NECA Defenders of the Earth: Series 2 Mandrake the Magician Figure
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00:00You'd have a hard time spotting his secrets when they're mostly sleight of hand.
00:04Here's a look at the NECA Defenders of the Earth number four, Mandrake the Magician.
00:09This dapper, sophisticated magician is more adept at hypnotic deception than anyone on
00:32Earth.
00:33Mandrake is the ultimate authority on anything involving magic or the supernatural.
00:36He has called upon his fellow defenders to penetrate the enemy using incredible powers
00:40of mental supremacy, deception, and the occult.
00:43Who could have guessed the resident expert in the supernatural would have been then the
00:47most natural fit for the Defenders.
00:49Before though we get a closer look at the Defenders of the Earth, Mandrake the Magician,
00:52the master of illusion, let's take the tape measure and see how tall the figure stands.
00:56This figure was released in 2022, so it's about three years late that we're looking
00:59at it.
01:00Actually though, I'm waiting for a whole bunch of stuff to arrive in the mail.
01:03I thought this then would be a good time to go back and look at some of the stuff that's
01:06been sitting around.
01:07Take though the tape measure as I shall, take it right to the very top of Mandrake's head.
01:12The magician is standing at about six and three quarters of an inch in height, translating
01:16though to a figure that's about 17 centimeters tall.
01:19I'm so sorry for breathing all over you.
01:21I'm going to have to unfortunately breathe a little bit more.
01:23Ah, says somebody in the back of the crowd, hey, it keeps me alive.
01:27As I get some more of the breath out of my mouth, just to tell you guys, here's what
01:29the figure looks like with the colleague of the Defenders of the Earth, the Phantom.
01:33Now, NECA three years ago did release two versions of Defenders of the Earth, the ultimate
01:38line that we're looking at right now with Mandrake.
01:40And then they also released a Galoob toy line inspired figure line, which just happens to
01:45be the example I have because I didn't find the other whereabouts of Flash Gordon.
01:48But here's the Flash Gordon though, from the Galoob version of Defenders of the Earth.
01:52Figure wise, all three of them are roughly about the same, maybe Phantom's just a tad
01:56bit taller.
01:57This mouth breather also wants to tell you that the figure of Mandrake does come included
01:59with seven accessories.
02:01The figure does have three swappable hands, for example, so on the ends of his forearms,
02:04the figure does have closed fists.
02:06Don't like the look of closed fists, you'd like to jazz them up just a little bit.
02:09Well, the figure does have a gestured hand, a dynamic hand, a cool magic spelling hand
02:15that can easily then be swapped out.
02:16You can see the peg on the end of it, just pop the hands on the ends of the forearms
02:20off and then just replace them with the following hands, that one or perhaps these as well.
02:23Now, these would belong on this side of the figure's body.
02:26This one would then belong on this side of the figure's body.
02:28This one would be then for holding the wand.
02:30This one then would be holding the pistol.
02:33To swap out the hands though, simple fix, just grabbing on the hands that he already
02:37has, just wiggle them back and forth.
02:39Don't yank it, whatever you do, that's a no-no, just in case you're going to break the peg.
02:44Wiggling though works a little bit better, just pop the hand that you want to use off
02:47or you don't want to use off, pop the hand then you want to use, pop that back in place.
02:52Just again, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.
02:53You don't have to wiggle, but you want to wiggle the fist.
02:55I don't know why somebody's wiggling in the background.
02:58Do the exact same on the other side here as well.
03:00Pop the new hand in place.
03:02Boy, that seemed easy.
03:04It was easy.
03:05I like to think it was pretty easy.
03:07Okay, so the other things the figure does also come included with is his pistol.
03:11Up to this point, the other figures that we've already had a look at came included with very
03:15much somewhat of similar looking gun.
03:17It looks like a Decepticon would have transformed into this.
03:19Oh, I don't know if I should be holding this.
03:21What a useless really alt mode when you think about it.
03:24Megatron could turn into a gun.
03:25Congratulations.
03:26I don't know how it had to then be carried around by one of your cronies.
03:29Made no sense whatsoever.
