Ninjor vintage figure review thread

[Spacedust]

A good response last week to King Randor's review thread.

This week's thread is looking at that mysterious master of martial arts, NINJOR.

Ninjor was released as part of the final wave of figures. After Horde and Snake Men figures taking up most of the previous couple of waves, it was good to see some new additions to the Evil Warriors' ranks.

Ninjor is in some ways a Jitsu mark II. His head is a Jitsu repaint, they both fight in martial arts, and they both have spring-loaded right arms. And like Jitsu, Ninjor is one of the least used characters of the line. Being a ninja his is mysterious to begin with, and being so little used, thus little known about him, he is mysterious even more.

Ninjor's actual body is entirely recycled, with standard 'evil warrior' arms and legs, and aforementioned Jitsu head re-paint. But it makes up for it with his weapons (sword, nun-chakus and bow), which are all new.

Although I saw him listed on the back of a few late boxes, I don't think I ever saw a Ninjor on the U.K. toy shelves, he was quite scarce.
For some time I actually wondered if he was released in the U.K. at all, as there is the infamous long-running thing in the U.K. regarding ninja stuff being promoted to children. The classic example is 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' being changed to 'Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles' with manyedits (Michelangelo, armed with his nun-chakus, was seldom seen fighting; cut Panthro's nun-chakus out of 'Thundercats', and many marital arts films, even those with high ratings, being edited to remove certain moves, nun-chakas and suchlike.
But from what I can find, Ninjor was actually sold in the U.K. unchanged - albeit quite rare.

I got a semi-complete Ninjor mid-way through re-collecting the line in recent years. Later on I got a complete, mint example, for a so-so price on ebay.

Ninjor is scarce to find at is it is, and with all of his parts (tunic, hood, sword, nun-chakus and bow) complete is even rarer.

The character was far too late to ever appear in any Filmation version - if he had, it would have been cuts supreme to U.K. airings.

As yet, there has been no 200x sign of Ninjor, but maybe we can hold out for a staction figure at some point.

All-in-all, Ninjor is a good figure. Not a classic MOTU example, but a fair figure in his own right. I'll give him a decent 8 out of 10.

[TrimmTrabb]

His head isn't a Jitsu repaint. That's a common misconception.

[Flor2099]

I voted 3, mostly because I simply don't give a very big hoot about Ninjor, but also because I'm just sick to death of ninjas.

[Mike Bock]

Ninjor's head is totally different from Jitsu's
It's not a simple repaint at all:

[Captain Atkin]

It's kind of disappointing that he was a villian, as we already had one asian villian with Jitsu. Looking back, they should have made him a hero. Not all ninjas are evil, after all!

[krugos]

Ninjor's head is totally different from Jitsu's
It's not a simle repaint at all:

This is the first time I see Ninjor's face, I didn't even knew you could remove his hood, thanks for the pic!

I gave him a 5, I think that's the lower rate I would give to the regular figures. I just don't see anything interesting about it's design, and since I never saw it when I was a kid it has no nostalgic value for me.

[Darth Latveria]

I remember him being given as a gift to some kid in my class when I was in elementary school. It was during one of those secret santa things that the class would do around christmas. The crappy thing was when the kid said, "but I don't even like he-man", haha.

[Louis649]

I got a Ninjor almost complete(without nunchucks) and in near mint condition two weeks ago and I have to say it becomes one of my favorite MOTU action figures ever since. It's exciting to have a MOTU collection a little bit more diverse than the regular collector here by having some of the most uncommon MOTU action figures(Horde Trooper, Saurod & Ninjor) in it. I would like to grab some other of the 1986-87 action figures if a good opportunity appear along the way.

[Orko's Magic Hat]

Ninjor is one of my favourite figures from the final waves of MOTU. There's just something cool about him, the fact that he has little backstory and is dressed in black, appears to be human and has dragon-like feet and comes with real nunchucks!, just makes him cool!

I never owned Ninjor as a kid, but remember seeing him in TRU around xmas '88, when I was into Ghostbusters. Wish I picked him up. I have recently got a Ninjor, but not complete and certainly no weapons.

I'd give him a straight 10/10, for being mysterious and cool-looking.

[pain]

I give him a 4. I did not have any as a kid, but I have had my hands on unopened cases of him as a collector. He just does absolutely nothing for me.

but as people have set, he does have an entirely new head sculpt, and his sword is Jitsu's only silver. Also, his bow was available in the Eternia playset only gold.

I still do not like him. He just seems like such a regular lackey. The only reason that he got a four is because of Iceman and Gbakocs story a couple of years ago.

[motu77]

I gave him a 10, what I'm giving every figure from the 87 line. I really like the design of this figure and I just wish they could have built on his story.

Plus, I won't get into specifics but for nostalgia reasons the entire 87 line (even Gwildor) has a special meaning for me.

[Metal Misfit]

Not all ninjas are evil, after all!

Yes, but evil ninjas are cooler.

I'd love to get my hands on Ninjor, I'm about half-way through owning all the figures right now. Someday, eBay, someday...

[Spacedust]

Absolutely right, my memory was playing tricks, it isn't a Jitsu repaint head (hangs head in shame); I've only had a complete Ninjor a while and it's details haven't quite sunk into the depths of my memory yet.

They look like they may be based on the same original sculpt though.

[davidlogan]

I love Ninjor!!! 10
Lots of weapons, cool idea and nice look. I think he's a lot of fun and can only dream about how great he might have been if the new line had continued.

[Yoko]

6/10 He realy doesn't do much for me But hes Ok.

I also think they should have made him heroic

[TriKlops1971]

I gave Ninjor a 6 because of the figure's quality and the number of accessories packaged with it. I would have rated Ninjor higher, but there are two things I just didn't like about him. First, I think Ninjor was Mattel's way of rehashing the Jitsu figure. The second is that the figure came along too late into the MOTU craze for me to really get worked up about it. Plus, there is some merit to the stereotyping argument, although I don't think it was an intentional slam made by Mattel.

[Bowhead Whale]

I gave Ninjor a 7. He is a nice character. A ninja is, indeed, a perfect henchman for Skeletor: mysterious identity, silent moving... Yup! a good character. Even if his concept is not entirely original.

[Evil_Horde]

I love Ninjor! Voted 9!

[PaoloKr]

Cool figure, cool character and totally different from Jitsu.
9

[kylun flac]

when i would play with my t.m.n.t. i would incorporate ninjor into the fray.