Poe’s Point > Thoughts on the Mighty Spector & Other PowerCon Reveals

Unfortunately there are no good official pics of the Mattel PowerCon reveals. There are a few tiny, watermarked images on Mattycollector that do the figures no justice and are really just sad. The best pics I’ve found are in this post on the Fwoosh, so that’s what I’ll be referring to in this article.

First up: Stinkor. You know, for all we’ve been told about how the designers have been told to minimize the Millennium features on MOTUC figures, we’re getting an awful lot of Millennium features on these figures. Stinkor gets a new gun, stink-tanks on his back, and a Millennium-style head (along with a repainted Mer-Man vintage head). I’m not the biggest Stinkor fan. He was a bit too goofy and gimmicky even for five-year-old Poe. But the Four Horsemen have done a great job on his design, and I won’t begrudge him his place in my collection–I have a hunch he’ll actually be one of those figures that grows on me once I have him in hand.

Next we have Slush Head. I remember, around the time that Killer Moth was announced for DC Universe Classics, that there was a lot of talk about how one particular fan–whose name escapes me–would be very excited by this. It was almost implied that various stakeholders had pushed for the character partly for that fan’s benefit. Well, we can say with fairly good certainty that no fan will be more excited about Slush Head’s inclusion in MOTUC than He-Fan Mike Bock. This is like me getting a DCUC black-and-gray, black-bat-symbol, pouch belt modern Batman with double-jointed elbows, double-jointed knees and rocker ankles. Or a comic Hellboy with a plastic sculpted coat.

Anyway, I like Slush Head. There’s a lot of clever re-use hidden behind the new parts.

Next up, the Griffin. This is based on Beast Man’s ride from the Millennium cartoon (I think…?) and is a brilliant example of parts reuse, featuring Battle Cat’s body, Swift Wind’s wings and a new head, feet, tail, and saddle. As much as I like that it’s a MOTUC figure, it’s also a pretty good representation of the mythological animal. I’ll admit to being a bit underwhelmed when I first saw the figure, but now I’m really starting to warm up to it.

I can’t say I’m very excited for Thunder Punch He-Man. I never owned the vintage figure and I don’t find his design different enough from the regular He-Man to be very interesting…though I do like the little energy blast accessory.

The Snake Mountain stands look great, and I’ll buy one set, but I do wish these were cheaper–if they were, I might buy one for every MOTUC figure I own.

The all-white Temple of Darkness Sorceress I will be buying solely because I am a completist on MOTUC, and because I want the stand for King Grayskull’s Ball of Sparkle Crest.

And then…there’s Spector, who has created perhaps the biggest controversy surrounding MOTUC since the inception of the line itself.

First off, let me say this: if I were in Scott Neitlich’s position, I definitely would have done whatever I could to design or help design one of the 30th Anniversary figures. I don’t begrudge him that. But by making a figure based on his own adolescent design for the Create-a-Character contest, many fans interpreted this as a massive act of egotism, another example of Neitlich using MOTUC as his own personal playground.

Setting aside that question, I do think it was a mistake for Neitlich to base the figure so closely on his childhood design (assuming that’s indeed what happened; I’m giving him something of the benefit of the doubt on that). Even if he did want to create a Spector figure, he probably should have revisited the concept and brought in other designers to develop it more. Very few things one creates as an adolescent will stand up to scrutiny years later (just ask my juvenile short story parody Star Heck 1: Encounter at Fartpoint). The silence that reportedly greeted Spector’s reveal at PowerCon is a testament to that.

One possible example of that juvenile origin is the incongruous playing card motif. If Spector is a time traveler, it would make a lot more sense for his chest emblem to be a clock rather than a spade. Or if you’re set on the playing card thing, why not give him powers related to luck or probability, like Longshot?

A lot of fans have complained that Spector looks too much like a superhero and therefore doesn’t fit in MOTUC. Nuts to that, I say. NUTS! This is a toyline that has featured chaps-wearing cowboys, ninjas and S&M enthusiasts; I think it can handle a guy who looks vaguely superhero-ish.

But enough; here’s what I think of the design, setting aside questions of motifs and superheroes. Yes, it’s a little boring. Moreover, he doesn’t quite fit the MOTU design aesthetic. He needs a “hook” of some sort, something to give him more character.

In sum, I don’t hate Spector to the degree that many seem to, but he’s definitely not a figure I’m excited about. Mattel should consider adding a really kick-ass accessory to his package, e.g., Keldor’s swords or the Staff of Avion.