ROBOTO — MINICOMIC

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINS (MATTEL)

Something I’ve discussed a lot in my more recent Masters of the Universe reviews is how I avoid getting *too* sucked into Masters lines by sticking to a few select characters and not expanding much beyond that.  It tends to lock me in at one version of a given character per style.  Sometimes, however, it backfires on me just a little bit, when Mattel does exactly what they’ve done here and goes for an easy repaint.  And then I’m over here buying yet another Roboto.  Worse things have happened, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roboto was released as part of Wave 12 of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins line, which started showing up towards the end of the summer.  The line’s been a little out of sequence, so they actually wound up hitting *after* 13, and with a pretty last minute announcement at that.  Whatever the case, we got a new Roboto, and that’s what really matters.  This one is specifically patterned on his early minicomic appearances, which has been a running trend of variants for the line.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation, in addition to the moving jaw piece.  Roboto is a total parts re-use from the standard colored version, which isn’t even the slightest bit surprising.  That’s been the mincomic set-up for the most part, and Roboto’s look is pretty much just a palette swap anyway.  It’s still a very strong sculpt, and I like it a lot, so I certainly don’t mind seeing it again.  The main change-up here, of course, is the color scheme, which shifts him to the colors seen in “The Battle of Roboto,” and other minicomics from the vintage run.  His limbs are now orange, rather than blue and red, and, most importantly, he’s got the heart on his chest, which in the comics was the thing responsible for Roboto’s human emotions.  It’s so hokey, but I love it so much, so I’m very glad it’s there.  Just like his first release, Roboto includes his three arm attachments: blaster, axe, and claw.  He’s also still got the standard action feature; turning the torso moves the gears in the chest and moves his jaw up and down.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Roboto is an interesting break from how I was introduced to a good portion of MOTU.  I know most of it because of the 200x series, but in Roboto’s case, my first exposure to the character was in “The Battle of Roboto,” which came with my vintage Orko that I picked up at a toy show in the early ’00s.  I loved that take on the character, and it’s informed my love of the character in general since.  I honestly didn’t expect this figure, but I was genuinely very excited by its announcement and arrival.  He’s not terribly different from the last one, of course, but I love the small little touches.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.