Review: SDCC Exclusive MOTUC Queen Marlena w/ Cringer
The exclusive toys for San Diego Comic Con are pouring in and Mattel’s Queen Marlena w/ Cringer from their incredibly popular Masters of the Universe Classics line is next on our agenda! This is the first time she has been represented in action figure form and is a great way to kick off Mattel’s presence at the big show. We were interested in this figure upon first hearing about its interchangeable costume, so let’s get into the review and find out how (and if) it all works!
An explorer from the planet Earth, Marlena traveled with two companions in an experimental warp ship through a dimensional rift. Crash landing on Eternia, Marlena was the ship’s only survivor, rescued from death by a young Captain Randor. Falling in love with him, Marlena chose to remain on Eternia as Randor’s wife and eventually serve as Queen after the end of the Great Unrest. Although her children do not suspect it, she is well aware of both Adam and Adora’s dual identities and is proud of her warrior twins. Often assigned diplomatic duties, Marlena has been trained by Duncan and Clamp Champ and has lead Randor’s armies into battle in times of need. Queen Marlena helps rule the free people of Eternia with her wisdom and strength.
Queen Marlena features a lot of newly sculpted pieces, although her base body is shared with her daughter, Adora. There are a number of random jokes that could easily come after that last sentence, and we’ll leave them up to you to make. We’re lazy. Marlena’s heads are appropriate to the character and the sculpting is spot on. The Queen head is very regal and her hair and crown are well designed, although on our figure the crown is a little off center. The dress is also sculpted to not make its ability to be removed very known and looks to be just a part of the figure’s sculpt, minus the line running down the length of the back.
The paintwork on Marlena is simple, but effective. She’s been molded in most of her appropriate colors (green everywhere!) with airbrushed shading to further bring out the sculptural details. The greens on her gauntlets are metallic along with the rim at the top of her boots. Darker green stripes run up the sides of her legs for when she’s in her Captain Glenn ensemble. The paintwork on her face is applied cleanly and her eyes are as well. However, they are looking up in the same way as a lot of DCUC figures have been during the last few waves. Her pupils are solid black and give her a more animated appearance.
Marlena shares the usual points of articulation seen with female characters in the MOTUC line. She has a ball-joint neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, ball-joint torso, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, hinged knees, swivel boot tops, and hinged “rocker” ankles. All of the joints on the figure we reviewed were tight and worked as needed. However, when wearing the dress, Marlena’s legs are pressed so close together that it takes some creative ankle movement to get her to stand.
The mother to both he-Man and She-Ra, Marlena is no stranger to adventure herself. To better show that, the figure comes equipped with tons of accessories so you can show how she looked back in her wild space-faring days! She comes with an extra head, tunic, breathing apparatus w/ cool retro-style bubble helmet, gun belt, a blaster pistol, and a large rifle. Simply pull her dress apart at the back of her neck and then slip it off around her shoulder. Instead of straight pegs, which normally don’t work so well, Marlena’s dress and tunic are put together with a sort of tab system. She also comes equipped with her scepter and the large, flat bladed sword that came with Battleground Teela. We changed her back and forth between outfits repeatedly and they stand up to the stress of being taken on and off. There was no “whiting” anywhere on the rubber of plastics and the tabs fit tightly each time.
Cringer is the other accessory in the pack and while only moving with swivels at the head and tail, is still notable for standing I the vintage Battlecat pose…although with a far less ferocious look on his face. The sculpting is well done here and gives Cringer a nice mix of realism, but still captures the animated look thanks to those big, scared eyes.
Mattel will be displaying Marlena, along with hordes and hordes of other Masters of the universe Classics figures at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Be sure to stop by booth #2945 to see what new heroic and evil warriors will be bursting onto the action figure scene in the coming year.
Stay tuned to MTV Geek for all your MOTUC coverage at SDCC!
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