Poe’s Review > Stinkor (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

Stinkor. It’s as if someone took all the derogatory clichés about the original Masters of the Universe line and put them into one figure: he’s a half-man, half-amusing-animal with an off-putting action feature (a terrible smell) and a lazy name that describes said action feature but adds “-or” to the end of it.

Vintage Stinkor (Image via He-Man.org)

The vintage Stinkor appeared in 1985 in the fourth wave of MOTU, which actually seems kind of late to me. Though little more than a Mer-Man repaint with Mekaneck’s armor, Stinkor appeared alongside heavily-tooled figures such as Hordak, Leech and Mantenna. He did get his own minicomic, The Stench of Evil, which has a passable plot (for a minicomic) but terrible, terrible art. Mattel wanted Stinkor to appear on the She-Ra cartoon (He-Man had ended by that point), but the writers never managed to work in this “walking fart joke.”

However, there must have been a Stinkor fan or two on the production team for the Millennium cartoon. He was the focus of his own episode, “The Sweet Smell of Victory,” and appeared in many others, with more of his origin being revealed in “Out of the Past.”

Millennium Stinkor Staction (Image via He-Man.org)

Despite the character’s prominence in the Millennium cartoon, Stinkor never got an updated action figure – only a “Staction” mini-statue after the cartoon and toy line had ended (even his pre-mutation alter-ego, Odiphus, was included with the Jitsu Staction – something makes me think the Four Horsemen are big Stinkor fans).

Stinkor, MOTUC version

So now, Odiphus finally gets his due in Masters of the Universe Classics. As with many previous MOTUC figures, Stinkor offers a mix of vintage and Millennium elements. His legs, torso, shoulders and arms are Beast Man-type, while his boots and feet are Mer-Man-type. His forearms are newly-sculpted (due to the fur needed behind the gloves) and are famously and controversially inverted, with the “spikes” sticking inward rather than outward – but more on that later. He also has a furry “collar” below his neck, which is a separate piece that’s glued to the torso.

Stinkor comes with two heads. One is a repaint of the vintage-style Mer-Man head, just like the vintage Stinkor. I find it rather amusing we’re getting these vintage heads when I’m fairly certain very few fans actually use them.

Stinkor also comes with the much more interesting Millennium-style head seen at the top of the review, which reflects his look in that series. Neither head resembles an actual skunk, which, despite their smelliness, are rather adorable.

Then there are the forearms. The Horsemen designed them to stick outward from the body, just like the gloves on Mer-Man and other figures.  Mattel says their own design team made the decision to invert the gloves so as to make Stinkor a bit more distinctive. I have two thoughts on the matter:

• I don’t mind how it looks. The elbows match up well enough for me. UPDATE: Actually, the more I look at them, especially the right arm in this pic, the more the anatomy problem (the bulging inner forearm on the outside of the arm) bugs me.
• The difference is so minor it was hardly worth the crap Mattel took from fans over it.

If Mattel did do this on purpose – if this wasn’t just yet another factory screw-up that Mattel decided to claim was purposeful to avoid even worse PR – then it flies in the face of their previous slavish adherence to the vintage look. They include a repainted version of a head we weren’t using on Mer-Man anyway, then make a design change like this to the figure? Let’s not forget how quick ToyGuru usually is to point out other unpopular design decisions as the Horsemen’s choice, which usually ends with some sort of remark about how Mattel leaves all the design decisions to the Horsemen. Something stinks, and it ain’t just Stinkor.

But he does stink. As with the vintage figure, patchouli was mixed with the black plastic used for Stinkor’s body to give him his distinctive smell. It’s definitely noticeable, but nowhere near the pine-scented miasma that was Moss Man.

The white paint work on the fur looks good, but I question the screaming! bright! orange! color choice for the armor, loincloth and boots. It’s just too bright, and the lack of a good wash on any of it makes the effect that much worse. Combined with the lack of highlights on the accessories (see below), Stinkor feels like a figure who got cheated by Mattel.

Stinkor comes with the aforementioned heads, a swappable chest piece that features the vintage red dot or a small “handle,” a gas mask, his backpack, his “Odor Blaster,” and his vintage-style shield, which is a repaint of the shield that came with the Eternian Palace Guards and the Weapons Rack.

While I like the gas mask, it doesn’t fit his face very well and tends to fall off with the slightest head movement. A wee bit of Blu-Tack can solve the problem easily.

“But wait, there’s more! Order now and get the free hose attachment!”

The “Odor Blaster” looks just like a DustBuster. One disappointing thing about all the accessories is the lack of colored highlights – they’re all molded in entirely in matte blue. Some shiny highlights here and there would have really improved the figure’s look – and indeed, they were present on the prototype by the Four Horsemen. As is, he looks much too toyish.

The air tanks evidently bottle up his stench and allow him to blow it out at his foes. An obvious but missing feature would be a soft pliable tube running from the tanks to the back of the “Odor Blaster,” much like, say, Scumbug from the old TMNT line.

Ultimately, Stinkor disappoints me primarily from a production standpoint. The prototype by the Four Horsemen showed highlights on the weapons. Mattel removed the highlights, skipped the wash on the orange parts, and swapped the forearms for dubious reasons. What could have been a slightly above average figure therefore becomes one of the lesser entries in this line.

[raven 2]

BONUS BIO DISCUSSION!

Stinkor® Bio
Real Name: Odiphus

Originally a Pelezean thief named Odiphus, Stinkor® was banished from his village after helping a great warlord named Prahvus destroy their defensive weapons. Wandering throughout Eternia®, curiosity led him to Tri- Klops’ lab deep within Snake Mountain™. There he caused an accident that infused his body with a horrid stench so powerful it drives away even Skeletor’s Evil Warriors. After demonstrating how his stench power could be used as a weapon of warfare, Odiphus was recruited back to Snake Mountain™ and armed with a Power Vest Gas Mask created by Tri-Klops® to funnel his stench directly at foes. Armed for combat and calling himself “Stinkor®,” Odiphus has the ability to stink and destroy with his odor of evil.

This bio just retells the Millennium cartoon episode “The Sweet Smell of Victory.” There’s nothing here particularly interesting nor problematic, making for one of the most boring bio discussions ever.