October was a good month for the Masters of the Universe Classics line of collectible action figures. Featuring characters that are really cool and FINALLY a female Princess of Power figure that isn’t She-Ra or Adora!

In this thirty years of MOTU I am joined by Miss M for the review of Frosta because not only is it fitting for the number one She-Ra fan to present the new addition, but next year she will be taking over review duties for the 2013 Club Eternia subscription—but who knows, I might pop in to talk about a figure or two.

Here we go, its time to shake it up with Rattlor…

I despise the Snakemen, I feel their existence makes the true evil of Eternia look weak and Skeletor is far from that. However, I think we have a winner with Rattlor for many reasons, so let’s take a look at the package and move into the figure and his parts.

Rattlor is packaged in the usual card and bubble looking well presented for mint on card collectors.

The back of the card features a Snakemen and Hordak oriented “Also Available” including that lame Snake Man-At-Arms (pre-200X-ing of him) and his messy bio that I just don’t care about—read it and make your own decision.

Out of the package Rattlor features some great detail and paint applications, his color scheme matches the original 80’s figure almost perfectly. Articulation is the standard in the arms, legs and ball jointed head; extra is his tail which moves side to side. The tail has a special little secret though, inside is a bead that rattles when you shake the figure, this was a feature from the original which I think was in the hollow body—in this case it’s in his rattle at the end of the tail.

Rattlor had a second action feature in the original 80’s figure where his neck could be extended in a strike! This action feature was exchanged for the modern neck piece that is simply installed by popping the head off of the ball joint and attaching the neck piece, then replacing the head onto the extended neck. The articulation is now left and right—comfortably—and the head still swivels on the extensions ball joint as it would on the standard body.

Included accessories (besides the neck piece) are a gold and red-ish snake staff and a Horde arm band. The staff fits well in his hand and the arm band just slips on and stays in place, so if you like him as a member of the Evil Horde as he was in the She-Ra cartoon you can do that, or if you prefer him as a Snakeman then use it on another figure or put it away—its up to you.

Due to Rattlor being a Snakeman that I like, I’m going to beat him up…starting with 200X Man-At-Arms with his new blue rocket launcher—“This is for making me a snake-scum for one episode of the cartoon!” Poor Rattlor has been decapitated!!!

Oh crap! It looks like the lions from Voltron were not just watching! Rattlor seems to want his head back, but Black found a chew toy and Blue found one too in the form of Rattlor’s staff!

Man…poor Rattlor just can’t win! He thinks that he has Grayskull taken, but as 200X Teela looks on, she knows that the snake-nit-wit is standing on the trap door!!! Rattlor really is cool, so don’t take his suffering the wrong way.

Also included–for subscribers only—aren’t we special! Yeah right…is a “Great Rebellion” sticker sheet with one “Time Agents” sticker, something that I have no use for, I guess 40 bucks on ebay should take care of that! Just kidding… I think only a She-Ra super fan would find some use for it…someone like Miss M.

GRADE: A (Rattlor is simply a great figure, straightforward and offers a decent amount of accessories. I highly recommend Rattlor to Snakemen fans and to those like me who are not; it’s a great figure to pick up for the collection).

-Paladin

Continuing on this remarkable 30th year for Masters of the Universe, it is now time to look at the other offering from October, the long awaited Classics version of everyone’s favorite icy Empress: Frosta!

Before we get into the toy talk, let’s do a brief review of Frosta. It is important to truly understand just why this figure is a must for MOTUC fans. She appeared in a handful of She-Ra episodes in the 80’s, most notably an episode featuring some heavy flirting with He-Man. She was essentially the vixen out of She-Ra’s friends and had quite a few witty comments for anyone who dared cross her. So let’s check out the toy!

Frosta comes in the same packaging that has been released for other MOTUC figures. She is packed with her magic wand and shield. (Frosta does not come with a weapon/comb like She-Ra and Catra.) Frosta also has a Princess of Power logo sticker on the cover as well. Each figure in this line belongs to a certain faction, and She-Ra’s friends from the old cartoon get the POP sticker. The font and coloring is so iconic for me, I just adore this logo. (Though I do like those Great Rebellion sticker sheets Paladin!)