03:32But the gun itself, I do like the way they've done it here in, I don't think that this was
03:35done in VAC chrome, but certainly done in a very nice metallic purple.
03:40This can then go into this figure's hand because of course he does have the trigger firing finger
03:44hand over here.
03:46But just before we do that, before we do that, he also does have a couple of blast effects.
03:50He has this one right here and I think both with this and this, these have probably been
03:54shared before with maybe a predator figure because they look very similar, translucent,
03:58kind of a bluish plastic.
03:59There's a hole on the end right here and he basically just put it on the end of the nozzle.
04:04Hey, that is easy.
04:05It is easy.
04:06Come on guys.
04:07Come on.
04:08There's also this one as well, which I think is probably one that has been used with a
04:10predator before and just swap it out with this, pop that on the end.
04:15And now you have a much longer beam.
04:17Now this can then fit into his hands.
04:20Seems like a bit of a tutorial.
04:21Now we're doing, are we getting into the review?
04:23We're going to get into the review.
04:25There we go.
04:26Put that into his hand.
04:27Don't point that at me over here, over here.
04:28Yeah.
04:29So you can have the figure displayed with that.
04:31On the other hand though, literally the figure does also come in clue with his magic cane.
04:36I think it actually does even say in the packaging, his magic cane.
04:38It's pretty a magic cane too.
04:40It's got a little jewel on the end of it.
04:41Is that a real diamond?
04:42I don't think so.
04:43It's painted well though.
04:44You can see like even just this little tiny band of gold has been added in there as well.
04:51Now I was thinking, I was thinking of this, could you have taken these effects and attach
04:55them onto the end?
04:56Well, they don't fit unfortunately on the side that probably would be emitting the magic,
04:59but you could though loosely though, very loosely, you're going to attach onto the end
05:04of the wand that way.
05:06It's not intended that way.
05:07So please don't write down below in the comments section, Hey buddy, that blast effect is supposed
05:11to be intended for the pistol.
05:12I know that.
05:13But that, if you wanted to though, you could fit that at the end of it.
05:16Unfortunately though, with my wand, not the real one that I own in my closet.
05:21Oh, I'm already starting to say too much.
05:23This wand, unfortunately with the very little time I've put it in Mandrake's hands, unfortunately
05:27I've started to flake the plastic away, the paint.
05:29So you can see there's a scrape mark right there and there's a scrape mark right around
05:33there as well.
05:35But this can also fit into his hands.
05:36Just, you know, be careful.
05:37Just be careful.
05:38Don't want to scrape it too far.
05:40But I think displaying this guy on the shelf, I'm going to display him with more of, I think
05:43the cane than the pistol.
05:45The blaster just doesn't seem like it's a fit for Mandrake, my personal opinion though.
05:49Let's go remove the accessories.
05:50We'll just kind of put them off to the side here and get a closer look at Mandrake.
05:54Now for being a figure that's three years old, I think that's still a nice looking figure.
05:58Now again, I had already said like there was a bunch of stuff I'm waiting for in the mail.
06:01So I kind of was looking around to see like what I could review for this week.
06:05And you know, I started to kind of look around my office and I saw a stack of Defenders of
06:09the Earth figures.
06:10I had already looked at Flash Gordon and the Phantom.
06:12Oh, and also Ming and the Merciless.
06:14Feel free to go back and watch those reviews if you want.
06:17Thank you for that.
06:18So it would be a good time to go back and finish off the rest of this set.
06:21Mandrake, the magician, though, for a head sculpt looks really good.
06:24It doesn't really have to either belong in the Defenders of the Earth.
06:26So if you're not familiar at all with the cartoon series, don't do that.
06:30Just have this guy display on the shelf as a really neat looking magician.
06:33The thing that's neat about this magician is while unfortunately he doesn't have a removal
06:36hat.
06:37No, no, it doesn't come off.
06:38He does, though, have a fabric cape.
06:40And on top of that, alakazam, the figure does also have a wire.
06:44How'd you do that?
06:45There's a wire.
06:46It wasn't me.
06:47There's a wire right here.
06:48There's a wire right here.
06:49And there's a wire right here.
