I’m way behind on my SDCC exclusive reviews, so I’m going to make up for it with a full week of reviews! Not everything will be SDCC-related, but most of them will.
Where to start with Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist?
As you can see above, Mo-Larr was created for a Robot Chicken sketch. And in a surprising move, Mattel decided to make an SDCC exclusive based on the skit.
I’m trying to think of more to say on the subject, but I can’t…so on to the review, I guess!
Packaging: Mo-Larr and Skeletor come in an enormous package, made to look somewhat like a dentist’s office in Castle Grayskull. As you can see, Skeletor is positioned on a “chair” while Mo-Larr exults in having extracted his tooth.
As many are aware, the back of the package features a unique bio for both Mo-Larr (bio) and Skeletor (bio) (which basically just recap the skit), as well as joke cross-sells of Grizzlor and Beast Man. At the beginning of the skit, Skeletor is reading Maxim; the magazine is retitled X-Plodar and can be found on the “floor” of the box.
As I think I’ve made quite clear, I open all my toys, but even I was very tempted to leave Mo-Larr in the box, for two reasons: 1.) It’s a gimmicky set, so I wasn’t as excited about it as other figures, and 2.) the diorama just looks so good.
Design & Sculpt: Mattel could have gone the cheap route and just taken a He-Man figure, sculpted a new head and tossed a cloth lab coat on him. But thankfully, Mattel hates cloth on MOTUC, so Mo-Larr gets not only a new head but a fully-sculpted plastic lab coat…well, maybe “coat” is a strong word. It comes down to his upper thighs and has no sleeves. What? Every single Eternian is in awesome shape, even their dentists–who can blame them if they want to show it off? Anyway, the coat looks great.
MOTUC Mo-Larr is a bit more handsome than his Robot Chicken version. Looking at him you can almost hear the 1960s soap opera organ music–this guy is clearly the Eternian equivalent of any given lead on General Hospital.
The rest of the figure is the standard MOTUC body, with Hordak gloves.
Skeletor is nearly identical to previous releases, except for the face. The Horsemen sculpted an entirely new face for the exclusive, right down to the missing tooth and “sad” eyes.
Plastic & Paint: The set gets the standard MOTUC paint treatment. Mo-Larr’s face is a little glossy, but his hair looks great–right down to the stylish graying sideburns. The lab coat has a few small paint applications that are quite sharp. His boots, however, are very glossy.
The only paint work of note on Skeletor is his new face, which is more green than usual, but I think it looks pretty good.
Articulation: Both figures feature the standard MOTUC articulation: ball joints at the head and shoulders, ball-and-hinge joints at the hips, hinges at the elbows, knees, ankles and abdomen, swivels at the biceps, wrists, upper thighs and top of the boots, and “rocker” ankles.
My Skeletor’s articulation is fairly tight, but my Mo-Larr’s ankles are quite loose. Loose ankles have become the biggest QC problem with MOTUC.
Accessories: Skeletor comes with his full standard complement of accessories: the Havoc Staff, his sword, and a half-sword. Given the gimmicky nature of the set, it’s nice that Mattel included these; fans can give the staff to Keldor, for example. That said, they probably should have included a regular Skeletor head, so that fans who only bought the Mo-Larr set could have a regular Skeletor if they wanted it.
Mo-Larr, on the other hand, is loaded with new accessories. He comes with an assortment of vac-metalized chrome dental tools, from the drill used to stab Grizzlor to the floss used to tie up Beast Man. He also has the pliers used to extract Skeletor’s tooth, a dental mirror, and whatever that thing is they used to suck the saliva out of your mouth. The floss is made from green thread (unlike the white of the skit), but the floss container does open up.
Not only are all the tools a nice addition for this set, many of them (like the drill) are unique enough that they could be used as tools for other figures (like Man-At-Arms using the drill on one of his inventions).
Quality Control: As mentioned, Mo-Larr suffers from loose ankles.
Overall: There’s no question the Mo-Larr set came way out of left field for most fans. It’s not going to appeal to everyone, especially if they’re not a Robot Chicken fan. However, it’s a great set, and the $40 price tag is on par with two full-sized figures.
Part of me thinks it might have been better to have just sold Mo-Larr alone and included an extra Skeletor head, but the diorama aspect of the packaging makes Skeletor’s inclusion more palatable.
[raven 4]