Mattel MOTUC Filmation Trap Jaw Review

The current Filmation subscription also known as “Club Grayskull” may be one of my sleeper hits of the year.  I expected it to be decent, but I was not expecting the figures to be as good as they are.  It’s almost as if Mattel is reinvigorating Masters of the Universe Classics action figure line after eight long years.  All of these figures are technically new since, in most cases, the vintage toys were designed very different from their cartoon counterparts.  They aren’t being lazy about it either.  Both Trap Jaw and He-Man have brought back the rocker ankles as well as including the swivel-swing joint in the wrists.  Even on a guy like Trap Jaw, who has no business swinging a sword!

Every figure in the Club Grayskull line has sold out in a matter of ten minutes so far.  People appear to really want these A-list MOTUC characters with their cartoon likenesses.  With that said let’s dive into Trap Jaw …

Masters of the Universe Classics – Trap Jaw
Release Date: 04/15/2016 (Club Grayskull Subscription)
Price: $20.00 ($25.00 non sub)

First, I’m still really digging the new Club Grayskull packaging.  I wouldn’t really be opposed to all Masters of the Universe Classics moving to this style of packaging.  Even if not, I have to assume that the popularity of this sub-line should give it at least one more year, so we should see plenty more of this box design.

Trap Jaw comes packed with three total arm attachments: a laser gun, a crossbow that shoots laser blasts (slightly redundant), and a fly swatter.  There is a bit of screen inaccuracy with his right robot arm.  If we are beholden to the Filmation look then the attachments should plug into the shoulder instead of what would be the elbow.  I’m going to guess that they added the extra arm length because plugging the attachments into the actual shoulder would severely limit the articulation.  I don’t really have a problem with the additional arm length, aesthetically I think it looks better anyway.

Besides the basic “He-Man” body, the single most reused part in Masters of the Universe Classics has been the Trap Jaw legs.  To the extent that I question life and its meaning every time a new figure features them.  Filmation Trap Jaw does not have the traditional Trap Jaw legs!  While they probably could have gotten away with reusing the upper legs, they did not and his entire lower half is new.  Not only do we have a beautifully sculpted lower body, but we also have a pair ankle rockers with great range.

I was perfectly fine with an overlay for the right shoulder.  It worked fine on the original Trap Jaw just fine.  Nope, they went and made a new upper body for him too.  It appears tooling budget is not a huge obstacle with these Club Grayskull figures.  I’m so impressed with the effort put into this toy … I’m just not used to this level of care with Mattel, it’s nice and I hope it continues.  We’ve come so far from the Rio Blast days.  Speaking of Rio Blast, I know he wasn’t in the cartoon but I’d love to see them take a shot at translating his look into Filmation.  If there is any figure that needs a revision release it’s him!

While I’m mostly gushing about Trap Jaw, he does have one problem.  The man has some mean googley eyes.  Mine aren’t offensively bad, but they are very noticeable.  At least with Trap Jaw he’s kind of crazy anyway, so the eyes sort of work with him.  I’d have preferred better, but since that’s really the only problem with this figure I think we are cool and I can let it slide.

Trap Jaw sold out in about ten minutes on his sale day.  People are into this Club Grayskull in a big big way.  However, I’d keep an eye on Amazon if you want to score this guy on the secondary market.  Him and He-Man are tremendously refreshing figures in an eight year old line, so I don’t think you will be disappointed with him.  I certainly wasn’t!

Next figure up is Skeletor in June, so I’d expect a quick sell out on that one too.

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