Evil-Lyn

It's finally happened - the MotU ministatue line from NECA and the Four Horsemen has produced a character that already had an action figure. There was some question about whether the two lines would ever overlap, and now we know the answer: yes, but not by a lot. Evil-Lyn was one of the many, many figures that most fans could never find, thanks to Mattel's excruciating idiocy. To that extent, it's not like NECA released a ministatue of He-Man or anything. Here's Lyn, Skeletor's right-hand (wo)man, and freaking Mer-Man gets a repaint before she even sees the light of day? With decisions like that, it's no damn wonder the revival line folded. But still, why Evil-Lyn? Why her, and not Fisto or Sy-Klone? Well, when the figure was released, she was rushed. See, the Horsemen prided themselves on dancing skillfully around the original line's biggest weakness: namely, the constant re-use of body parts with new paint apps. While they did an excellent job of it, for the most part - body parts that were once indistinguishable would now look similar, but distinctly different - Evil-Lyn made it to shelves built on the same body as Teela. As we said in the Evil-Lyn review, there was still a lot of new sculpting. And while the fans could (and did) forgive this reworked sculpt, an artist is always his own strongest critic. It probably dug at the Horsemen to look at Mattel's Evil-Lyn and see not the figure they wanted to make, but the one they had to. So the ministatue line gave them the chance to go back and set right what once went wrong. Evil-Lyn looks great in this new incarnation. She's thinner, slighter than the figure. This is a woman whose physical side never grew, because her energy went into her magic. Since her shoulders don't need to hold joints, they're narrower than before. Her posture is slightly different, too, which helps her not look like a clone. Looking at her clothes shows just how much of the base figure was replaced on the figure: the details of her suit are all the same, though they've been pushed a little farther, and look a little sharper. She just looks more armored now. This Lyn would kick the last one's ass, whether the fight was magical or physical. She's still wearing that goofy headdress, but she has a new, wicked look on her face. In fact, speaking of wicked, her skull cap makes her look like the Wicked Queen from Disney's Snow White. She has a smirk on her lips, and one eyebrow arched high. If you want to get really insanely picky, you could say that her pupils could have been painted a bit closer together, but we're talking fractions of a millimeter, here - nothing at all distracting. Another good reason for this statue? New colors. The rebooted Evil-Lyn was all shades of purple, while the classic version was yellow and blue. Hell, we even suggested a repaint in those colors, back when the figure came out. Well, now we've got it. This ministatue is Lyn in all her '80s-inspired glory, with yellow skin, dark blue clothes and baby blue highlights. She's even got the bright red lips and the shiny blue eyeliner. This statue is going to see mass release in Series 5 of the ministatues, but it'll be back to purple. If you want some great '80s flavor, this is your opportunity. Evil-Lyn has a few accessories, starting with her magical staff. The 6⅜" staff is an update of her classic weapon, a translucent blue ball clutched by a clawed foot. Unlike the similar accessory we got with the figure, the staff isn't molded from soft plastic, so it doesn't droop. She can only hold the staff in her left hand, because with her right she's conjuring a small burst of blue flame. It's cast from light translucent plastic, and plugged permanently into her palm. Magic! She's also got one accessory that won't be included with the Series 5 release: the fearsome Shard of Darkness. Taken from the comics collected in the trade paperback of the same name, Evil-Lyn's necklace is a shard of the Shakarran crystal, an element forged by the Eternian Ancients to trap a powerful evil force, hinted to be King Hiss and the Snake Men, but of course Hordak is trapped in another dimension, as well. The shard is a powerful artefact that gives whoever possesses it great power, but also leads them to temptation. Basically it's a clear, pointy version of The One Ring. It hangs on a silver chain and is a very cool extra. Each of the Masters of the Universe figure-​scale statues comes with a hexagonal display base. Actually, they all come with the same display base: a generic technological thing that's color-coded to the character's allegiance. Skeletor's minions pose on a maroonish-purple base. Evil-Lyn will stand on her own, but it's precarious - she's the first to really need the base for vertical stability. In the original show bible for the cartoon, Evil-Lyn was really Evelyn Powers, an astronaut from earth. She was a brilliant chemist, physicist and biologist, and was jealous that Marlena Glenn was named as the pilot for their next mission. Along with crewmembers Biff Beastman and Dr. T.E. Scope (sigh), Marlena and Evelyn were shunted through a dimensional portal to Eternia. Thankfully, none of the writers liked that idea, so her origin was left vague, and eventually changed entirely for the 2002 cartoon. Whatever you want her backstory to be, this ministatue has a nicer look than the figure did. Save your money - don't place a high bid for the figure on eBay, because a better Evil-Lyn is available. -- 08/07/06

Tweet