Clawful was one of my starting four figures. For Christmas when I was seven, I got Snake Mountain, Clawful, Whiplash, Fisto and Man-at-Arms. Started me on the road to collecting!

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Nice. It always takes one to start a collection. And a good one to start with!

Thank you for this. I never knew he was a MOTU character, but I still have that figure from my childhood. He's sturdy and cool. I'm glad you also like him.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

How can you not just love a crab/lobster man!

I loved the mix of vintage and 200X in the Classics figure. The crab shell back and the red fading into his arms. The 200X head completed it for me as I wasn't so keen on the slightly goofy vintage looking one.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

The Horsemen always know the perfect amount of influence from each previous version. They rock.

@darkwoods1954

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 Yes you can tell their passion and understanding of the franchise.

I think I got most versions of clawful. Vintage, classic, 200x, 12" statue, minis. I love clawful. 200x redesign was the best

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Oh it was!

Mego made a Lobros alien figure for their 1980 Micronauts line. There was also a very rare vehicle for him called Lobstros that was also shaped like a lobster.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Nice. I may need to do an all Lobster video.

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

There was a Hawaiian-themed toy line called "The Legend of Sharkman" that featured a villain called The Prawn. Huge, hulking barsinister that carried a lei o mano ( shark-tooth-bladed war club), and had a big, spring-action claw, too. Very cool figure.

I definitely liked Clawful and his adorable bushy brows and clampy claw.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

You can get lost in those!

Have to say I really enjoy the half finished Jedi Order insignia on the 200x clawful belt. The Jedi wish they were as Cewl as Clawful!!!

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

All toys should be Jedi

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 So there I was, minding my own business in Jabba's throne room, and this blond kid comes in and starts mouthing off to the boss, kills our housepet, and when Jabba and the rest of the gang go out to see him and his pals offed, they all get blown up, and my buddy Amanaman and I are out of a job! Pfft. Jedi. You can keep 'em. 🤣

@Exar_Kun

3 жыл бұрын

@@Beedo_Sookcool LOL!!!! I got one for ya. So there I was doin the rounds on the Death Star space station when this weird dude, spittin image of Dr. Henry Jones he was, gets my attention ,kinda like senator Palpatine offering me candy when I was a youngling, so I go a check it out. As I approached he hits me with “space roofies” his giant pet space chinchilla sprayed out his ass, causing me and my shift supervisor to black out. Later as I started slowly come to, I’m being arrested for “neglecting my post” because one of the space chinchilla’s kids shit a tape worm so big it caused the trash compactor to break down!..... oh yeah also, on an unrelated note one of Max Reebo’s band mates started a fire after passing out with a lit joint in their sphincter, after he was reminded several times he was in “no smoking” section, causing the entire station to explode......

I admit, I preferred Clawful without human flesh coloration. I really liked his 200X design.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

I did too. I wish we could have gotten to the 6"line for 200X that was planned.

@johnmorey720

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 I bought the staction and planned to customize articulated arms, but then it broke in a move!

as a kid, my brother and i were given multiple totes of MOTU figures. One of them was clawful, my older brother was convinced he was Scorpia from PoP… i just went along with it

This guy and Buzz Off were some of my favorite "so bad they're awesome" character concepts/toys from any toy line. Just so much fun if you accept the sillyness of the characters

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Humanoid characters based on animals, bugs and crustaceans always seems to work well!

Really? Not even a pic of Slobster from Street Sharks? Arguably the best lobster action figure of all time :D

@tawdryhepburn4686

3 жыл бұрын

I came to the comments to see if anyone else remembered Slobster. Glad I’m not the only one.

@cykodestructo5316

3 жыл бұрын

Slobster ....for ever

@johnmorey720

3 жыл бұрын

I used to have a Slobster! Street Sharks figures were huge.

@tawdryhepburn4686

3 жыл бұрын

@@johnmorey720 I always wanted that one but never saw it on shelves!

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Oh man! I totally forgot to add him! Damn.

