Battleground Teela Heroic Heir to the Sorceress Masters of the Universe Classics Action Figure Item No.: No. T5806 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: Sword, laser gun Action Feature: n/a Retail: $20.00 Availability: June 2011 Other: Based on art
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A recurring thing in 1980s toys is the decision to make a lot of the girls redheads-- which is why I assume they seem to be the hair color of preference for the ladies these days. Battleground Teela takes someone best known for being a redhead and makes her blonde, which, like Emma Stone, is unsettling. But as figures go? It more or less works-- I'm a little surprised they didn't do randomly-shipped hair color variants though.

This figure's construction is essentially the same as the previous Teela, with a new torso covering and a new head. Well, and new accessories too. It just goes to show how much a little paint can go a long way. The outfit was inspired by her very early appearances in the comic books, and the costumes looks like a cross between what He-Man wears and the average sci-fi/fantasy floozy of those days. (Han Solo paled around with a girl in a similar outfit more than once in Marvel's old comics.) Since "Blonde Bikini Teela" does have a precedent in the fiction, it makes sense that Mattel wouldn't give her a new and different name... although I doubt anyone would complain if she were something like Randor's niece from that part of Eternia we don't talk about all that much, or some unknown Etherian Rebel. The toy's packaging puts her as a version of Teela from the future, when the Sorceress is in pretty bad shape and Teela may be inheriting a new position of magical power soon.

Articulation is similar to that of regular Teela, except now her waist joint isn't obstructed by her costume. She can stand just fine, but sitting might be tricky-- as such, she's a great display figure, but could be a little better in the toy department. I haven't yet tried her out on Cringer or his ilk but her hip joints don't exactly spread out a lot. Speaking of unintentionally sex-related things, it seems her bikini top is a separate sculpted piece, glued or molded in such a way where it can't be easily removed without damaging the figure, so yeah, I'm not gonna show that I guess.

With a little work, she has no problems holding her accessories. I should point out mine had two molding flaws-- one of her hands was gripping too tight, making it difficult to g.shtml a weapon. Her laser gun was also crooked, the barrel was a little wonky. Using some boiling water, I was able to quickly fix both problems and now her gear looks great and she has no problems fighting whatever figure it is she's going to fight.

While not what I would consider a normal Teela as she doesn't have the red hair or snake gear of the original, she's still a great figure in her own right. Even though she never had a figure prior to 2011, she looks like she stepped right out of some Boris Vallejo painting from 1984. I dig it, even though it's not a character costume I would probably have ever asked for. Interestingly, Mattel hired a young lady to dress up like this at Comic-Con 2011 and was clearly aiming to inspire other young women to consider this costume over the convention stable of Slave Princess Leia, and I'll be quite curious to see if anyone can convince their lady friends to do this in 2012. (Oh, and on eBay she goes for less than her $20 issue price. So she's pretty affordable.)

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