Mon*Star

Since the plagiarists at Super7 didn't bother plagiarising different text for this figure's box than they plagiarised for the previous Mon*Star, how about we just open with his power-up phrase: "Moon-Star of Limbo, give me the might! The Menace! The muscle! Of Mon*Star!" In the pilot episode, Mon*Star did the Mumm-Ra thing, where he went from one voice in his plain form to a different, more resonant voice in his super form. That was almost immediately dropped, leaving him with the same voice in both forms. But they didn't bother re-recording the dialogue for his transformation scenes, meaning he'd start with a high and nasally voice, get real deep for his power-up, then go back to high and nasally. Of course, kids never noticed. Mega Mon*Star (seriously, he doesn't have any kind of differentiating epithet like Mumm-Ra "the Ever-Living" had, so he's always just "Mon*Star") is a big boy, sold in a box just as oversized as Buzz-Saw's. The figure stands 11" tall, counting the spikes on top of his head, leaving him to tower over all the heroic Silverhawks. His limbs are covered by armor with flat surfaces and angles, rather than rounded shapes, which makes him look robotic. Also, why does his chest look like his old face? It's got eyes, nose, snout, fangs... very leonine. And a bit distracting, honestly. Were they afraid we would forget what he looks like when he's not armored? Mon*Star's head (helmet?) makes him look like a red iron maiden. The torture implement, not the band. Though he does also look like part of Slipknot. The band, not the way of tying a rope. He has a large, fangy frown that never moves, white pale yellow eyes surrounded by dark rings, and 10 spikes of varying yet symmetrical length poking out of his metal scalp and jawline at regular intervals. The toy actually has two heads: both nearly identical, save for the fact the alternate head has a hole in the left eye where you can plug in Mon*Star's translucent red star-shaped eyebeam. That's his main mode of attack in this form, though certainly not his only. It's one of those "does whatever the story needs" powers: powering up allies, capturing enemies, blowing things up, anything at all with no discernable change. This one is molded from translucent plastic and slots into the eye easily. Mon*Star doesn't drastically change his colorscheme in this mode; he was red before, he's red now. In fact, he's brighter in this form! His hands, chest, and underwear are the lightest shade, about the same as the original version's hair, then a darker red for the arms, legs, and head. His knees, teeth, the circles around his head-spikes, and the spikes on the inside of his heels are more of a yellow, and then the interiors of his joints are brown. Brown and both reds can be found on his stomach, to differentiate the teeth. His colors in the cartoon were a little inconsistent: sometimes he looked like this, but usually he was more orange. Nobody tell Super7 they have the opportunity to make another variant! Being the largest toy does not earn Mon*Star any additional articulation, not even in the chest, which is still shaped like a balljoint but moves like a swivel. Other than that, he has a barbell neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, swivel/hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists on all fives pairs of hands (fists, open, holding, clawing, pointing), a swivel waist that renders the chest pointless, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, swivel ankles, and swivel/hinge feet. They used as many hollow pieces as they could to keep the weight down, but you're still going to have to be very careful about his balance. Mon*Star doesn't fire lasers from his shoulders, like the Silverhawks do - instead, he fires them from his elbows. No, really. How does a guy this size aim those? Having jet boosters there makes sense (as much sense as anything in this show makes), so it's good the toy includes both kind of accessory - lasers and boosters - so we get to choose what we want plugged into the middle of his arms. Despite his size, strength, armor, and eyebeams, Mon*Star also comes with a rifle. The Laser Lance (the thing the Kenner toy was going to come with, had it been released) is usually only seen when he's riding Sky-Runner, but what are the odds this line will be successful enough to make an in-scale armored space squid for Mon*Star to ride? It would be bigger than the Thunder Tank! The accessory is 9½" long, and doesn't include any kind of energy blasts or anything to be plugged in. We do get another copy of Sky-Shadow, though. If you remember, the last Mon*Star (which, thanks to the first series being delayed, was meant to come out after this Mon*Star) came with both organic and folded-up robotic versions of Mon*Star's mechanical bat sidekick, so this one comes with the active version. The wings can move forward to bring the claws nearer together, and there are... blasters? Or something. ...underneath the wings that can be swiveled. The piece is balanced for when the wings are spread wide; move them forward, and it will tip over onto its nose. Mon*Star is an underrated '80s villain, but at least he finally has a toy that does him justice. -- 09/21/23

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