Thundercats Classics Mumm-Ra Staction Figure

A "staction figure" is a statue made to resemble an action figure (scale, paint and materials), but without any articulation. McFarlane Toys really began the trend, I think, but weren't savvy enough to admit to it. Later,  NECA made them cool with their Masters of the Universe 200x Stactions, sculpted by the stellar Four Horsemen.

Newcomers Icon Heroes have released their first "staction": Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living (they actually released a Lion-O previously, but that one is a straight-up statue in my mind, as it's made of resin, while Mumm-Ra is fashioned of a more traditional action-figurey plastic).

He's done in a 7" scale, standing a bit over 9" tall and 11" wide from cape-tip to cape-tip.

 The pose is taken directly from the original cartoon, I suppose, though I haven't come across the actual scene yet. There's a moment in the opening where Mumm-Ra becomes the Ever-Living, but his hands are fists, and this version features open claws, so I'm guessing the pose comes from a different moment in the show, though I can't be sure. The pose is an absolute strength of the figure. Mumm-Ra is looming forward menacingly, with a ghastly grimace and whipping ribbons everywhere. Honestly, if he was an action figure, this is the pose I'd keep him in on the shelf, anyway, so I don't mind the lack or articulation at all.

The figure is highlighted and airbrushed beautifully; the shades are subtle enough to suggest shadows and heighten detail, rather than being overdone and messy.

The sculpt is truly terrific. Mumm-Ra features tons of detail, from his superhuman musculature to the ribbons whipping about him. 

His cuffs and shinguards are appropriately metallic, while the ribbons and loincloth are nicely wrinkled. 

With nothing else to rely on but how it looks, a statue needs to be visually stunning and this one certainly is! My only slight complaint is with the length of his arms- they look a little stubby to me. I think a bit of that has to do with the exaggerated musculature, but it is what it is.

My only other major concern is with Mumm-Ra's "lean". It's quite steep- to the point where I'm worried about the constant pressure it's putting on the fairly thin ankles. I've tried a hot-water bath twice to straighten his posture, but he keeps returning to the looming position. Mumm-Ra came with a stand (a simple black oval) and one removable peg (why one? there are two holes, why not include 2 pegs?), which is allowing him to fight gravity a little better than he would without, but I'm constantly worried that he's going to take a dive off the shelf. 

Mumm-Ra comes in a nice window box, sporting some neat features of its own. Mumm-Ra's symbol adorns the box front-and-center, red on black. The 2 front panels open to reveal the window, and Mumm-Ra, along with some stellar art-work.

 I like how the Thundercats Classic logo is consistent even though Bandai, Mezco and Icon Heroes are creating figures independently of one another: the lettering and artwork seems to match across each of the companies' products (Bandai 8" figures, Mezco's 14" Mega-scale Lion-O and Icon Heroes Mumm-Ra). The art-work itself is spectacular- full of dynamic detail.

The interior artwork is no less spectacular, featuring Mumm-Ra's famous saying, spread across all three panels.

"Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form To...Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living!"

A nice touch is the included background of the center panel, which shows Mumm-Ra's skull sarcophagus lair. It's advertised as a "diorama insert", but I have no idea what that means- to me it's just a cardboard backing with a fancy name.

The box back shows off the staction along with the previously released Lion-O statue, and a section that shows Mumm-Ra through its stages of development.

 Included are shots of the cartoon pose the figure is based on, the concept art and an in-progress sculpt shot (you can see where the guard detail on the right shin is still incomplete). It's a pretty cool and unique look into the process involved in getting a figure done from concept to production.

I've got to say, I love this figure. I don't have many static figures in my collection, but this one is a gem. I was a little hesitant at first, but the sculpt and paint really won me over once I had Mumm-Ra in hand. In fact, I'm so taken by this figure that I'm planning to buy the future releases in the line (Jaga and Jackalman have been advertised for pre-order on several sights, but I've unfortunately heard that the release of those two figures is being pushed back to early 2012). Mumm-Ra is a great statue figure (if not a bit expensive), one that I'm glad to have as part of my collection!

Here's Icon Heroes Classic Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living alongside the Bandai 6" Modern Version Mumm-Ra for size comparison.

The Tenth & Esperanza

Ever since I was a kid, I've enjoyed monsters and monster stories. Early on, it was Godzilla (I still remember a movie I used to love called "War of the Gargantuas" or something, about 2 giant monsters fighting it out for an hour and a half), which then turned into Spawn and has eventually morphed into video game creatures. Somewhere in there, I discovered a comic book series by artist/writer Tony Daniel called "The Tenth". It wasn't Shakespeare by any stretch of the imagination, but the story kept me entertained and it was full of monsters, which were revealed fairly slowly over the course of the series. The biggest and baddest of all was "the beast" of the series: The Tenth. His counterpart was "the beauty", Esperanza del Toro. I never thought The Tenth was a particularly popular title (even at the time), so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that newcomer ReSaurus was going to release a series of action figures based on the comics (back in 1999). The figures were released as a series of bubble-carded 2-packs, each featuring a large monster with a smaller female counterpart. I only ever found them at KB Toys, and even then it was only in very limited numbers, but even now, a decade later, I'm still glad I got them!

As far as bubble cards go, I think these are the biggest in my collection (with each pack weighing in close to 2 lbs.). The artwork in great both on the front and back, and there's lots of background information to enjoy. The card itself is super-thick and has stood up well for over 10 years, and 4 moves!

One disappointing thing, for me, is that the pictures of the figures presented on the back (the prototypes, I assume), are fairly different from the final product (and not in a good way). The Tenth, himself, has a shorter jawline and non-protruding tongue in the prototype version, which I much prefer to the final product. Esperanza's prototype has a sterner expression and a different colored shirt. The Mystacina prototype is cleaner, as well, but the rest of the figures came through production admirably.






The Tenth is an enormous, hulking beast of a figure. He stands about 7" tall, and nearly 8" wide, and comes in at a whopping 1 lb. 14 oz. He's fantastically detailed and painted, with lots of bulging veins and ripped cloth. The purple shades are a little overdone, but the sculpt details in the wrinkles of the hands and clothes are great.

His face is a bit more "cat-like" in appearance than I remember, and like I said before, I like the expression and cut of the prototype much better. His poseability is very limited: swivel neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivel wrists, cut waist and cut hips (that's a total of 8 points). You can get him into a couple of poses, but he's pretty limited (the leg articulation is mostly useless and his arms are so heavy they don't stay up too well).

Esperanza stands about 5" tall, and is waif-like. Her face doesn't resemble the comic art character at all, to me, which I always found very disappointing. She only has the basic 5 points of articulation (all cut joints), and her feet are sculpted in a way that leaves her tottering precariously, even when she's able to stand. Her hands are sculpted (poorly) in "grip" poses, and she can hold her pistol, though not comfortably. The sculpt and figure are ok, but could have been so much better. There's an awkwardness to the pose and execution.

Besides her pistol, Esperanza came with a backpack and her trusted companion, Arusa the cat.  Both are nicely detailed and painted, and I can't imagine accessories like those being included with figures at today's price-points (at the time, these figure sets ran $9.99).

I love the fact that these figures were ever even made. ReSaurus did some amazing work while they were around, and for that I'm grateful. I remember wishing for action figure versions of Blackspell and Killcrow at the time (I still think they'd make great action figures!), and despite their shortcomings, these figures are nice additions to my collection.