PrfktTear Reviews > Frosta (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was at the height of its popularity at the time I was getting into it. I mostly relied upon a second-hand toy shop in town and yard sales to fill in the ranks of my collection. When She-Ra: Princess of Power made its debut I was well into my own personal He-MANia, so I easily made the transition from the “Most Powerful Man in the Universe” to the “Most Powerful Woman.” It never occurred to me that She-Ra was “just for girls” — I just saw her as the sister of He-Man and she was his equal. That was enough to make her cool in my book. It didn’t hurt either that She-Ra also had a bunch of cool bad guys to fight like Grizzlor, Leech, and Mantenna – that more than compensated for the pink and sparkles. Even though the Horde was sold under the MOTU brand, it was always POP in my mind.

Full disclosure: I only had a vague recollection of Frosta from the Filmation series. So going into this review I don’t really have much nostalgia for her, but my overall fondness for POP in general helps make her a little more palatable.

Packaging: Frosta comes packaged in the standard blister card with the special “Princess of Power” faction sticker on the front.

Design & Sculpt: Frosta is clearly is based on her appearance from the Filmation Princess of Power series — this is a good thing. Prior to Mattel acquiring the Filmation rights, the Horsemen were getting as close as they could without going over the line. Now that the rights aren’t an issue they have carte blanche to use Filmation likenesses, and Frosta looks like she could have stepped right out of the TV. Detail on the outfit is great, she is attractive, yet formidable looking in her corset and skirt which have nice snowflake designs on them.

Frosta’s facial sculpt is another story. I have mixed feelings, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Let me just say that she is much better looking in person than she is in the majority of photos I have seen (possibly including the ones to your right).

Plastic & Paint: Nothing out of the ordinary to report on this front. Fortunately no spots of rubbed off paint exposing black plastic underneath.

The hair is fairly rigid and is cast in a semi-translucent plastic, although unless you have light shining directly upon it you can’t really tell. Personally, I am not a fan of most of the long sculpted hair like on She-Ra or Catra, but this looks okay. It drapes off of her shoulders nicely and doesn’t inhibit her head movement as much as others.

Articulation: Articulation is always a gamble with the female body. Frosta’s arms and legs move like you would expect, and she does have a swivel waist; mostly importantly, she has a thigh swivel, which has been missing on many recent female figures. The ab-crunch joint is missed as always. The skirt only minimally inhibits leg movement; she can ride Swift Wind without any trouble.

Accessories: Frosta gets the minimum two accessories, her magic staff with rotating disc and shield. The staff is based directly off that of the vintage figure; even though I’m tired of staves at this point she looks really good with it, so I may hold off tossing it in the parts bin. The shield is nice too and it attaches to her arm pretty well. Both look great and nicely match Frosta’s color scheme.

Quality Control: Our old friend, the swapped forearms returns. Mattel brought this to our attention at PowerCon earlier this year. After what we’ve been through with the reversed Roboto and King Hiss shoulders, this seems like more of a speed bump than a major “Insert Name Here –pocalypse”. Much like the original He-Man’s reversed shoulders, I wouldn’t have noticed it until someone pointed it out. Some collectors plan to swap them but it doesn’t bother me enough to try.

According to Matty, Frosta is eligible for a return with a full refund, but there are no plans to put another version into production so this is it. Mattel is also sending Club Eternia subscription holders a free previously released Club Figure as a gift and show of good faith to “make up” for the error — but as to which figure, your guess is as good as mine. [Early reports indicate it’s Mer-Man. –PG]

Overall: Frosta is an actual Princess of Power character, she was in the vintage toy line — she’s not based on some obscure comic or concept art, she was in the Filmation POP series, so what more do you want, right?

Even as someone with some attachment to POP as a kid, I can’t seem to muster much affection for this figure. That said, she’s another solid entry. There is some positive to be found behind almost every figure in the line, even the ones we may not be all that excited about. The strength of Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I can certainly understand Frosta’s appeal to POP fans who eagerly awaited her arrival. In that regard, Frosta certainly will not leave you feeling left out in the cold!

[raven 3]