Mind your tung, lashor

Purple, hybrid lizard-snake monsters are nothing unique in action figure lines, nor are they especially unusual in Masters of the Universe (MOTU) land either, but there’s a pleasing symmetry with 1985’s Tung Lashor, from its phonetic (or illiterate) name, to the balanced colour scheme and simple but effective ‘motif’.  For those that don’t know, Tung Lashor's special subject is a less than innocuous-looking wheel embedded in his back that when rolled, extends a slippery ribbon-like, forked tongue down his ripped, raging torso.  It’s enough to charm the snake lovers, and seriously disturb the rest.

I’ve been selective with my MOTU acquisitions (I'll elaborate on that another time), and even traded a few of my childhood collection to amass a more compact collection that represents my favourites, to which Tung Lashor holds membership.  What impressed me most about this psychedelic reptilian was undoubtedly the colour scheme; it’s vibrant and demands attention, not necessarily garish or lairy, but really gives the imagined look of alienised snake skin, akin to a "Toxic Avenger" rendition.  The figure’s proportions and "trick" (wheel and tongue) are also robust and his solid construction is superior to most of his contemporaries.  Tung Lashor stands firm and unassisted, meanwhile, the Kobra Khan's and King Hiss' of this world are all pigeon-toed and looking constipated. 

While the accoutrements are pretty typical for the line (all the snake-men with the exception of Kobra Khan seem to prefer a snake staff in preference to a more practical sword or pistol, perhaps this is to signify fraternity or acknowledge kinship with one another), with his over-reaching tongue extension, he doesn’t seem to actually need any further enhancement to compete.  I always figured he could just lash his victims into submission, poison them with venom, or alternatively, strangle them with his freakishly long mouth monster.  And unlike his peers, he's got a neck like a bull that would make most front-row forwards blush.  This is clearly an alpha-male snake-lizard-alien-thing..  In other words, don't be fooled by all that pink, there's nothing remotely androgynous about Tung Lashor (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Serious pondering aside, Tung Lashor is also the quintessential party-trick action figure, the kind of toy everyone should have on display as a talking-point, or just to convey to unweary guests that you might in fact be a little unusual.  If you only wanted to sample the range of snake-men from the MOTU line, then after the original Kobra Khan, Tung Lashor is imho the next best concept and construction designed to stand-out in your action figure crowd.

Tung Lashor | 1985 | Mattel | Masters of the Universe