Personally what made me want to buy the line (when i discovered it) WAS the focus on the vintage toyline, what made me so excited about MOTUC was that (by the time I'd found it) you'd made the likes of Buzz-off, Webstor, Whiplash, Clawful, Snout Spout and King Hiss look the way I imagined them when I played with them as a kid and that you'd also done that for things like Hurricane Hordak and the Weapons Rack. If you'd just done 200X again I wouldn't have been half as interested because, as much as I want a collector's line for that show becasue it's one of my favourite cartoons of all time, we'd just done that and the nostalgia, huge jump (improvement) and just main selling point wouldn't have been there (for me personally). Or, simply: i like Clawful having eyebrows like Parker from Thunderbirds.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

And I am glad the 4HM went vintage. Eyebrows ands Parker references be damned! ;-P

@dwitefry4157

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 LOLS!

Even though I do use all of the heads in the Heads of Eternia pack, the main reason I bought it was for the Clawful head. I could not wait to lose the goofy eyebrow head. Just like with Snout Spout, the head completely transforms and dramatically improves the entire dynamic of the figure.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

That one I hear a lot! Snout Spout's new head was also a good improvement in my book

My 3rd Evil Warrior i had as a kid after Skelly and Whiplash! Yup always bugged me why the Filmation never had the huge claw. He looked so unique due to his huge claw

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Yeash that Filmation design creeped me out.

Clawful: "Dah....do you guys hear, uh.... somethin' clickin'?" - everyone listens- Evil-Lyn: "That sounds like Arakian." (Or whatever its name was) - every one looks at Clawful - Clawful: -blankly stares at Evil-Lyn- Evil-Lyn: "The *language* of *your people!* " Clawful: "Uh.... oh! Yeah!" -silence- Skeletor: "....So what's it saying?" Clawful: ".....Uh....?" Evil-Lyn: -sigh- "Do you need help?" Clawful: "Uh.....yeah!"

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Sad how he was made the clown of 200x... I never played with him that way. Although I do love that his people talk in claw clicks. I stole that concept for Optikk as well.

@unigenius

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 I loved him and Whiplash being the dunces of Skeletor's crew! It oddly made them stand out more. I watched all of the filmation series and forgot Clawful was even in it!

I thought he was a crab. Those crabs with the large claw that look like they are sword fighting!

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Well I guess technically he is an Eternian species of some sort, but he reads more as a crab then a lobster I will admit that.

I really love the Clawful figure, but I was among those who thought he looked like a Muppet with the eyebrows. I guess because the statute of the MOTUC figure made him look more fearsome and imposing, but the eyebrows took it away?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Hey, that is the way the vintage fig looked and Classics was all about staying true to that look. But I do see the Muppet look too.

appreciate these videos, yeah these motuc figures were ahead of their time, & still hold up to now against the likes of neca turtles

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

They sure do! I wish Mattel would make more of them!

I think Clawful is more based on a Fiddler crab...they have one huge claw and a tiny one, lol.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

You know you are the second person to note this!

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

A lot of hermit crabs, too.

If Clawful hadn't been moved forward in the production schedule, would he have come with the extra-large right bicep introduced with Fisto?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

I don't think so. Fisto got that because he had an artificial metal hand. Clawful's hand was natural. Plus he needed the bumpy details on his wrists/mid arm that Fisto did not have. But really great thought!

One of my favorites as a kid and in Classics (though a rare case where I prefer the 200X head without the Groucho Marx eyebrows.)

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

But he always had those eyebrows! Even in the vintage toy ;-P

@user-do2ev2hr7h

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 The difference is that child me didn't realize they were eyebrows, let alone silly looking ones. :)

So if you'd done a 200x line, like the club grayskull line, re releasing characters in the 200x style, would the ram man body be used as the buck for these larger characters like clawful or would the torso be newly tooled?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, if we had gotten to the planned 6" 200X line the characters like Beastman and Whiplash and Clawful would have been deluxe larger figures.

WOW. I didn't even remember Clawful looking like a horse-dog in the series. I remember calling him "Lobstor" because his real name wasn't catchy enough for my child brain, but i'm not sure where I got that from.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Het for a made up name that is pretty spot on for the brand~!

as for the Armor, i think if there is another set that was added in you can give Clawful a pauldron, like that of the Green Ranger or the Saiyans that came from space and give it a SHELL design. You can give it a turtle like "back-pack" so that it can look alike with the 200x design.

@spectorcreative1872

2 жыл бұрын

Nice idea!

Scott, I know you’ll love this. Whenever my wife is being crabby and then apologizes for it. I respond, “It’s ok Clawful!”