Flipping the card back over, there are a few fun things to see. I believe all the members of the Great Rebellion that have been released thus far are on the back. There are the Star Sisters, She-Ra and Bow. The original version of She-Ra and Adora are the other two Great Rebellion figures that are not shown but a part of the line. Below is Frosta’s Biography.

Let’s look at the biography. As with the other characters from POP, the old toy image of the POP action dolls is used for the bio. This image of Frosta is from her old vintage card. Her bio pays tribute to the old toy (the whistling magic wand) and expands somewhat about who Frosta is. I am not too thrilled with her name being Mackenzie, if only because I feel that Frosta is Frosta’s name. These folks do live on another planet, so they don’t really need ‘Earth’ sounding names.

Taking Frosta out of her package is a very exciting experience. After snipping those plastic chords and carefully sliding her cape through the plastic, Frosta is free to fight the Horde or chase after He-Man. This figure is stunning. There are some great attentions to detail, like the design on her skirt as well as the painted stone on her chest piece (which is reminiscent of the old toy.) She has the same levels of articulation as the other Classics figures and there are some changes to take note.

Originally Frosta’s face had plumper cheeks and larger ‘surprised’ eyes. Many fans felt her face seemed off, so the fabulous 4 Horsemen tweaked a few things and this is Frosta’s new face. Her cheeks are not too puffy and her eyes look more natural. However, there are also some other changes that happened to Frosta, which will be discussed later.

Frosta’s cape is stunning and is made with a soft rubbery plastic. Her hair is also sculpted in a way that makes it very easy to move around. Collectors can turn her neck around and the hair does not get in the way. One concern that some fans have had with her hair is that a change was made to make the hair into a translucent blue plastic. The effect is to be icy, but some fans wanted her hair to be solid plastic. I cannot really see the difference; the translucent plastic gives her hair a frosty effect. I won’t lie, at first I was concerned about the change in her hair, if only because translucent plastic doesn’t always age well (it can get sticky.) However, I am pleased with the hair sculpt.

Her head pops off easily and the cape can slide off too. Looking at her without a cape, there are a few other things to address with the Frosta figure. The back of her chest piece was painted solid white, so there is a bit of a break up from the front being blue. I am not sure why this was done, but it does not change the overall appearance of the figure for me. There have also been reports of Frosta having her forearms switched, like a few other Classics figures. I do not see that with mine, her forearms seem to be ok. There are however some video tutorials on Mattycollector.com or He-Man.org that explain how those forearms can be fixed if a collector should come across that particular issue.

A problem for me involves Frosta’s shield. It is a nice looking shield that is perfect for Frosta. I did have a hard time putting it on her arm though, and consequently gave up because I was concerned about damaging the paint on her arm cuff. Her arm cuffs are pretty thick, and the plastic shield is not a bendable plastic. This may not be the case for every Frosta figure, but I noticed it with mine.

The magic wand though is very easy to have Frosta hold onto. The wand is her signature item and it slides right into her clenched hand. The top part manually spins like the original and really received a nice update. One other aspect about Frosta is the use of color. I would have liked her outfit, boots, and cuffs to have a brighter white. Instead there is a grayish white in its place. This in no way should make owning this figure a deal breaker, because all in all I am very happy with this Frosta Classics. In fact, with flash photography the white looks quite bright.

Frosta is an important part of the Great Rebellion and was a popular character from the vintage She-Ra cartoon and toy line. I am very glad to have her. Since she sold out on Mattycollector, the only other way to pick this gal up is on eBay or other secondary markets. I encourage you to add her to your collection!

GRADE A: (Adding a new female figure to MOTUC is always a good thing, and Frosta is a very nice figure to have even if there may have been some different changes throughout her process.)

-Miss M

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