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In the first pair of MotU-inspired Mythic Legions figures, it was the good guy (Adamonn, aka "not-He-Man") who was the weaker offering, with the villain (Keltuss, aka "not-Skeletor") being the standout offering. In this second pairing, that's reversed. Cowarros? Awesome! Malynna? Also available for sale!
As one of the last remaining Uubyr in existence, Malynna has sought refuge in the dark corners of Alkyrium where she seeks to
refine her dark magical abilities into a devastating and deadly weapon. An ancient mixture of orc and vampire bloodlines, the Uubyr have been shunned and despised despite their immense inherent magical potential. Under the protection of Malachi Cinderhorn and his Shadow Elves, Malynna the Malevolent has sworn to return the Soul Spiller to Lucretia and the Vampire kingdom.
Okay, that's neat: Mythoss has a whole bonus race of vampire-adjacent beings! Or "had," I suppose, since Malynna is one of the last ones. It's a little odd that the bio introduces the idea of her being an "Uubyr" (not to be confused with being a "Lipht" - they both exploit the life and resources of victimized people, but one of them has a pink mustache) but then waits a whole line to explain exactly what this new term means. It's like when Shocka tells his dates he's an OAFE, and then they spend half an hour thinking he's the village idiot until he clarifies what that is. [And then they're even more convinced! --ed.]
Malynna is more armored than Queen Urkzaa, but not as armored as Dame Heavensbrand - so exposed skin
on the thighs, biceps, and upper chest, but not the stomach. Wherever possible, she's wearing the pointy, "evil" version of the armor: the gauntlets, the boots, and even the removable pauldrons the figure comes with. Her belt is the pointy one Jjuno the Crusher wore, with a sharp metal loincloth. She also gets a long flowing cape, which, similar to Xylona and Artemyss Silverchord, is actually a skirt - take the figure apart at the waist and put it on under her belt. (She'll need that extra coverage, because she's going commando under there.)
What really makes this figure's origins clear is the colors: with yellow skin and blue armor, this is unmistakably Evil-Lyn - they could have done gray and purple, but as much as the 2002 line is better than the 1982 line, that's not the iconic look. The dark blue is very dark and the light blue is very bright, and though the yellow on the chest is a different shade than the yellow on the face and limbs, it looks good contrasted against the blues.
The entire idea about making Malynna a vampire or an uubyr or
a strigoi or whatever name they want to make up for her seems to be based on necessity: this is the only head with a helmet that even vaguely looks like Evil-Lyn's widow's peak skull cap, and since it comes from the Vampire Legion Builder, it's sculpted with fangs; thus, they needed to come up with an explanation for that. The fact that the helmet has a pointy chin strap is slightly strange, making it look like she's got a black Abe Lincoln beard. Also, for a woman who only cares about refining her magical abilities, she sure slathers on the makeup, doesn't she?
Malynna has one more joint than most of the figures do. Like the other ladies, she's got a balljointed head, swivel/hinge
shoulders and elbows, swivel forearms at the top of the bracers, swivel/hinge wrists, a balljointed torso, swivel waist (though that's more for construction/"putting on her skirt" purposes than play and poseability), swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, and swivel/hinge/swivel ankles. But then, she's got another swivel on the back of her head: the helmet has a hole to accommodate a decoration in the back - for this figure, it's a long white ponytail, suggesting Evil-Lyn's actual hair color. Does she feed that up through her helmet every time she puts it on, like a girl going to get coffee who pulls her ponytail through the hole in her baseball cap? Because that seems like it would get old
pretty quickly.
There's an alternate head, too. It's still not bare - it's the $555,000 unlock, the Shadow Warrior Bonus Head, which is a lot like the vampire head (pointy shape, pointier ears) but has no hair-hole and doesn't reveal the wearer's face. You know, for times when she needs more protection, but only for her nose, not for her chest or neck.
Her other accessories include a little dagger and sheath from the Dark Forces Weapon Pack (a reference to the Mo2K figure's knife), a sword from the Elf Weapon Pack (which would have been nice
for Adamonn and Keltus), and the same battle staff Keltus came with, which highlights an issue with the new Mythic Legions molds: as Rustin pointed out, the tiny hands have to stretch around the mighty weapons, so while this is a great nod to Evil-Lyn's ball-topped staff in the MotU continuities, the toy can't hold it well at all without getting stressed and deformed. The weapons are two-tone blue, matching her colorscheme, and the blades are metallic.
Malynna isn't a bad figure, but she really only brushes up against the idea of being a Masters of the Universe homage. Pretty much any character could get a blue and yellow paint job and be as strong a reference to Evil-Lyn as this figure is. She's on par with Adamonn: not bad, but not as awesome as the character she's paired with.
-- 07/06/19
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