Tag Archives: He-Man

#3542: Prince Adam

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

PRINCE ADAM

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

(Not So) Fun FiQ Fact #0021:  I’m coming into this MotU review with an unfortunately re-ignited frustration towards the Classics era of the line…or at least some of it’s management.  Thankfully, I’m not focusing on that era!  Yay!

My introduction to Masters of the Universe was the 2002 re-launch of the brand, specifically the pilot movie to the cartoon, which aired during Cartoon Network’s Cartoon Theatre.  I really loved it, and got a basic He-Man from the tie-in line almost immediately.  The line was notoriously hard to find, though, so follow-ups to He-Man were on the trickier side.  But, even during the original run, I did manage to snag He-Man’s alter ego Prince Adam, who in this incarnation was actually convincingly a different guy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prince Adam was released in the third main assortment of the rebooted Masters of the Universe line from 2002.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  He was notably smaller than the rest of the Heroic Warriors, accurately depicting the smaller stature Adam had in the cartoon.  His articulation matched the rest of the line; it’s hardly super-posable, but it was an improvement on the vintage line, which was cool at the time.  Adam’s sculpt was, like the rest of the line, handled by Four Horsemen Studios.  Honestly, it’s one of my favorites from the line, just because it was different from everything else.  It takes the core elements of the vintage Adam design, and translates them into something more in-line with the updated aesthetics of the line.  There’s plenty of detail work, and it’s a pretty nice example of subtlety from the line.  Adam’s paint work is decently handled.  It’s largely on the basic side, but the application is clean.  He could definitely benefit from some additional accenting, but that was really true of this whole line.  Adam was packed with the “powered-down” version of the Power Sword, as well as a scepter thing, which originally included a missile launcher-style case, but I’ve lost that.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

My dad had driven me around to a few stores when I was looking for a basic He-Man, and from that point on, he kept a pretty close eye on the line’s other releases.  This one in particular he kept an eye out for, because it had all the markings of a particularly tricky to get release, and he wound up finding me one in a much shorter fashion than I think either of us expected.  He’s basic, and kind of just a statue, but still definitely my favorite version of Adam.

#3537: Orko

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ORKO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0016:  Orko’s original name was “Gorpo,” but having a “G” on the front of his robe would have made it difficult for Filmation’s animators to easily flip his animation cels from shot to shot, so his name was changed.

I was very hot and cold with Masters of the Universe Classics.  I definitely fell into some of its hype (it was hard not to at the time, especially given how into DC Universe Classics I was), but it was also not a line that was particularly easy to get into without paying an arm and a leg.  Even within my usual rule of only certain characters it was tricky, just based on the weird ways things wound up released.  I did wind up getting *most* of the figures I really wanted, though, which included the goofy comic relief sidekick, Orko!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko was the 2010 San Diego Comic Con exclusive for the Masters of the Universe Classics line.  There were two versions: an attendee version, and an online version.  The one here is the online version, which was the more standardized of the two, as the attendee version had a heat-activated invisibility feature.  The figure stands just shy of 3 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation.  This figure was a big deal at the time for being the first Orko properly scaled to the line he accompanied; the vintage figure was much too large, and the 200x was still a touch out of scale.  Also, while his articulation wasn’t top-notch or anything, he’s surprisingly mobile for an Orko, and even at this point, he’s only rivaled by the Origins figure.  This one got an all-new sculpt (a rarity for the line), which is clearly modeled on his Filmation incarnation.  It’s clean and well-rendered, and very certainly looks the part.  His color work was a mix of paint and molded.  The colors are a good match for his usual look, but the paint is notably a little on the sloppier side, especially when it comes to his ears.  Orko was packed with his staff and book, as well as the flight stand used by Triclops’ seers, allowing him to float.  Well, more fly; it’s honestly a little too tall, given Orko tended to float closer to the ground.  Still, as the one bit of re-use, it’s alright.  Orko also included one more, rather substantial accessory: a full Prince Adam figure.  Yep, despite being a full-scale Classics figure, Adam is treated as an accessory in every way, not getting proper billing on the package (though there’s a bubble that denotes his inclusion off to the side of Orko’s name), and even packaged laying down below the cardstock name tag for Orko.  If you don’t know he’s there, it’s possible to miss him.  Why exactly Mattel opted to do him this way is anyone’s guess, but they did some odd stuff at the time, so I’m not gonna try and delve into that myself.  Adam was built on the standard barbarian body (with the matching wrist bracers), so he stands about 7 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  He got a new head (with a real Mona Lisa smile situation going on for the expression), as well as a new vest piece.  He also got accessories of his own, in the form of both molds for the power sword (full and split) in the proper magenta color, and an alternate head borrowed from the standard He-Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t much care for Orko being an exclusive, and I didn’t have any luck getting him from Matty Collector directly either.  What *did* happen, however, is that I somehow managed to find a sealed one on eBay for a surprisingly low price.  I really only bought it for Orko, and him I do genuinely love.  Since I’m a 200x fan at heart, a classic Adam is something I could take or leave.  And, in fact, I took him and I left him…which is to say, I sold him when he was going for a rather insane aftermarket price, completely offsetting what I put into the set, because why not.  I got the pictures, though, so think of his presence in the review as being like that one last movie an actor filmed before they died, I guess.  Or maybe something less morbid?  I don’t know, do what makes you happiest.  I certainly did, which is why I just have the Orko and not the Prince Adam.

