This was indeed a surprise. I doubt anybody saw this one coming. I never did, that’s for sure! Glow-Ra (as he is coined by ToyBro), is a rather interesting choice for an exclusive. And a BBTS one for that matter. The preorder went up in November 2020, and started shipping out to customers at the tail end of January 2021. By now we’ve had a few waves on preorder with only Wave 1 delivered, so getting something “new” from this line was pleasant.
My very first reactions to this was “wow” but a day or two later I was disappointed. Not because of the release. This was a very groovy addition to the line. My OCD was my downfall as I tend to look for a legitimate reason for this release. I found it eventually. Why would he glow green? Was it ever like that in the toon? Then I happened across the Mongor episode (ooooh, now THAT would be a crazy ULTIMATES! figure, right???!!). And there it was: Mumm-Ra hearing the kerfuffle at his cauldron that this spirit has escaped its tomb, and as he shuffled along the floor towards it, he was a green glow of evil! Ha!!! Gotcha!!!! Now it was exciting. And since I already had my sarcophagus from Joe Amaro on its way too, these two would be the perfect pairing.
So ol’ Glow-Ra found his place amongst the ranks of releases, and although Super7 has a history of fun and GITD releases, I never expected how they would tackle it in this line. Sure everyone thought about ghost Jaga being GITD. That makes sense. Then I started looking at the cartoon with new eyes. What other GITD releases could there be? There’s a blue “falling-into-the-Book-of-Omens” Lion-O AND Snarf. Yes, both GITD and falling into the depths of the book. That suddenly became a new fun way of thinking about GITD figures. And I do hope that we’ll get these weird releases in the future.
The packaging screams “exclusive”. There is the standard brown mailer box (that says Evil Glow beneath his name) and then there is the lovely red shiny box inside. It is exactly shaped like the previous one from Wave 1 (sadly sans the subtext), but this is more elegant and, of course a deep crimson red. Even the artwork on the inner box is the same foiled theme. It is a lovely color contrast to the other black boxes that we’ve gotten so far and I hope that Super7 will release more exclusives that look different like this one. It will make for an interesting display if you are an MIB collector.
The first thing you’ll notice once you take out the figure (if you haven’t seen it yet earlier last month), is that his eyes are red now. Not white as advertised. It makes sense to have it red. It works better when he glows. I’m not sure if the white eyes would’ve had the same effect. BBTS updated this on their website and I’m glad that Super7 made this change during the production. All of the other accessories that he got are GITD. Cleverly painted with white, red and black here and there, beautiful black brushing on the slight green-tinted GITD plastic, and of course a different shade cloak (both the fabric and the plastic). It’s more of a maroon color than the previous bright red from Wave 1. I dig it. It gives more variety to the line so you can actually display any of your Mumm-Ra’s with the color you like most.
There’s no difference in any of the articulation. And the plastic feels strangely the same. Not sure why I expected it to be any different, but this is my first real GITD figure from Super7 so I’m a newbie when it comes to owning one of these. The glow is eerily evil indeed. Mumm-Ra has all of the same accessories from the first release, so there isn’t anything new here. I would’ve loved to see something else included here, but this is still good enough for me. Everything glows bright green and the glow holds a good while. His staff itself is also very visible with the black horns and red eyes. Especially if it is held out in front of him, then the silhouette of the horns are quite spooky.
In conclusion, I do think that this was a great “filler” in between the wait for Wave 2 and the rest. I now own three different Mumm-Ra’s, and I don’t foresee any other variants of this character in the future. He has his place on the display and I’m very happy he is in my collection. I would recommend that you hurry on up to get it from BBTS before it sells out. We all know that Super7 has moved their production to other factories, so whether we’ll see this one again in the future I highly doubt it. UPDATE 8 October 2021: He has now officially sold out!
