Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can find them basically wherever Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins line is sold. The deluxe figures are apparently going to be exclusive to Walmart. These are bigger or more involved figures that will cost you an extra five bucks. I’m not sure if it’s been confirmed that they’re exclusive to Walmart, or just first-run. Like a lot of store exclusives, don’t be shocked if they wind-up elsewhere by the end of the year. Lastly, we have the deluxe figures with included build-a-figure parts. These too will run you an extra 5 bucks vs. a standard figure and they can only be found at Target. And up first from that subline is Mouse-Jaw, the amalgamation of MOTU villain Trap-Jaw and the mechanical menace M.O.U.S.E.R. from TMNT.
If you read my review of the Leonardo and Donatello figures from this line then you know I’m not much of a MOTU fan. It just never hit for me as a kid though I did watch the old cartoon and the mostly terrible movie. As a result, I only have surface level memories of the characters and toys from the show, but Trap-Jaw was indeed one such character. I also liked the robotic, or cyborg, type of characters and he seemed pretty neat. And, of course, I am well versed when it comes to Baxter Stockman’s mousers and I’ve owned several mouser toys over the years. This particular combination of characters feels quite clever. Mouse-Jaw (I’m assuming Mouse Trap was unavailable for toy marketing, or maybe Mattel just wanted a name it could trademark if it wanted) stood out among the rest when the first round of figures were revealed. He really looks exactly like one would expect of a mash-up of these two entities. All of the robotic parts on Trap-Jaw have basically been replaced with mouser parts. It’s all in the aesthetics of MOTU Origins, plus it comes with parts to eventually build the Metalhead-Roboto combination: Metal-Roboto (clever, huh?).
What kept me from getting this figure right away was not its design, but its price. Twenty five bucks for a retro-inspired action figure feels too rich. Granted, if you get all four of these planned releases you will end up with five figures for 20 bucks a piece – i.e. the standard MSRP for the other figures in the line. The issue there is I still think the 20 bucks is pushing it. Origins is typically in the $15 per figure range, but I’m guessing the extra five bucks is essentially Viacom’s cut for including the turtles. Still, being a TMNT fan and not really a MOTU one, I’ve mostly decided to pass on the MOTU characters. Lucky for me, Target stocked a lot of these guys and it soon became the only figure from the first wave warming the pegs at virtually every Target I’ve gone into over the past month. Perhaps for that reason, or just to make room for the next Target exclusive figure in the line, Mouse-Jaw hit the clearance rack recently knocking the barrier for entry down to $15. In other words, right in line with what I want to pay for this line.
Mouse-Jaw, despite carrying that “deluxe” label, is still your typical MOTU Origins figure. The torso, legs, and left arm are pretty standard and molded in blue plastic, for the most part. His legs do feature some unique sculpting, which may be from past Trap-Jaw figures, and the feet seem new as they resemble mouser feet. What is definitely new is the head which looks like the usual Trap-Jaw portrait, only with a mouser head around it like a helmet. The bottom jaw of the mouser is what forms the famous jaw portion of Trap-Jaw. The face, which is green, looks like a separate piece that’s glued in leaving the eyes and inner mouth as the only parts needing paint. The top of the helmet has a mouser eye painted on it, and the other major new part is the right arm. It’s all in molded, white, plastic and it’s designed to match the white portion of his harness to create the illusion of the entire right side of the character’s body being robotic. The shoulder bares some resemblance to a mouser head and the wrist ends in a canon. It looks pretty cool, though in what is typical of the line the absence of paint harms the aesthetics. Some linework, a wash, or just some painted details on the sculpted bits would have really made this figure stand out even more, but I get it, that’s not what this line is going for.
Mouse-Jaw’s chief accessory is an actual mouser. It’s a conventional take on the diminutive robot with a working jaw, swivel in the head, swivels at the hips, and hinges at the ankles. The head also slides a bit on the neck piece if you want Mouse-Jaw to cock him like a shotgun. It has the same chicken posture as always and size-wise is probably right in between the recent mousers from Super7 and NECA. It does lack a way to look up and down and the only paint is the red for the “eye.” Inside the mouth, is another canon and on the rear is what could be confused for a stubby tail, but is really an adapter to plug the robot into Mouse-Jaw’s arm canon. This certainly adds some flair to the display, though it makes Mouse-Jaw harder to stand. It’s especially hard to deal with if you also clip in the included flamethrower effect. Sculpted in translucent yellow-orange plastic, the flamethrower can fit in the mouser canon or Mouse-Jaw’s canon. You can also pop the legs off of the mouser and clip them onto the sides of Mouse-Jaw’s belt. It’s a little goofy looking, but presents a more streamlined mouser gun.
The only other accessories included are the build-a-figure parts. These include the right arm for Metal-Roboto and a trio of weapon parts: a gun, axe, and claw. There’s also a little, silver, transistor-like accessory that appears to be a hand adapter so Metal-Roboto (or really anyone) can use the extra weapons in place of hands. The arm is done in metallic silver with a light blue forearm. The elbow won’t have much bend to it when the figure comes out, but that’s more of a topic for later. The weapons are molded in a slightly pearl, blue, plastic. There are two ports on the arm, one on the outside of the shoulder and one the top of the forearm, they can plug into and it looks like the third will plug into the figure’s back. It’s a bit of a bummer that Mattel included the right arm instead of the left. That’s because these figures are modular and Mouse-Jaw can use this arm for his own if you wish and it looks kind of cool, but I’m not replacing the mouser arm for it. At any rate, I am interested in completing this version of Metalhead so hopefully the next three figures are of interest to me (and can be had for less than 25 bucks).
The articulation for Mouse-Jaw feels like it’s pretty typical of the line. I say this as someone who has only handled the turtle versions previously, but it really is more of the same. Where Mouse-Jaw differentiates itself from those figures is at the head where the jaw is articulated. It doesn’t open that wide, but it’s not nothing. The right shoulder is pretty limited due to the sculpt. You won’t be able to raise the arm out to the side very far, not even 45 degrees, and for some reason the elbow can’t hit a 90 degree bend when it should have been easy to achieve that and then some due to the sculpt. The ankles are also pretty restricted due to the shin sculpt. The ankles are basically useless as a result, which is a shame as that’s the one articulation point I want as much range as possible for assisting with stances. The articulation is worse than the turtles and rather basic. This figure needs to derive its shelf presence via the design more than the posing.
Despite those limitations, I do like this figure. It’s a fun look, though I do look at it and think to myself it would look a lot better with more painted details. That’s just not this line though and I can’t exactly hold that against it if it’s not what Mattel is striving for. At 25 bucks, it’s definitely overpriced especially if you have no interest in the build-a-figure. At the 15 I paid it’s pretty much right on the money for me. The next figure in the line is a Slash-Faker mash-up called Sla’ker which I’m less interested in. I definitely won’t want to pay full price so hopefully Target ordered a whole bunch of them and I can wait it out. If you get a chance to add this one for the same price I got it at then I think it’s a no-brainer if you’re at all interested in this line.
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