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Well said!

Great video on one of my favorite villains. He’s definitely not a lobster though. I believe he’s based on a fiddler crab, which has one big claw and one small claw.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, clearly a crab. I just like how lobster is funny for the video

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

Heck, my pet hermit crabs when I was a kid had one large crusher claw and one small cutting and feeding claw. I even called one of them Clawful!

Would love to see a futurama motu crossover, in either direction

@AntiDecepticonCampaign

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe why not? Obvious mixes... C'mon, bender mix design with almost every evil warrior but you could use robot mafia too. RobotDevil-hordak of course. Fry-heMan, Teela-Lela, zoidburg-clawful, Duncan-scruffy the janitor Amy-evillyn, but skeletor ... Im at a loss

@AntiDecepticonCampaign

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe the "stabby" robot, can't remember the name.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Make it happen Mattel!

If I get Clawful and Whiplash in origins I'll be happy!

I found out that lobsters are basically immortal. They never die of natural causes.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Yet they taste so good...

Why not zoidberg?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Why not indeed....

I always thought Clawful was one of the goofiest looking characters in the line and much preferred how he looked in the show. He just never made sense with his armor looking like the skin of his hands and face.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

See! I"m not the only one that was confused by this!

@easygrin1127

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 the filmation Clawful was the best... he was Skeletors right hand man

The Classics version's mace was all one color, but the color (green) was painted on over red plastic, causing peeling when you remove the mace from his left hand. Why wasn't it just done in green plastic with no paint?

Hey, Scott, I have a couple of you questions I was wondering you could answer. My first is how important do you think articulation is for a toy to be successful given that many toylines in the past had very little of it. MOTU included. The second question is the reason behind Tesla's snake motif in the toylines.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

For articulation, with collectors it is very important because it lets them take control of the fictional character: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aIKNqdiFm6S8kco.html For kids, not as much. Just needs to work. As for Teela, here is more on her background: kzread.info/dash/bejne/Z5-Yx9SierqwndY.html

@nhaer042

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 Thanks!

7:37 Makes sense to call his armor a shell

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Ha!

Due to one claw bigger then the other....Clawful would be based off a FIDDLER CRAB.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Now that is a very interesting point! Well noted.

What do you make of NECA categorizing it’s products as perishable goods? Also, why does there seem to be such an alarming rate of failure for the company’s toys?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Wait what? They are calling their action figures perishable goods? This is the first I have heard of this. I will need to investigate a bit. To the Sherlock Mobile!

@tawdryhepburn4686

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 here is a video on the subject. kzread.info/dash/bejne/hYx229Z_Y7e-mrQ.html

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

@@tawdryhepburn4686 Oh, RetroBlasting. I stopped watching their videos some time ago. Somehow, their videos were just offputting to me in a way I could never pin down.

This characters origin confuses me he starts out as a bad guy but then becomes good at some point?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

No he is always a good guy. Just got dumer when used int he 200X show

Do you ever play with your motu toys when nobody's looking, like fidget or pose them? Or am I the only grown man who dose it lol

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

All the time!

@nathanilsaenz8178

3 жыл бұрын

​@@spectorcreative1872 that's a relief! I thought I was the only one who did that! lol these toys just bring out the inner child in me, its too hard to not want to play or fidget with them!

Outstanding video, and one of my favourite characters in any iteration! Thank you! Heh. I'm also reminded of the film "Brain Donors" -- hilarious comedy film, if you've not seen it -- and comedian Mark Pitta showed up near the end as a singing "Lobster-gram." Funny thing is, you can tell that the people complaining about Clawful's colouration and fuzzy eyebrows aren't very familiar with real crustaceans. They can have all kinds of wacky colour variations (like the Sally Lightfoot crabs of the Galapagos) or be covered in hair (like Pilumnus vespertilio), so a crab guy with variegated colouration and some visible patches hair isn't that much of a stretch, really.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

That was a Steve Martin movie right? I'll need to look it up!

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 You might be thinking of "The Man with Two Brains," there. "Brain Donors" is a tribute to The Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera," only with ballet, and starring John Turturro, Mel Smith, and Bob Nelson. It's only 80 minutes long, but my friends and I had to keep pausing it, we were laughing so hard, so that our first watch-through nearly stretched to two hours. Highly recommended.

