MODOK

IRON MAN (TOYBIZ)

MODOK! The Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing! That is, unless he’s on a children’s cartoon on Saturday mornings, in which case, he’s the Mental Organism Designed Only for Konquest. You remember how Konquest is spelled with a “K,” right? Hey, it could have been worse; originally he was going to be Mental Organism Designed Only for Kittens. That just doesn’t seem as threatening, does it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MODOK was released in the second series of ToyBiz’s 90s Iron Man line. The line was released to tie-in with the cartoon of the time, so MODOK is based on his appearance there. Though, to be fair, his look on the show was largely unchanged from his comic appearance, so the figure can easily pull double duty. The figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 6(?) points of articulation. The articulation is a little hard to get an accurate count on; the attachments on the head definitely move, but it’s hard to tell if the arms and legs are actually supposed to move. If they are, they’re quite limited. MODOK has a sculpt that was totally unique to him, and it’s actually pretty great. It captures the character’s design rather nicely, and it has a surprising level of detail for a figure of the time. The face has some nice, deep set wrinkles, making him appropriately grotesque and all of his armored parts have some nice etched in details. While the sculpt may be impressive, the figure’s been saddled with one of the more lackluster paintjobs of the time. It isn’t actually bad, but it’s incredibly basic, with most of the colors just being molded plastic. Plus, the colors are all flat, which doesn’t really showcase the sculpt all that well. A little bit of a metallic finish would go a long way. MODOK included an ID Card with his picture, powers, and a quick little bio (these were included with all the figures in the first two series of the line), as well as a blast piece that works with the figure’s “action feature.” When you press the button on the back of the figure, or squeeze the head, the blast piece gets launched, at least in theory. In reality, the button doesn’t actually work; you can still go with the head squeezing method, though the launch distance is a little…underwhelming.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

MODOK is another one of those figures that I missed out on growing up. I feel like he may have been one of the more difficult figures to find. He ended up being one of the figures I came across in the dealer’s room at this past Balticon. He actually ended up being the most expensive of the figures that I picked up, though he still wasn’t all that pricey. As an adult, I can appreciate this figure, especially for the strength of the sculpt. As a kid, I think I might have found this figure a little bit less exciting. No real articulation and a lackluster action feature don’t do the figure any favors. That said, he’s a decent looking figure and works perfectly fine as a display piece. I guess it really just depends what you look for in a figure.