Friday, December 1, 2023

Legends of Dragonore - YONDARA!

Legends of Dragonore - Series 1 - Yondara (Heroic Chieftan) - Formo Toys 2023

The Legends of Dragonore is the inaugural line of action figures from newcomer, Formo Toys. Modern action figures constructed in a vintage Masters of the Universe aesthetic is nothing new. Funko had a barrage of Savage World products five years ago, Super7 had a terrific MOTU Vintage line, and of course Mattel has been running with the concept for several years with MOTU, WWE, and now TMNT licenses.  But this Legends of Dragonore line seems different. You can tell they spawn from the art toy world and are passionate about the design aesthetic and production quality. Plus when you have a named talent like Emiliano Santalucia working Creative Design, you know the toys will be great. His passion for MOTU helped launch the modern revitalization of the brand. These figures are really fun and colorful and gave us a wholly original set of characters for our vintage collections. Formo has already showed off Wave 1.5 and  2 and I have a feeling we'll see a lot more in the future. Let's check out Yondara below!






























The Legends of Dragonore line is designed to have swappable parts with the other characters. Note that the peg system is different from MOTU Origins (an example being that the MOTUO shoulder pegs are attached to the arm, not the torso like Dragonore. The boots may be swappable between brands though, they appear very similar). Here is an image of Evil-Lyn broken apart for comparison.






Yondara comes with her Chieftan Headdress, torso harness, and her Divination Staff.
Note that in the prototypes and solicit photos, these accessories appeared yellow. The final result is shiny gold.














Yondara also comes with the Torso of the Divine Armor Build-a-Figure.
Note that despite the name, these pieces are for a full additional figure in the line, not just accessories. The chest armor piece here is a full torso.




Here are these pieces paired with Pantera's Head and Pelvis accessories. This figure looks like it will be awesome.







When the Legends of Dragonore was first announced, it was called the Lords of Power and had a much more blatant homage to MOTU. Yondara was a specific homage to Sharella, an undeveloped character in the historic lore of MOTU. This early design came with Battle Cat-themed armor and looked pretty great. There was a trademark-induced redesign and this review shows the final result: gold ceremonial armor befitting her new role as Chieftan. 













There is a translucent redeco "Prophecy Vision Yondara" in Wave 1.5 currently available for preorder as a set.



















Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!


Here is Yondara with the other female character from Wave 1, Pantera.




And here they are with the MOTUO Teela for comparison.






Cheers!





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