Oh, Hordak. While I’ll admit you have a cool design, I never liked you nearly as much as I did Skeletor. You make pig noises and turn yourself into goofy objects. And yet, you are so incredibly popular that you got a MOTUC figure in the first year of production, and still, still your fans are not happy!
The quibble in question is Hordak’s ab joint. The original Hordak had a single large piece of armor that covered his entire chest and torso. If the MOTUC figure had that same type of armor, he would have no ab joint. The Four Horsemen devised a way to save that point of articulation by raising the bottom of the armor and then sculpting a lower ab joint molded in black to give the appearance of a second piece of armor below the chest plate.
On Facebook, Mattel posted a brief Q&A with the Four Horsemen as to why they did this.
A lot of fans have been asking about the design of our upcoming Hordak figure. We asked the Horsemen to provide a little insight to pass along! Specifically, fans have asked about the design of Hordak’s armor and why it was done as a half piece and not a full frontal peice of armor. Here is what Eric and Cornboy had to say:
HORSEMEN: “This aspect of the design was something that we put a lot of thought into. We weighed out a lot of options, taking into consideration things like accuracy, articulation, tooling expenses, removable vs. non removable armor, and how the choice will work throughout the line. In the end we chose to do a two piece armor system to preserve the overall look of the original while retaining a full range of motion.
We created a new armored lower torso that will be used on certain characters while we may use the more sculpted look of the muscled stomach on other figures with more fitted looking armor. We are going to use this system in a variety of ways that should make most people happy. In cases like this a lot of the decisions that we make in the design process come down to which approach will make the most people happy. Of course we can never please 100% of the fans, but we can certainly keep trying.”
- so there you have it! Look for Mer-Man on sale April 15th, Zodak in May and Hordak in June only available on MattyCollector.com!
Predictably, some collectors still aren’t happy. Since I can probably take or leave Hordak, it’s not a big deal to me (come back to me when we get to Trap Jaw and I’m sure I’ll have some opinions), but I’m curious as to your thoughts. I’m sure the Horsemen would be interested to know what fans think of this compromise.
Ugh… this just goes to show that MOTU fans are enbittered fanboys. I can almost understand people's, um, "difference of opinion" with many of Mattel's practices, but I think the 4H have tried to do something here that is functional, looks good, and keeps the aesthetics of the original figure. Yet they're still not happy… I just tried reading some of the posts at the .org, but I couldn't finish. Its like some of these guys are like a deer in headlights.
I think he looks fine, then again, my expectations are never really high, and I'm just "rollin' with it".
Let me see if I'm reading this right;
The 4H couldn't make the standard MOTUC Articulation work with the 1st draft of Hordy's armor.
They then make the armor just a little smaller and add in a second abdominal joint (that looks like a bit of armor itself) to maintain the MOTUC standard range of motion.
This is what some people are complaining about?
I don't see any problem with the new design. I loved the staction Hordak and I can't wait for this figure!
My interpretation of why people were upset–at least, my initial interpretation–was they thought Mattel had just painted the normal abdominal section (the same one every figure has had so far) black. This would have seemed a bit lazy and probably wouldn't have looked great, so I can understand being bothered by it.
However, now that it's clear the abdominal section will be a new sculpted piece, I'm not sure exactly what the issue is, frankly.
I don't see any thing wrong with it, it looks great….my only complaint would be that I would have prefered the skin to be a darker blue like the original cartoon as opposed to the toy.
I am with Poe…Hordak was cool, but Skeletor is the man.
I wouldn't've minded even if they used the standard muscle lower body joint. Lazy (or financially prudent) or not, Hordak's got the details in other places where it really matters.
So much hatred from toys that will end up on a shelf collecting dust. Yeah, we want the best product possible, but when push comes to shove, how often are fans going to pick up these figures and closely inspect them?
That said, I've been slowly pulling out my MOTU2K figures (jealous Poe). Today it was Man-At-Arms, Two-Bad, Tri-Klops, and Trap Jaw. I can't wait to replace them with their MOTUC counterparts!
I was also looking at my MOTU2K figs and played around with them (still cool)….then I played around with some of the Classics figures….wow, best fun I have had in ages LOL…why they are not on mass market sale is beyond me…very sturdy well made figures.
Remember toys are meant to be played with and enjoyed not gathering dust or sealed in the packet.
who exactly is bitching about this? hordak is the first figure in this line i'm even close to excited about.
Those fanboys don't know how lucky they are…I personally lobbied Mattel to just release my figure naked from the waist up. I mean, what's the point of having this hawt bod if they are going to hide it, you know? But alas, it was not to be.
Also, Mr. Ghostal, words hurt.
…and you sound suspiciously like Keldor…
No issue here – looks cool and am going to buy – probably 2.
And 4H are the best Toy-makers in the mass market – bar none. so lay off the nit-picks and get with the love.
With the current ecnonomic climate and the state of the action figure industry, I think fans should be a little more, (I don't want to use the word grateful), lets go with "open minded" about stuff.
It looks even worse in the super hi res pics that have recently surfaced on the net. I can see why people are calling it a "bra". If they had kept the look of the original armor ( all the way to the belt line) and just [b]forgotten about the ab crunch joint[/b] I would have been fine with that! I prefer it that way to a redesign. This is a clear example of articulation winning over aesthetics…On Hordak it doesn't look THAT BAD…I can deal with it, but imagine what Battle armor He-Man & Skelly, Fisto, Jitsu, Randor and Clamp champ are going to look like? …
What is Hordak going to look like when the armor is removed? The lower ab isn't really armor looking at all. It may not be sculpted to look like ab muscle like previous figures, but it looks like he is wearing an undershirt.
Is he going to wearing a painted tank top shirt under the armor? It will just look wrong IMO.
For the fans who only plan on leaving him on the shelf this may not be a big problem, but I DO inspect my figures methodically…I also like to play with them switching heads, armors and weapons. It is fun! This armor will look silly on anybody else.
If anything, I think Matty and the 4HM should let the fans vote on an online poll about future figures that have similar armor…If they felt to need to address it publicly, why not let us vote on such a divisive issue instead of saying "suck it up" in a PR release?
Look, its a She-Ra villain. Its essentially a butched up remake of an 80's Girl's Toy. Grow a pair, fanboys. The 4H ARE doing you a favor. If Hordak has a bra now it only re-emphasizes my point…