle spot after all. Most of us growing up with He-Man in the 80’s had a Wind Raider, I have an old one but it needs to be restored. The simple design of the toy allowed it to stand up to rough play, but the wings were not all that strong at the mounting pins. This Wind Raider is a different story.

GRADE: PERFECT.

• Tweet