BEAST MAN

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

“Shaman of the Seven Savage Tribes that dwell within the majestic jungles of Eternia, Beast Man defeated the mighty bear demon and earned the right to lead his people.  Then they mysteriously disappeared.  Now he searches all corners of the planet for his tribe.  Nothing can stop him from reuniting him under his care.  Not the barbaric He-Man.  Not even the evil Skeletor.”

There’s been a slight hiatus in Masters of the Universe coverage here on the site, so, hey, why don’t we fix that. It seems like Mattel’s done a respectable job reviving the brand at retail, with three separate main lines all running concurrently. My definite favorite of the trio is Masterverse, which is sort of a half-step between Classics and the 200x run. The line started with a focus on tying in with the Revelation cartoon, but as it has continued, Mattel is treating it more like a legacy line, covering some of the other parts of the franchise. The first additional theme to be added is “New Eternia”, which reinterprets some of the pre-Masters concept work into all-new figures. Today, I’m taking a look at that particular sub-set’s version of Beast Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

New Eternia Beast Man is a deluxe offering from the Masters of the Universe: Masterverse line. Thus far, he’s only showing up at Target, but it appears that he’s only a first to market exclusive, much like Faker was. The figure stands a little over 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. The core of this figure is, unsurprisingly, the same as the Series 2 Beast Man. It’s a very sensible re-use, and it helps that it was a solid piece the first time around, and was notably not saddled with some of the issues which plagued the standard male body. The body gets modified forearms and shins, which remove the bracers from the original molds, as well as an all-new head sculpt, and new add-on pieces for his chest armor, shoulder and wrist plates, wrist bands, loin cloth, and shin guards. The parts work together to create a new look, inspired by Beast Man’s original Lords of Power concept, but modernized and made a little more monstrous. It’s a fun look, and I particularly dig the faux fur for the chest piece. There’s also a removable head piece, which furthers the sort of shaman vibe that the whole design’s got going on. It has a little trouble staying in place during posing, but it at least looks pretty cool. The more specifically updated parts can all be removed and there’s an alternate chest piece based on Beast Man’s classic design, so that you can also have a more standard looking Beast Man, adding a whole other look to the figure. The color work on Beast Man is generally okay, but he’s got a notable issue with the torso and knees being a different color from the rest of the body. Thanks to the armoring, it’s mostly hidden, but it definitely looks a little bit off. The paint work is at least otherwise applied fairly cleanly. In addition to the various parts for both of his looks, Beast Man also includes two sets of hands, his whip, and an all-new spiky club thing. According to Tim, it’s actually called a “Macuahuitl”. I was content with spiky club thing, but Tim’s a real stickler when it comes to weapons.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was content with my Revelation style Beast Man, or at least I thought I was. Life apparently had a different plan, it would seem. In a rather sizable development, I now have a six-year-old son in my life, and he was determined to buy me something I didn’t have for our first Father’s Day together, so he dragged his mother to Target, and they bought me this guy. I wasn’t in dying need of owning him at first, but, I gotta say, in hand I find this figure really fun, and I’m quite glad to have him.