A while ago, Mattel held a forum poll to see which characters should be in Masters of the Universe Classics. Huntara won, edging out Lord Masque (who might get made someday), but it took until now for us to get her. And who is Huntara? Well, there was a single episode of the She-Ra cartoon where Hordak hired this super-ultra bounty hunter... who happened to be a good guy... and told her that She-Ra was a villain. So She-Ra and Huntara fought.
Huntara was a pretty cool character, and it makes sense that she has fan support. Of course, the figure has no Day of Sale, and though she isn't as subscriber-only as Oo-Larr, she certainly isn't the most widely-available of the line, either.
*** HUNTARA: COURAGEOUS SILAXIAN WARRIOR REAL NAME: TARA Hailing from Silax, a planet in Despondos known for it’s accomplished hunters and trackers, Hunter quickly rose in the ranks as top of her class. Hearing of her great accomplishments, Hordak summoned the muscular, deep-voiced bounty hunter to assist him in tracking down and trapping She-Ra. Knowing the Silaxians pride themselves on their pure sense of good and evil, Hordak tricked Huntara into believing that She-Ra burned down an entire village in the name of the Rebellion. Wiling to take on almost any job, Huntara offers her trapping and fighting skills to anyone willing to pay her high prices. ***
Gee, can you guess what happened when Huntara found out that She-Ra was a good guy? Hordak is an idiot, I swear. Most of his plans would have worked if he weren't about as competent as half a Rocksteady. Wait, what? Rocksteady's smarter in the comics now? Dangit.
PACKAGING: **** I ran out of things to say about this packaging so long ago, I can't remember ever having anything else. And now I have to go jump in the molten lead before an alien queen bursts out of my chest.
SCULPT: **** Huntara has an extremely neutral facial expression, not matching the intensiy of her charcater. if you account for that, though, you'll note that she is sculpted really well, straddling the line between realistic and cartoonish, which is very much in line with the rest of the Classics line. Aside from one nitpick explained a few paragraphs down, she looks great.
It makes sense that Huntara would arrive in the same month as Oo-Larr, because she is one of the nakedest female figures in the line. She wears what is essentially a bikini, and her little miniskirt-loincloth feels more like a speedo. Huntara clearly took a few tips from Heavy Metal, though it is funny to note that the figure's prototype as actually wearing less around the bikini area. This version is more modest than she could have been.
The original style guide for Huntara's animated appearance said that her skin should be dark brown, and descrbed her in language reminiscent of Grace Jones's character in Conan the Destroyer. They turned her purple probably to avoid racial accusations. This gal looks white. The ethnicity has been removed from her face. Not to say that I want stereotypes, but Mattel systematically removed race from this character. Was it on purpose? Probably not. But once you see it, you cant unsee it.
PAINT: *** The original style guide for Huntara's animated appearance said that her skin should be dark brown, and descrbed her in language reiniscent of Grace Jones's character in Conan the Destroyer. They turned her purple probably to avoid racial accusations. This figure seems to have taken that purple and made it light pink, which is an odd decision. It matches the cartoon if your TV's color was off, but otherwise seems too light.
A few Huntaras have come with crossed eyes, though the rest are all right. And the rest of her paint seems fine, easily matching the show's color scheme for her.
ARTICULATION: **** Huntara has a ball-jointed head, ball-and-socket shoulders and hips, hinged elbows, knees, and hinged ankles, and swivel biceps, wrists, thighs, and waist. Overall, her articulation is pretty standard for a MOTUC female, and her skirt is too short to restrict her legs.
Since Huntara wears so little and her hair is tied back, she's actually really well-articulated for a MOTUC female. You can put her in a lot of combat poses that many of the other figures cannot manage.
ACCESSORIES: **** Huntara comes with a pair of lightsabers. There's no better way to put it, but cartoons in the '80s ripped off tar Wars's signature weapons with wild abandon. Still, her weapons are really cool, and she looks good wielding them.
If she's missing anything, it's deactivated lightsaber handles. See, when you stow those weapons on Huntara's back... well, laser swords don't work that way. The handles would have alleviated that hilarious little problem.
Huntara also comes with an axe - Oo-Larr's axe, to be precise! It's a little low-tech for her, and is too big to properly fit in her hand, but it's not unwelcome.
VALUE: **1/2 This lady had no day of sale, so expect to pay a pretty penny.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR: Huntara feels as sturdy as most other MOTUC figures. Her ponytail ight be the only breakage point, but it isn't bad. Her hands are tight, too, so I would suggest sliding in the lightsabers blade-first.
WHERE TO BUY: For now, you may have to search Google, but Huntara is bound to show up on Matty eventually.
OVERALL: **** This figure isn't perfect - her face is soft, her skin tone is light, and her accessories are limited - but in every other respect, she is surprisingly faithful. Huntara was a memorably kickass character, and her figure reflects that well enough to keep the fans happy.
