Toy review: Clawful

Toy review

The first two reviews haven’t been too positive, sorry! Clawful is one example for a high quality character. Even after 30 years, the mechanism of the claw is working well, the shell is perfectly intact. The massive right claw is one highlight for me, able to open and close and so hold swords, wrists and other objects. The shell is indeed hard and round like a crab shell. That only appeared to me recently, I wonder if that was the intention?

His feet are duck like, with a matte, dark blue finish that wears off a little bit. They allow a very stable stand. His legs and arms have a fringe, that perfectly supports the impression of a crab. Not as worse as with King Randor, but visible, is some mold on the legs. Maybe it has to do with the shade, which is also brownish. The torso is this extreme muscular human, making him look like a human crab mutant.

The weak point of this figure is the head- by no means the quality, the material totally holds. It is more the design, and the choice of material that makes it look a bit funny. Too shallow for me, too soft, so that it invites you to squeeze it. It also has some slack when you bend it, though it does not easily come off. His face is a bit like a pitbull`s, making him look really mean, except for the double nose maybe. Much better though than many cartoon variation of him. Good for him they didn’t try to add antennas!

His weapon is kind of a club, which never sits tight on his tiny left claw.

The UV light didn’t really change his colors, but it looks great! Sorry for the low quality picture!

Toy review: Extendar

Toy review

Extendar is a very special figure. To be honest I think he does not really fit into the old toyline. A white knight, half size taller than the rest, with thin extensions and large golden hands. The rubber bands of mine were a bit loose, so he never stood well and his arms used to drop. The foldable red shield didn’t close properly after a while. The golden paint wears off, and the legs are a bit moldy now, so in terms of quality my Extendar is clearly behind others. Oh and I just remember the squeaky sound it makes when you pull the arms.

I guess parents were happy about the design, which is very innocent. I can understand, that a Snakeface or Mantenna is not considered a valuable toy for kids. Extendar does not even carry a sword!

Extendar, released in 1986, picture from 2010

Toy review: Man-at-Arms

Toy review

One of the most famous characters has in my opinion one of the lowest quality. But the positive first: From all figures he is the one looking the most alike a soldier, with serious face, and lots of armour (but only on one arm and leg!?). The combination of bright green and orange is a looker, though the belly is free what leaves room for some questions.

He has the full-muscle human body, and I never understood why those would not be as strong as He-Man. I also wondered about so many figures what exactly they are wearing, or whether the skin is supposed to be green? The hands are green as well.

The head is soft and invites you to squeeze it. The printed-on grey helmet wears off from all the squeezing and that leaves you then with a bold looking, naked green hero. Not sure why hardly any vintage figure had a removable helmet.

All the orange parts are made of a too hard plastic, so that after taking it off and putting it back the closing mechanisms wears off. Happened to all 3 parts, plus I lost the bat (OK that is not a quality issue) and if I remember correctly it broke too. He’s also got some mold on his legs. Other figures were of much better quality.

The green shows a nice luminescence in UV light, the orange parts unfortunately not. On the other hand the lack of orange makes him look more serious. The head looks extremely cool, thus this is one of my favourite pictures!