#3424: He-Man – Movie

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

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.

#3059: Savage He-Man (w/ Orko)

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

SAVAGE HE-MAN (w/ ORKO)

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

The early days of Masters of the Universe are a little loose on the exact origins and roles of the characters, with He-Man in particular being a little bit back and forth on who exactly he was.  One of the origins presented early in the minicomics has him as a jungle-dwelling barbarian granted his powers by the Goddess (an early amalgam of Teela and the Sorceress).  During the Classics incarnation of the line, this design was repurposed as Oo-Larr, an earlier carrier of the He-Man mantle.  For Revelation, it’s been repurposed once again, this time as Savage He-Man, Prince Adam’s alter-ego when the power of Greyskull isn’t channelled through the sword.  It’s a different approach to the character, and a fun nod to the history of the franchise, and its also the subject of the most recent deluxe Masterverse figure, alongside a post time-skip version of everyone’s favorite bumbling sorcerer sidekick, Orko, who needs less of a lead-in, because I kind of talk about him a lot on this site.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Savage He-Man (who is billed as the main figure here, with Orko technically just being a pack-in accessory) is a standalone deluxe-sized release for Mattel’s Masterverse line.  He started showing up at Targets first, hinting at a quiet exclusivity (kinda like what happened with Faker), but the wide release followed within about a month.

SAVAGE HE-MAN

How about that, we’re getting our first proper He-Man variant (seeing as Faker is *technically* a different character and all) for Masterverse.  It’s on one hand sort of surprising it took quite this long, and on another, not terribly, since He-Man proper only actually gets the two looks in Revelation.  They did the first one, and now here’s the second.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  He’s built on the standard male body, and, well, that’s honestly a bit surprising.  Savage He-Man in the show is very clearly a lot larger than the standard He-Man, so the assumption was that he was going to be using the larger Skelegod body, rather than the standard He-Man body.  I guess for the Oo-Larr equivalent set-up, this works out better, but it’s certainly a deviation from the source.  He’s got a new head, lower legs, feet, and loin cloth piece, and ditches the armored parts from the standard He-Man.  The new head is quite similar to the standard He-Man, just with a slightly angrier expression, and much longer hair.  I didn’t mind the normal He-Man head, so I don’t mind this one, but I know my opinion on that was far from a unanimous one.  The new legs swap out the usual boots for bare legs and feet.  The look is slightly interrupted by the cut joint mid-shin, but I’ll take that over reduced mobility.  The new loin cloth is less ornate and defined than the belted one, fitting better with the savage appearance.  Otherwise, he’s the standard parts we’ve seen before.  It’s certainly a good sculpt on its own, issues of scaling aside.  Savage He-Man’s paint isn’t something that would initially seem very involved, given how little there is to the design, but Mattel went the extra mile on this one, and actually gave him a brown was over most of the body, to really emphasize the musculature of the sculpt.  It’s a touch heavy in some spots, and also varies a bit from figure to figure, but it does a good job of changing up the appearance a bit, and differentiates him from regular He-Man nicely.  Savage He-Man is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and open gesture), a spear, an axe, and the Power Sword.  The spear’s a good callback to zoo-Larr, and I’m glad to finally have the classic He-Man axe in this style.  Why he comes with the sword is anyone’s guess, since this explicitly He-Man without the sword to channel the power, but I won’t complain about extra stuff.

ORKO

I don’t know how it worked out for everyone else, but despite this guy being listed as an accessory, Orko was my main reason for picking up this set.  That being the case, I’m reviewing him as his own figure.  Orko has a few looks over the course of the show, but this figure goes for his post time skip, magic-deprived appearance.  Amusingly, this look doesn’t ever interact with Savage He-Man, so  the pack-in here is kinda weird. But, hey, if it gets me Orko, I won’t complain.  The core Orko figure is about 3 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation, but he’s got a hovering stand, which adds another two inches of height, as well as 3 more points of articulation.  Orko’s not terribly mobile.  It’s not like he usually is, of course, but more recent figures have at least given him extra motion at the arms.  This one only gets mobility at the shoulders and the neck.  It’s partially a design thing, since the arms are bare and rather scrawny, making them slightly impractical for articulation.  The neck joint’s not great, either, at least on mine, where it wobbles pretty freely, and doesn’t really hold a pose.  The sculpt is at least all new, and does a respectable job of looking the part, even if the movement isn’t really there.  The paint work on Orko is pretty basic.  There’s not a ton going on, but it does what it needs to, and it works pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My main goal in this line is to assemble Teela’s post time jump team, and I need an Orko for that.  Him being bundled with Savage He-Man wasn’t my first choice, but I went along with it.  Savage He-Man’s okay, if not thrilling.  Orko is an accessory, and it shows.  He’s not awful, but he’s not great either.  Still, I’m happy to have him in some form, rather than nothing.

