Raiding the Wind and OMG COLORS (Dec. '11 and Jan. '12)

So WOW, a vehicle in this line!  Crazy!  Crazy huge, that is.  I honestly never thought we'd get 'em, but here's one anyway.  I never had this vehicle as a kid, so I can't really compare it.  I can compare it to vehicles in general, though, and MAN this thing is cool!  I didn't take any pics originally, but since this is sitting up in my toy room, I snapped a few pics.  Just for you!  Brand new. 

There's a lot of detail in this thing!  You can see the controls there, and the engines on both sides have panels that open to reveal the parts inside.  I love that kinda stuff!  Other features include movable wings, wheels on the bottom, and a grappling anchor on the front that can fire off.  It's attached to a string, and you lift the hood ornament and spin it to reel the anchor back in.  Very cool vehicle!  And...well I know I said I didn't have any room to display Swift Wind, but then I got this massive sucker hanging out in the open.  Well, what do you want from me?  I like mechanical things more than winged horses.   I made my choice; the horse will get it's place one day when I have more space.

The Star Sisters!  Man, that was a controversey.  Once again, all my "the fans think" stuff comes from my time at He-Man.org, so take everything with a grain of salt.  Anyway, people were torn with these figures 'cause they're all girly and sparkly and EEEWW COOTIES!  If you have learned anything about my likes in this blog, though, you probably get that I liked the figures.  Tell ya the truth, I wish they were based a little closer to their prototype toys rather than they way they looked on the toon, but oh well.  My grudge there is that the toon versions have to be dumbed down in terms of design so they are easy to draw.  These are figures, not toons!  I want whatever will get me the best looking designs.  That, and these look a little "80's workout" while the original prototype toys looked a little more fantasy. 

Still, I couldn't help but like the concept.  They're pretty much ancient Etherian Goddesses.  In a way.  They are powerful, but the story limits them by making them dependent on the cave where they are found.  They've always gotta go back for a time to recharge.  Kinda neat!  On top of that, the figures are like He-Ro in that they were never made - just pictures in a magazine.  So they're prototypes as well, and I love that crap!

...and I didn't take any pics. 

Oh, FINE.  I'll go snap some now, since I did for the Wind Raider.

This is Starla...yes, Starla.  Probably sounded a lot better back then.  Anyway, she's my favorite of them!  She has the least amount of things restricting her articulation.  She's the leader of the sisters and apparently has some light powers or something; they're kinda vague.  The bio says she "projects spells of light against her foes", so I take that to mean anything from blinding light to bombastic blasts that launch foes back.

This is Jewelstar, and she's a little more straight-forward.  Gem armor!  That, and she can probably raise hard gems from the ground to create shield and attack and all that good stuff.  She's the coolest in terms of powers, but MAN that is pink.  Very very pink.  The prototype toy was a bit more reddish, and ALL stone, whereas this one is sorta wearing a pink singlet and tights.  I'm not disliking this one, but I can say that - like with the rest - I wish it had been based more on the toy and less on the toon. 

Anyway, since her gems are pink and the gem in Bubble Power She-Ra's sword is pink, I made up a little story behind it - the stone in She-Ra's sword gets cracked at some point or another, so Jewelstar uses her own gems to repair it, allowing She-Ra to use a bit of Jewelstar's power and summon that armor she wears. 

Last one is Tallstar, and I'm sure her feature is obvious.  The original was like a bendy straw, and you just stretched her out like that.  This one has separate sections, so you have to take off the arms, shins, and head, and add extra sections to make her "stretch."  It's a neat feature, but it invites possible problems.  For instance, the right shin on mine falls off easily, as well as her neck.  It's not terrible, but it could be better and makes her frustrating to pose.  On the other hand, she ends up with what I feel to be the best head and hair sculpt. 

Finally, they came with...um..Glory Bird.

Glory Bird is (according to the bio) Starla's bird that guides them back to the cave when they need to recharge (also tells them when they gotta go, I guess).  Glory Bird is quite fabulously 80's.  It's just the basic bird mold (from left to right: Zoar, Teela's bird, Sorceress in bird form, and Screech, Evil-Lyn's bird) but all pink and with an extra mohawk addition.  It's hilarious.

So in the end I liked the Star Sisters, but wish they had a little less 80's workout gear and more 80's fantasy.  Regardless, they win me over with translucent parts, crazy colors, and their status as rare prototypes.