I didn’t dislike the previous Trap Jaw that was based on the Revelation cartoon design, but the New Eternia versions of these figures have been excellent across the board, and this new Trap Jaw fixes all of my issues with the previous figure.
As a long-time Trap Jaw lover, I end up with every version of Trap jaw out there. It was very hard to restrain myself from picking up the Mondo version. It being in 1/6th scale helped keep me from sinking down that path, but it was close.
For a long time, the MotU Classics Trap Jaw was the end-all and be-all Trap Jaw figure. But as much as I still love that figure, the addition of double joints kind of makes this figure edge that one out. Just a little. It’s still very close. Mattel has upped their game considerably, and with this New Eternia venture has been pumping out some of the best 7-inch scale figures on the market.
Trap Jaw keeps the vast majority of his design, with only very minor tweaks to “update” him. I put update in quotes because this is not a radical redesign in any sense of the word, of which I am very glad, because I don’t think any of the designs need updating as they are. I think “enhanced” might be a better term.
The double joints are great, but I think it’s the torso wobble joint I’m always most impressed with. It gets a great range, allowing for some menacing crouching or side to side tilt.
I’m not sure which figure debuted them, and I almost hadn’t noticed, but these figures now feature drop-down hips. While they have their pluses and minuses, the drop-down hips do help navigate the loincloths that most MotU figures have. Luckily, the loincloths aren’t made out of a rock hard material, so the combo of drop downs and flexible plastic give you some decent lunging motion. He’s still hindered, but it could be far worse.
The head on this version is superior in every way to the Revelation version. While there remains a glimpse at the ruined inside of his mouth, it’s far less…drooptongued than the previous version. Frankly, that always looked weird, and I was not a fan. This version brings him closer to a vintage feel, while retaining a bit more of that enhanced aesthetic.
I tend to measure the success of any Trap Jaw on the relative awesomeness of his techno arm, since that has always been his defining characteristic and the thing that made me fall in love with him more decades ago than I care to think about. I like this arm a lot. It’s fully articulated, with a ball joint at the “elbow” that allows for full range of motion. The shoulder is similarly articulated, so there’s no shortage of motion. I like the gear look to the shoulder, a detail that has tagged along from the original vintage figure.
The three swappable weapons are as familiar-yet-enhanced as everything else. They all plug in and stay in quite securely.
He also comes with a sword that slides into a slot on his back.
If I had anything at all to complain about, it’s that I do wish the old method of attaching his extra weapons to his belt had been improved. It’s still just dependent on a hook latching onto a slot, and it can be a little fiddly because of it. When I was a kid it was damn near impossible to play with him and have those weapons stay on, so more often than not he didn’t have them attached to his belt during playtime. It’s just as inconvenient for adult playtime as well. A ball-joint that popped on and off would be far sturdier while keeping the same aesthetic.
Still, that’s basically my only issue. I dig this version quite a bit. Like always, if a mini-comic version was made, I’d be all over that as well.
Source: Fwoosh
