Masters of the Universe (NECA): Clawful

I was a huge fan of the Masters of the Universe 200X series...both the toys and the Mike Young Productions cartoon.  With the exceptions of the stupid amount of He-Man and Skeletor variants, the toy featured a lot of great characters and toys.  However some characters were never made by Mattel for the series.  I'm guessing that some of characters not produced would have appeared in subsequent waves had the series not ended earlier.

Thankfully however Mattel awarded the company NECA with a Masters of the Universe license.  The Four Horseman that had worked on the line for Mattel, were again brought on board to work on the NECA figures.  However this time around these toys, if you can call them that, weren't action figures.  I'm not 100% sure why the characters were made into what the fans call staction figures (miniature statues), but with the Four Horseman at the helm it didn't seem to matter.

The first wave consisted of three characters, Snout Spout, Hordak and Clawful.  While Hordak was the obsession of many, Clawful is the one I had to have.  In the original Filmation cartoon and the original Mattel MOTU line, Clawful was protrayed as well...pretty stupid.  I hated his look, hated the way he talked and sounded in the show...I just had zero interest in the character as a whole.  Then the Horseman worked their magic and made him look outstandingly cool.  Gone was this small, stupid looking man with a crab head and claws.  In his place was this...

Oh yeah.  Much improved.  Granted this more of a statue than an action figure, it scales and blends in great with other 200X MOTU figures.  All of NECA's staction figures came packaged with figure stands, but this guy is so heavy and well proportioned that he doesn't need a stand at all.  I'm telling you the level of design put into this thing is a true marvel.  From the claws, to the skin, to the head...amazing.

Check out the huge crab shell on his back.  How awesome is that?!  Even his loin cloth looks like real leather.  I've you've never seen one of these NECA Masters of the Universe figures in person, you really can't appreciate their beauty.

  

"Nice to pinch you!"

Clawful comes packaged with one accessory, his club.  This thing just barely fits into his small claw hand.  I urge you to use caution when placing it in his hand has the handle will break off if you apply to much force.  This is the 2nd Clawful figure I've owned as the first one fell off my desk @ work where he once stood displayed.  While the staction figure survived the short fall without much damage, the club wasn't so lucky.

This is one of those toys that if I had unlimited display space I would have kept, but ultimately he because a casualty as so many other toys of mine have become due to lack of space.  Highly recommended if you are a fan of the character or the Masters of the Universe in general.  Last I checked he is still readily available on the secondary market for a little over his original MSRP of $20.