HE-MAN — MOVIE

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

Masters of the Universe was quite a powerhouse property in the early to mid ’80s, and it’s owners Mattel had seen great success not just with the toys, but also in the realm of comics and TV. With that in mind, they set their sights on a theatrical film, and said film materialized in 1987…to mixed results. By ’87, public interest had started to move past MotU, and the film itself was held back by its changes to the source material, largely the result of its rather small budget. In the years since, it’s gotten quite a cult following, however, and, aided by a resurgence of interest in the franchise as a whole, it’s even managed to get a little bit of toy coverage, too, including a pair of Masterverse figures, the first of which I’m taking a look at today! Let’s take a look at He-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

He-Man is a deluxe sized offering from the Masters of the Universe: Masterverse line, the first of the two movie-based deluxe figures (the other being Skeletor). The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation. He’s using the line’s standard male body, which works well enough. Though some of the people at Mattel during the film’s production apparently found Dolph Lundgren, who was a body builder who could snap most normal men in two mind you, too scrawny for the role, the standards of build for He-Man have changed enough that the line’s standard build actually matches up pretty well. He gets two new heads, new upper arms, and shins, as well as overlays for his harness, belt, and wrist guard, and a soft goods cape. The first head is the actual “movie inspired” one, though that largely just amounts to the styling of his hair, as they didn’t actually get Lundgren’s likeness rights. He doesn’t look *unlike* Lundgren, I suppose, but his face does seem a little wide. His alternate head is a more house style He-Man, which looks odd to me, but I guess there’s an appeal to it. The heads are really difficult to swap, though, to the point where I was worried I was going to break the neck peg when going back and forth. The rest of the new parts capture his film look pretty well, and I quite like how the cape gets printed detailing on the outside. He-Man’s color work is decent enough. Definitely the armor and hair get the best work, since there’s some solid accenting in play there. He’s packed with his power sword, two different knives, a pistol, and two sets of hands. I really like that he’s actually got storage for all the weapons, but I’m less enthusiastic about the fact that the paint is already chipping on the sword handle, and also that none of his hands can properly hold the pistol.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was late to the game on the Masters movie, and didn’t actually see it until I was in college about a decade ago. After years of hearing how bad it was, I was pleasantly surprised, and it’s become one I’ve returned to a good number of times. I really wanted to grab Super 7’s Movie He-Man when he hit, but missed out and always regretted it, so I was glad to get another chance with this one. I actually got this one as a Father’s Day gift from my son Matthew, who was committed to keeping last year’s theme of Masterverse going. He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s fun, and I’m very glad to have him.