Villianesses from 1980's cartoon culture are just about my favorite thing ever. They were wicked, over-the-top, larger-than-life characters that both frightened and thrilled me as a child. I think the male villians were required to have a softer (aka "bumbling idiot") side so they wouldn't completely terrify the kiddies. But the women, perhaps simply because they are stereotyped as the gentler, fairest sex, were often portrayed as ruthless and cunning with no kid gloves whatsoever. They were fantastic. Evil Lyn is a prime example of that new wave of bad girls. She never completely sided with Skeletor and often masterminded her own plots to overthrow him and rule Snake Mountain on her own. From the very first episode of He-Man, she stood out as a force to be reckoned with, and in every incarnation since, she has been an A-list baddie that fans can't get enough of. Surprizingly, there have been very few action figures of her produced. If you compare her to the Baroness from GI Joe, who has had roughly 16 different figures produced, Evil Lyn has been extremely shortchanged.
The first Evil Lyn action figure was from the second wave of the original vintage line in 1983. This figure started the yellow-skin trait we've seen carried on in a lot of her future merchandising. In the cartoon, she was depicted as having pale skin with purple and black armor. The blue and yellow motif seems to have been a design choice by Mattel (and I personally love it).
Next up is a great re-design of the character released in 2003 in style with the new cartoon series. Evil Lyn maintains a very similar appearance to her vintage look, but there are a lot more gothic details in her costume and the colors for her toy represent the look she had in the animation. This was the first Evil-Lyn figure sculpted by the Four Horsemen who have been the sculptors behind every product from this point on.
Next up are the Stactions. Stactions are a hybrid of a statue and an action figure. They are made out of plastic and have a low price point, but they are not poseable and are on bases. These figures are in the same style and are again sculpted by the Four Horsemen. The regular version was released in 2007 by NECA and the Classic Colors (yellow) version was a SDCC Exclusive in 2006.
Next up is the Collectors Club Exclusive mini-bust from NECA 2005. The exclusive is in classic yellow, and the regular purple version was also released the same year.
Next we arrive at my favorite Evil Lyn figure. This is from the Masters of the Universe Classics line in 2010. I love everything about this figure and the entire MOTUC line. She looks strong, willful, and evil.. all the things that make her character great.
Finally we have a re-deco of the above figure titled Battleground Evil Lyn. This figure is excellent because it blends many different elements of the character into a great variation for collectors. For starters, she comes with an alternated unhelmeted head. There was a classic episode of He-Man back in the 80's where Evil-Lyn removed her helmet an unveiled a shock of close-cropped white hair. I remember gasping. This figure also has a dark cape similar to what she wore in the vintage cartoon. The colors overall seem to represent her 2003 look. All-in-all, this is a fantastic redeco and it exemplifies why I love Mattel, the Four Horsemen, and the entire MOTUC line.
Time for a Group Shot!
Cheers!
PS here's a bonus. I saw this little plastic figurine on ebay. Perhaps a bootleg, perhaps a gumball toy. Who knows? enjoy!
You made me remember that old He-man episode where Evil-Lyn took off her helmet!
ReplyDeleteShe was avant garde before it became commercialized and worthlessly me-too, and before anime hair ran it into the ground.