Masters Origins Clawful (Cartoon Collection)

Series: Masters of the Universe Origins
Year: 2024

Review: In just about every toy-based cartoon series from the 1980s, you have some toys that have a strong resemblance to their animation character, and some that, well, do not. For the Masters of the Universe toy line, the cartoon character that differed most wildly from his toy counterpart might well be Clawful (still one of the most awesome bad guy names ever conceived). The reasons are probably symmetry (the toy had different-sized claws, but making them the same size made it easy to simply mirror existing frames in the cartoon) and that the cartoon character was based on an early prototype of the toy. Or maybe they simply wanted to make the character in the kids’ cartoon look less menacing, who knows.

Either way, it was not until 2024 that we would actually get a toy based on Clawful’s appearance in the Filmation cartoon. I did not know I needed this figure, but my inner child who remembers sitting in front of the TV in the 80s definitely wanted him. And looking at him immediately made me think of Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama, too, which is definitely not a bad thing.

As for the figure itself, it’s a very faithful adaption of the Filmation character and adheres to the Origin line’s high level of articulation, too. Clawful comes with a removable chest harness and has the Horn of Evil as his only accessory. The Horn is from the debut episode of Clawful, where he and Trap Jaw stole it from the vaults of Trolla in order to incapacitate the Sorceress. As usual the bad guys’ plans failed and the evil of the Horn was overcome with the power of friendship and music. Clawful returned several more times and was even called Skeletor’s right hand man once, though that might well have been a joke regarding his claws.

So bottom line: another excellent entry in the Cartoon Collection of the Origins line. Sure, the toy-based Clawful looks a whole lot more menacing than this one here, but then again, this one here actually appeared in the cartoon and looks kind of like Dr. Zoidberg. What more do you want?

Rating: B

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