06:51Between those three things, actually, that's not true.
06:53There's not a wire in the middle.
06:54But there's one here and here, I promise.
06:56You can actually manipulate the cape if you want.
06:59And again, you can just have this displayed any which way that you want.
07:03That looks kind of cool.
07:04I did so very little effort in order to get that look going.
07:08The vest looks good, too.
07:09I feel like there's some dark areas on the top.
07:11Now, obviously, this part is more intended to be a burgundy than the lighter color down
07:15below.
07:16I feel like the color of the red was a little bit more in jive with the coloring of the
07:18interior of the cape.
07:20But other than that, I mean, I think the red is pretty close.
07:22It's got a nice little handkerchief painted on the side.
07:24I think even the buttons themselves have been painted well.
07:26It looks like the individual buttons.
07:28Get your finger out of the way.
07:30Sorry.
07:31The buttons right here seem to be a different color from the rest of the shirt around it.
07:35So they went in there, and they spent a fair bit of time on it.
07:37Now, the jacket, though, is not a separate piece, though.
07:40It's all molded here to the rest of the vest.
07:42So you can't lift this up.
07:44Maybe you can.
07:46Maybe it's just glued down below.
07:48Maybe it is a separate piece.
07:49Because you can certainly open it here from the top.
07:51You can't do it down below here.
07:52There probably is just a mild bit of adhesive.
07:55Part of me is almost even tempted just to pry this a little bit away.
07:59I know what's only going to happen is I'm going to rip this, I'm going to tear this
08:02part of the plastic, and then I'm going to cry panda tears.
08:06I won't do that.
08:07You can see, as well, there's the sleeve cuff for the shirt underneath.
08:10It's a well-painted figure.
08:12The lower half of his body, though, seems to be a more shinier black than the top here.
08:17But it is, though, a nice coloring of black that they chose.
08:19There's the tails there on the back of his jacket, as well.
08:22I can't help but, though, feel like Mandrick.
08:24His legs seem like they're maybe a little too short.
08:26I mean, he scales okay with the likes of Phantom and Flash Gordon, but I feel like, though,
08:32his legs maybe make him look a little stumpy when you're looking at the proportions of
08:36him.
08:37Am I the only one that maybe feels that way?
08:38Okay.
08:39I'm the only one that feels that way.
08:40For the figure's articulation, Mandrick's head is going to be on a ball joint, so it
08:43allows the head to rotate all the way around.
08:46It can look down only that far.
08:48It can look up a lot better, and you can also rock it back and forth, as well.
08:54The upper torso is going to be, in theory, on a ball joint.
08:57You can't move it around too much, though.
09:00Looks down a little bit.
09:01It looks up.
09:02And, again, I'm almost talking as if this is the head of the figure, but it also can
09:05move back and forth.
09:06And, yeah, you can rotate it, too.
09:08The arms do allow the figure's arms to come out, but they don't come out at fully a 90-degree
09:13angle bend.
09:14In fact, actually, this figure still continues to have super tight joints.
09:18Not to the point where I worry that something's going to break on it, but, like, right around
09:21here, I can't seem to get any more than a 45-degree angle bend.
09:26It's not to say it doesn't exist, that you can bend it a little bit further, but with
09:29the risk potentially being there that I'm going to break the peg, I'm more than happy
09:33just to settle on 45 degrees and not 90.
09:35The arms, of course, can rotate all the way around.
09:39The figure does have a slight swivel here where the double hinges start to work.
09:42There's a hinge here at the top where that meets the bicep.
09:45And then, if you look a little bit further down, there's a hinge right...
09:47Get your finger out of the way.
09:48There's a hinge.
09:49Hinge right there.
09:50Right there.
09:51Right by the arms.
09:52And can double bend right there.
09:53Hands rotate all the way around, as well, whether you want to use these hands.
09:56You want to stick with the closed fist that he started with.
09:59Legs split out.
10:00No issues there.
10:01You take the legs and move them forward.
10:02You can move them back.
10:03A mild swivel there at the top of the thigh.
10:05Single hinge knee.
10:06Rotation down below on the lower calf area.