I never understood the outcry over Clawful's vintage inspired head in Classics. I mean, it was meant to be a "vintage inspired" head, and that's exactly what it was, so why people got upset over it, I never understood (and still don't). Also, until you pointed it out in this video, I never thought about how the Classics body was textured and red, which was not how the Vintage figure was. I definitely think it looks better this way, but funny that it never stood out as a deviation from the vintage to me.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

I remain puzzled as well!

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

Enh, some "fans" will find any excuse to complain. It's not Vintage enough. It's TOO Vintage. I never had this figure as a kid, so it's a wasted slot. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Clawful has always been awful. Who am I kidding. He was always a figure I wanted as a kid but never had, got a few now. Love my Classics Clawful, recently missed out on the head pack.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Clawful has been aweful. Sounds like a bad kids book! ;-P

Clawful's eyebrows are actually short antennas. There is your explanation for it.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

I love that. From now on that is how I shall think of them

Some fun trivia RE: MOTU 200X redesigns. Long before I started on my current project (which resulted in my first book published this year. YAY BOOK), when I was a li'l one, I wanted to write an "epic medieval fantasy" (so sue me. I was a teenager. I read Tolkien). And I really liked Whiplash's 200X design, so I decided that the "trolls" of the world would look kind of like him - pseudo-alligator skin and all. And then I ended up throwing the whole idea out because it wasn't very good. The only MOTU reference in my actual work now is a side-joke made by the main character.

@johnmorey720

3 жыл бұрын

(buy my book please buy my book I need royalties for toys)

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Hey that is awesome! Congrats on the book. That is wonderful and may it be a huge success!

@johnmorey720

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectorcreative1872 thanks! I got some advice from Jack Olesker in 2016 which helped a lot. I’m currently editing the manuscript for the second one! www.johnmoreyauthor.com

If I remember correctly people were calling it a muppet head. I never cared for the dunce approach. Kind of ruined the character for me.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

I just liked the claw.

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I liked him better as a swaggering schemer with more brains than the rest of Skeletor's flunkies.

@neganstains5745

3 жыл бұрын

He does resemble Animal. The face in Snake Mountain looks Sam Eagle.

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

@@neganstains5745 All right, next time I'm in the presence of a Vintage Snake Mountain, I'm firing up the microphone and making the demon-face say "YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF LONG-HAIRED WEIRDOS!" 🤣

Every time I see that vintage muppet head it pisses me off. Clawful looked stupid in the 80s even to me as a 5 year old. So did Buzz-Off. Shockingly those are the 2 that got the most pushback from fans. The 200x versions kept the same vintage designs but lost the goofy aspects. They looked cool for the first time in 200x. It's not hard to understand. If anyone is still confused by the reaction to Clawful and Buzz-Off (the worst head sculpts in the line) you're just slow. It's fine if you don't get it. You're just Kanye West from South Park.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

We did have plans for a 6" fully articulated 200X line but alas it never happened. kzread.info/dash/bejne/g4WXzpSkZtK4pKw.html

Agreed that Tri klops should have been the right hand man.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Plus he has two right hands

Pinchy omg 😆

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Pinchy forever

First!

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Winner!

Clawful has always been a favourite. I always preferred him with the eyebrows I think they made him look evil and angry. The 200X head although a good sculpt he looked tame and not menacing enough.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I kinda admit the 200X head really does make him better. Don't tell Bill.

It is kind of weird that for Classics, Mattel basically copied the Vintage head, but then got criticized for it. Yeah, the eyebrows are a little silly, but what other Lobster People is he being compared to? Do the others all have thinner eyebrows?

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

I have been puzzled over this as well. If the 4HM took liberties, that would be one thing, but it is literally the vintage head!

@Beedo_Sookcool

3 жыл бұрын

"Fans" can complain about ANYTHING, I've found.

I realize he never had an action figure, but I feel you could have at least mentioned the great Lobster character Jimbo Da Mighty Lobster from Savage Dragon.

@spectorcreative1872

3 жыл бұрын

Oh my gosh! I"m going to have to give up my Savage Dragon fan card! How could I leave him out! Well I guess I was going for toy lobsters and he never made it past issue 11. But still! More here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/fX98pKypm8a5lsY.html