ORKO — 200X

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINS (MATTEL)

Well, this year hasn’t been *without* Masters of the Universe reviews, but it has been a little sparse.  I had the two movie tie-in figures of two of the three figures I always buy from any given incarnation, but that’s been it.  And, that decidedly leaves me without a review of the third guy, Orko, who as of yet doesn’t have a movie figure.  So, with that lack of movie Orko, I guess I’ll just have to sub something else in.  As luck would have it, there’s a new Orko I haven’t reviewed, and this one’s based on my favorite incarnation of the franchise, the 2002 cartoon!  In 2022, Mattel dipped their toes in the 200x well with a He-Man translated into Origins’ more ‘80s style, and in 2024 launched the Cartoon Collection sub-line which was patterned more closely on the Filmation models.  This year, they expanded the Cartoon Collection to include the 2002 show, and there’s 25 figures released or shown off thus far, which is really quite a few.  Anyway, here’s the Orko!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko — 200x is part of the 30th Wave of Masters of the Universe Origins, which is the fourth assortment dedicated to 200x under the Cartoon Collection banner.  This is the line’s third Orko, which is a nice number of Orkos for sure.  The figure is just over 3 1/2 inches tall without his flight stand and he has 17 points of articulation.  In a trend of continuing improvements to how the Orko figures move, he not only has fully articulated arms and ball joints on the top and bottom of the head, allowing for full posing of the head and hat, but also has swivels on the ears, so that they can finally be properly oriented when the hat is repositioned.  This Orko is yet another all-new sculpt, this time based directly on the animation model from the show, something not even the original 200x figure did.  He’s notably a bit lankier than the prior Orkos, and his hat and cloak are slightly more disheveled.  Additionally, the lower portion of the cloak is more dynamic and tailored, which looks cool, but does mean that, unlike the last two Origins Orkos, this one can’t stand without the included flight base.  In general, it’s a decent enough match for the cartoon, and it all pieces together pretty well.  I did find my copy had a lot more flashing than I’m used to seeing on these figures, especially on his scarf and hands.  It’s not hard to clean it up myself, but it’s a little annoying.  Orko’s color work is more on the muted side, just like show that spawned him.  It’s still very Orko, though, so that’s really the important thing.  The paint work is minor, but what’s there works well enough for the most part.  That said, there’s some slop around the edges of the yellow trim.  Orko is packed with the more simplistic flight stand seen on the last Orko, a variation of his “hero’s medal” (which was actually part of his standard design in the show), and a pair of magic effect pieces that go over the hands.  While the magic parts are an interesting idea, I find the execution a little clumsy.  Personally, I’d have loved to see an alternate helmeted head for his “play” from the pilot, but I guess that’s a very specific extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember back when I almost didn’t buy the original Origins Orko and then I did and I thought that would be all I needed? Ah, simpler times.  In my defense, I never did imagine they’d do a whole 200x run.  It’s the show that gave me my love of Orko, and we’ve never gotten a proper animation based figure of him, so I was pretty happy to see this one.  He’s a neat figure.  I think, in terms of straightforward figures, the Filmation one may still be the slightly better figure, but this one’s quite nice, and does some cool stuff.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.