In the TV show, Catra too Adora's job in the Horde when she quit-- and the toy line more or less keeps this going. She's described as a "Jealous Beauty" on the packaging, which seems like a weak pair of words to describe a figure when we're used to "Evil Tail-Thrashing Warrior" or "Heroic Feline Warrior." At least they say if it's a good guy or a bad guy-- for all we know Catra's just a rotten person. She's also a pretty great action figure, with a good range of motion and a ton of gear taking inspiration from the toy line in places, but largely the cartoon series and the Four Horsemen sculpted her to the better of these elements.
The sculpt is quite remarkable, with numerous textures bringing her to life. Her boots are shiny, but have darker coloring painted on to add detail. Her skin and costume appear as if they were cast from different materials, and the hair sculpting is pretty remarkable too-- hair is tough to get right in plastic, and they knocked this one out of the park. Her face seems overly made-up... but she's evil, so you'd probably want it that way. They even did her nails, and it's worth noting her left hand is sculpted in a menacing way and cast in a less-rigid plastic for (presumably) safety reasons.
Using some of the parts of Teela, she has a great range of motion. She's jointed at the enkle, the boot, the knee, and all over the friggin' place. The joints are pretty stiff, so you probably won't have too much trouble getting her posing in a "kick" position if you can balance her just right-- she'll need some support if you want it to last more than a few minutes, though. I had no problems getting her to hold her gear, but it does take some finesse to get them in her hand-- the right hand is fairly rigid plastic.
Without a doubt, this is another fantastic sculpt-- you'll almost forget about the goofy purr noises she made on the show, while getting a bundle of kicks out of the creative cat shield, cat sword, and comb whip. It's worth noting that the sword and whip will need some care to appear as photographed-- the packaging put some ridges and dents in the sword, while the whip was bent back upon itself. I solved this by boiling some water and dipping them in briefly-- the plastic reset to the positions seen in the photographs. Just a second or two in the water ought to do it, it's a little quicker than a hair dryer (and I don't advise people use a hair dryer to fix their plastic figures due to melting problems.)
It's a worthwhile figure to own, and not too expensive. The going rate seems to be $12-$25, which is basically within the range of the original issue price. Unless you're actively avoiding the Horde, this is a good one and absolutely worth snagging for your He-Man collection. Heck, I still need a Hordak. Shadow Weaver and more are on deck, so there's really no reason to put off getting Catra, particularly if you can find her cheaply.
--Adam Pawlus
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