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I never thought I’d be writing this, but Mumm-Ra keeps mooning me…
As usual, the fulltext of the review is posted here for discussion, although the prettied-up version with complete photo gallery is posted over on my toy review blog.
Following up my review of the 4″ King Claudus from earlier in the week, I picked up the new transformed version of Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living to review today. I was encouraged by how well Claudus turned out, and I’m likewise impressed with the new Mumm-Ra (for the most part). The only weird thing is that I never realized Mumm-Ra was such a pervert, because he keeps showing off his butt…[B]
The Right:
[/B]I passed on the boring mummified Mumm-Ra figure (one of the greatest pegwarmers of 2011), but I was much more inclined to give the transformed Mumm-Ra a purchase. Claudus, Mumm-Ra Transformed retains the aesthetic style of the new Cartoon Network Thundercats cartoon. The first time you see this figure, there is absolutely no question whether it’s the classic or modern Mumm-Ra. Authentic to the multimedia, Mumm-Ra has a gigantic ‘roided-out body with a pin head and long, simian-like arms. His arm bracelets have been included as separate pieces that hang around his biceps, and the effect is much more visually compelling than if Bandai had just molded them as part of the sculpt.
Where Mumm-Ra really excels beyond many of his 4″ Thundercats brethren is his level of poseability. Mumm-Ra has the most articulation of any Thundercats 4″ figure I’ve bought so far, with 17 points: neck, swivel biceps, swivel forearms, hinge elbows, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed hips, double-jointed knees (!), and swivel shins. Considering the first Thundercats figures I reviewed from the modern line (Wilykit and Wilykat) had a whopping 3 points of articulation each, progress is clearly being made by leaps and bounds here. Mumm-Ra’s wings are non-poseable, but they’re locked tightly into place so they won’t come loose and fall out.
Mumm-Ra comes with one weapon, the iconic Sword of Plun-darr. Unlike Lion-O’s traditional Sword of Omens, Mumm-Ra’s Sword of Plun-darr is a stylized scimitar-like sword. The Sword of Plun-darr is accurately wider and more powerful-looking than the Sword of Omens.
I was surpised that Claudus was covered in removable armor, but having already reviewed him prepared me for Mumm-Ra to have similar removable pieces, and he does. Mumm-Ra’s loincloths (front and back) are both removable (for some reason), as are the sides of his skirt. That said, Mumm-Ra doesn’t like actually keeping all of his clothes on very much…[B]
The Wrong:
[/B]If I ever see Mumm-Ra’s ass again, it’ll be too soon. No, seriously–every time I went to pose Mumm-Ra at all for a photo, the back of his loincloth would fall off and leave ol’ Mumm-Ra’s butt flapping in the wind. (The front half of Mumm-Ra’s loincloth is also removable, but thankfully that half is much more firmly locked in and doesn’t constantly fall off.) The peg on the back of my Mumm-Ra’s loincloth is just way too loose, and there’s no natural way to keep it from falling off and prevent Mumm-Ra’s exhibitionist tendencies.
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Seriously, this is a pretty embarrassing flaw for an action figure to have. I’m going to add some putty to the peg to preserve Mumm-Ra’s modesty, but I review based on unmodified toys, and I suspect this may be an unfortunate widespread quality-control issue.
Other than that, another real issue with Mumm-Ra has to do with his articulation. His articulation is better than Claudus and worlds better than Wilykit and Wilykat, but it still needs improvement. With 17 points of articulation you’d expect Mumm-Ra to be able to hold a variety of dynamic poses stably. Instead, his top-heaviness and lack of ankle joints make him tough to balance and easy to topple over. In addition, his neck articulation is badly inhibited and can only move about a millimeter in either direction. Coupled with a lack of any kind of waist joint whatsoever, and Mumm-Ra can’t look anywhere but directly forward to take on his enemies.
Finally, the paints colors chosen for the Sword of Plun-darr are wrong. It should have purple and black added to it, when in fact it’s molded in grey and has a red eye and no other paint deco. You could easily mistake the Sword of Plun-darr for being the Sword of Omens at first glance, and that’s just not right.[B]
Overall:[/B] You might think I’m overplaying the issue of Mumm-Ra’s loincloth falling off, but if every single time you picked up the action figure his skirt fell off and exposed his butt, you’d call him “Mumm-Ra the Ever-Stripping” too. All kidding aside, though, I’m pretty impressed with Mumm-Ra. I’ve never liked the Thundercats villains nearly as much as I like the Thundercats themselves, but this transformed version of Mumm-Ra turns out to be a really fun action figure. While the wrong colors, the Sword of Plun-darr has a great visual dynamic to it, and Mumm-Ra looks deadly wielding it in battle. I love the aesthetic of the character design, and this figure does a fantastic job of representing it. There are still issues that need to be worked out with the articulation on the 4″ line, but I feel that Bandai is starting to hit their stride and make improvements as they go along. Mumm-Ra has his fair share of drawbacks, but I really do enjoy the figure and for Thundercats 4″ collectors I can definitely recommend him.[B]
GRADE: B
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