I recently watched the three-part pilot episode for the Millennium MOTU cartoon (the creatively-titled “The Beginning”), and it reminded me that on that show, Evil-lyn was badass.

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Evil-lyn never destroyed a square mile of forest on the Filmation cartoon.

For her first Masters of the Universe Classics appearance, Mattel and the Four Horsemen chose to duplicate the 1980s figure by making her a repainted Teela with a new head. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m disappointed by this. Mattel and the Horsemen have made a lot of effort to stick to the original cross-sell artwork from the 1980s, sometimes despite the wishes of fans. And yet, when it came to Evil-lyn, well…there’s no other way to put this: Mattel cheaped out.

The vintage artwork below shows Evil-lyn with a different bodysuit than Teela. If you’d asked me before we saw the prototypes whether Evil-lyn would look like her cross-sell artwork rather than being a repaint, I would have said “definitely.” And I would have been wrong.

For the record, I’m perfectly happy with the blue costume and yellow skin. It’s more visually interesting, if less “realistic,” than the pale skin/purple outfit of the cartoons.

Packaging: I hate trying to come up with someone new to say about the packaging…it’s the same packaging we’ve had for years now.

The bio is mostly based on the Millennium cartoon, though her “real name” is taken from the original MOTU bible by Michael Halperin. Given that she took the dying Keldor to the spirit of Hordak (who turned him into Skeletor) and she released both King Hssss and Hordak into Eternia, I think Evil-lyn is officially the worst villain in the history of MOTU. Or maybe just a world-class enabler.

Design & Sculpt: The body and bodysuit are identical to Teela’s, right down to the reversed gauntlets (even though the vintage art shows them going the other way). Though some have complained that the female body used for MOTUC is too chubby, I think it’s great–a (fairly) realistic representation of a strong but still feminine female warrior. No T-rex arms or stick-thighs here.

The head, of course, is brand-new, and it’s great. The shape of the cheeks and the eyes give her a slightly Asian look that, in my opinion, really works for the character (she kind of reminds me of the witch in Conan the Barbarian).

Plastic & Paint: After the head sculpt, the plastic and paint work are the best part of the figure. The big news is that the bodysuit is made from a much more pliable plastic than Teela, the Goddess or even Adora–it’s practically rubber, and it lets her move her legs and turn her waist freely (check out the shot of her on the throne–try doing that with Teela!).

Her body is molded in yellow, which does fall to the curse of yell0w-molded figures–namely, it looks a bit too toy-ish. The lack of a matte finish contributes to that a bit too. Still, since MOTUC is more a toy-like line, I think it works just fine.

The paint applications on her clothing are clean and well-executed, and seem to have captured all the right shades from the cross-sell art.

I’m very satisfied with the paint work on the head as well–the lines are sharp, with very little spill or slop evident to the naked eye. However, I know some fans were hoping for the same quality as the prototype (which I can’t for the life of me find a photo of, so, my apologies).

Articulation: Since she shares Teela’s body, Evil-lyn also shares her articulation. That means she’s the third figure in this line who can hold a sword in two hands up and behind her head (Adora can’t get her arms together quite as high up, owing to her bicep articulation being higher up on the arm; Teela, the Goddess and Evil-lyn have the armlets to provide an articulation point much lower on the bicep–and kudos to Mattel and the Horsemen for realizing it was better to put it at the bottom rather than the top of the armlet).

In addition to the swivel biceps, Evil-lyn has ball-and-hinge shoulders and hips, hinged knees, elbows and ankles, excellent rocker ankles, swivel wrists, waist and boot-tops, and a ball-and-socket head.

Accessories: Evil-lyn comes with:

• Translucent wand with interchangeable wand/staff
• Knife
• Screeech w/ armor and perch

While I love interchangeable weapons, I’m planning to display Evil-lyn with the staff because it’s her vintage weapon and frankly, there are enough staves in this line already. The knife is very similar to the one the Millennium figure came with.

And then there’s Screeech, who’s much better than Zoar in that he comes with armor and a perch. Owning this one just makes me want the vintage-colored Zoar more.

Quality Control: Aside from a few minor paint imperfections, I had no problems with Evil-lyn. The joints are tight.

Overall: If she’d had a uniquely-sculpted bodysuit based on the cross-sell art, Evil-lyn would have been a five-raven figure. I’m docking her a full raven for that, but your mileage may vary. Otherwise the paint applications, improved flexibility of the bodysuit, fully-armored Screech, and interchangeable wand/staff make her yet another superb example of this great toy line.

[raven 4]