10:10Ankle rocks back and forth.
10:12Ankle pivots, too.
10:13And the figure does also have peg holes on the bottoms of his feet, even though the figure
10:17doesn't really come included with a display stand.
10:19Nice overall figure, though.
10:20You know, for a while, this guy's been sitting in a cardboard prison just waiting to be unleashed.
10:24You would think, though, as being a magician, he would already have a spell to, I don't
10:29know, to free himself from any available trap he's been put into.
10:33Still, though, I mean, he's a nice-looking figure.
10:35Quite a dapper-looking magician, too.
10:37I mean, for the fact that this figure is three years old, 2022, it got released, and now
10:42this guy, now the guy behind the camera's finally looking at them.
10:45The fact that this guy has had even a wire-frame fabric cape is a nice touch.
10:51Head sculpt look good.
10:52The coloring on the face, as well as the vest and the jacket and all the pants.
10:55Even, like, the spats, which I know I didn't really spend too much time even talking about
10:58this.
10:59Not spats, but his real fancy shoes.
11:02Look at the fancy footwear this guy actually has.
11:04And also, too, I forgot to mention, this guy does also have toe articulation.
11:06That's probably one of the reasons why I wanted to go back and look at this.
11:08Yeah, you know, Mandrake is a nice-looking figure.
11:11Not only are we also going to be looking at him, but we're also going to be looking at
11:15Lothar in an upcoming review, and you never know, I might also look at Garax.
11:19I seem to be in the mood right now of Defenders of the Earth, you know, three years too late,
11:24granted.
11:25But still, it's a fine figure line that I don't think is overly expensive, either.
11:28So if you wanted to go back and try to track down the figures, you probably could at a
11:30decent price, too.
11:33Presto change-o!
11:34Now posed with magic cane in hand.
11:36Mandrake the Magician.
11:37I may have even said in this review he wasn't part of the original Gloob 1986 toy line that
11:41followed up the cartoon series.
11:43If I did, that's incorrect.
11:44Both Mandrake the Magician and Lothar the Strongest Man on Earth were actually both
11:47featured in the 80s toy line, yet, though, I think when it comes to the figure releases
11:51of them, NECA only went as far as to release them in the Ultimate Figures.
11:54As far as I know, they never ended up doing them in the retro card bags.
11:58So if you are as a collector that only want to really get the ones that are connected
12:00to the original Gloob toy line, source out maybe then the idea of getting the Master
12:04of Illusion Mandrake and Lothar through the Ultimate Figures instead.
12:09Now I haven't checked online, I can't tell you whether or not the prices have skyrocketed
12:12on these figures, and if, in fact, they are going for crazy stupid prices.
12:16If he isn't, I would certainly encourage picking up Mandrake the Magician.
12:20Connecting and disconnecting him altogether from the Defenders of the Earth, he's a nice
12:22looking figure.
12:23He would stand in really well with, like, the Universal Monster figures that maybe you're
12:26collecting already.
12:28In fact, speaking of Universal Monsters, I'm sure you could probably also 86 the head of
12:32Mandrake.
12:33I'm not really sure what you're going to be doing with a decapitated head, but you probably
12:35could use the body maybe for another figure like maybe along the lines of Dracula.
12:40But what do you guys think of Mandrake the Magician?
12:41Have you originally collected the Defenders of the Earth?
12:43I know, again, we're a little late on the game of this.
12:45This came out in 2022.
12:47Anybody looking at a calendar, outdated or otherwise, would tell you that's three years.
12:51And it was a while ago, in fact, I started these reviews.
12:54What can I say?
12:55I'm a little bit of a procrastinator.
12:56But we're finally looking at these now that we're wrapping up, of course, the review of
13:00Mandrake.
13:01We're going to be following up, then, the review of Lothar and the evil robot, Garax.
13:06If you guys did enjoy this video, you can do it us all and certainly throw it a like.
13:09You guys want to stick around for more, so I hope so.
13:11Hit that subscribe, turn on that bell, and of course, come back.
13:14As always, thanks for watching.
13:15See you guys next time.
13:25Bye.
13:26Bye.