To me MOTU was always an eclectic mixture of both fantasy and science fiction. Characters like Moss-Man, Buzz-Off, and Stratos remind us that we’re in this huge world of fantasy Mekaneck, like Man-At-Arms and Sy-Klone were the characters that represented the technological aspect of Eternia. Alongside ageless dragons and magical stones properties there were high-tech vehicles and computers. Mekaneck was a mainstay in the Filmation series and also had a fairly predominant part in the 2002 Mike Young Productions series, therefore Mekaneck was one of the last remaining core members of the Masters and now and an essential vintage figure.

Like all MotUC figures, Mekaneck beautifully showcases the master craftsmanship of Four Horsemen Design. The MOTUC version of Mekaneck has retained just about every aspect of the vintage figure, overlooking the 200x’s longer loin cloth and superfluous tech, but still modernizing the design to fit seamlessly with the other MOTUC figures. It’s a great sculpt – the main body is shared from the other MOTUC but he has an all new head. His armor is removable much like we have seen before with Stinkor, Hordak, etc.

Mekaneck features the standard MOTUC articulation: a ball jointed head, ball joints at the shoulders and hips, swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, upper thighs, and top of the boots, and hinges at the elbows, abdomen, knees and ankles. The ankles also have a limited “rocker” motion as well (i.e., side-to-side).

As a kid, I loved the Mekaneck’s action figure. His blue & red bright colors with a touch of silver always made him aesthetically appealing and thankfully they got them right! Paint apps have often been hit-or-miss on this line, but Meckaneck is pretty solid.

What elevated Mekaneck’s status from a just regular guy with goggles to a pretty neat figure was his action feature; simply turn him at the waist and his neck would grow!

Like most other Classics figures, Mekaneck’s action feature had to be sacrificed due to cost saving measures. Instead he includes two interchangeable neck segments (each approximately 2” and 5”) so you can recreate the vintage toy’s action feature – just pop off the head and pop on for a long or short neck piece.

Admittedly the figure does suffer due to the loss of the action feature, but like many of the other figures, it’s a fine compromise. The one consolation being that we can now mix & match neck segments, which does add more display value. If you want to pose him with either the 2” or 5” segments they pop right onto the peg on his shoulders like a normal head. Then take his head and pop it on the balljoint at the top of the segment. If you want to combine the two that can be done also.

I’m curious how many people will be buying multiple Mek’s just so they can get a four foot towering neck! It’s nice that we have that option but personally I think it looks a little silly, so I’ll just be using them one at a time.

In addition to the two neck extensions Mekaneck also comes with his classic yellow mace.

Overall, Mekaneck is a pretty straightforward Classicsized figure. No big surprises here, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that he’s well-executed. The implementation of the neck segments was a great way to recreate the missing action feature and the addition of the 5” segment really helps boost Mek from a good (but average) MOTUC entry to something really special.