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

#2879: He-Man – Revelation

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

HE-MAN — REVELATION

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

About a month and a half ago, Netflix dropped the first half of Masters of the Universe Revelation, the Kevin Smith-led continuation of the original series.  It’s a really fun product, and an absolute love letter to the vintage toyline and the history behind it.  It is, notably, the first Masters cartoon not to have He-Man’s name above the title, which signifies his slightly diminished role, at least in what we’ve seen so far.  He’s still very much present, and very much pivotal to the story, but it’s in a way that allows some of the others to shine just a little bit more.  That said, he’s still He-Man, and Mattel knows what’s up with how the toys work, so he’s part of the first drop of figures from the show, and I’ll be taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

He-Man is part of the first series of Masters of the Universe: Masterverse, which just started showing up in stores towards the middle/end of July, and is more fully making it out there now.  The first set is unsurprisingly heavy hitter led.  How are you not going to put He-Man and Skeletor into the first line-up, right?  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The Masterverse figures stand just a little bit taller than Classics did, however, the proportions are a little different, so these figures will fit a little bit better with 6 inch lines, since they look more like they’re just really tall, rather than genuinely being a larger scale like Classics were (despite Mattel’s insistance to the contrary).  After a long time using the same articulation schemes, or even dumbing some of those schemes down, the Masterverse figures feel like they’re actually trying to get on Hasbro’s more recent level.  Elbows and knees are both double jointed and they’re true side to side motion on the ankles.  The articulation is also worked into the sculpt in a more aesthetically pleasing way, and they’re even doing the pinless construction on the elbows and knees as well.  There’s still a little bit of a learning curve; the softer plastic of the hips means they have to be posed just right or they risk getting stuck, which may cause some stressing on those joints long-term.  Also be careful with the knees, as the right knee on mine has some slight imperfections in the plastic that would have caused it to tear had I not been careful with it on my first posing.  Hopefully, they will continue to improve on those fronts so that breakage isn’t too much of a risk, but it’s honestly not as bad as it could be, given it’s Mattel we’re talking about here, and their track record hasn’t been the greatest.  He-Man is built on what will be the primary base body for this line.  He already shares a good portion of it with Skeletor, as is expected.  It’s a different build for him, not quite as squatty and wide as Classics or Origins.  It’s more of a step towards 200x, but without the harsher line work.  I like it, as it feels more naturalistic.  The sculpting is a little on the softer side, but looks pretty decent, and in line with the animation style from the cartoon.  I’m not 100% sold on the head sculpt, but it’s not terrible, and I like it much more than I ever liked the Classics sculpt.  He-Man’s paint work is pretty basic overall.  There’s some decent accent work on the loin cloth and boots, which I quite like, but otherwise it’s a lot of molded coloring.  It fits the style well.  He-Man is packed with the power sword, his shield, and four hands (two gripping, a right fist, and a left relaxed).  It’s not a ton, but it’s also more than we’ve gotten on other Masters releases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

He-Man is usually the weakest link in any Masters set for me, so I wasn’t chomping at the bit to own this figure, at least initially.  After watching the show, I found myself really liking this take on the character, and enjoying how this design looked on screen, so I was warming up to the idea of getting one.  Max ended up snagging this one for himself, but upon opening it, wasn’t really feeling it, so he offered it up to me.  My expectations were moderate, but I was pretty happy with the final figure, and I honestly like him a lot more than the Classics version, so he’ll be replacing that one in my collection.  Now, for the rest of the line!

#1009: Castle Grayskull

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CASTLE GRAYSKULL

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

Grayskull1

Playsets for action figures are by and large a thing of the past. They were really big in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and even kept up steam for a good part of the ’90s, but a general trending towards less interest in action figures coupled with rising costs of plastics has made them less than practical. Sure, you still see the occasional set here and there, but they lack the charm of the older sets. Occasionally, an attempt is made at recapturing that charm for a more collector-oriented market. A few years back, Mattel used their online store Matty Collector to get enough backers to fund a high(ish)-end version of Castle Grayskull, an important part of the He-Man mythos. This not a review of that. Nope, this is a review of its direct predecessor. Well, most of it anyway. Let’s get to the review!

THE PLAYSET ITSELF

Grayskull7Castle Grayskull was released as a deluxe playset during the first year of the 2002 Masters of the Universe line. The Castle is designed to fit with the basic 6-inch figures Mattel offered. It’s actually about half-scale. In its defense, even the much larger, much more expensive Castle Grayskull was only three-quarter-scale, and that one wasn’t even vying for valuable retail shelf space. As it is, it’s definitely undersized, but it’s large enough that it suits the purpose it was built for pretty well. The Castle is just about 20 Grayskull2inches tall and 17 inches wide. When the Castle is all folded up, it’s only about 4 inches deep. The exterior of the Castle is pretty impressively detailed, and features a very nice selection of textures, which keep it exciting. Well, for a non-mobile playset anyway. The overall look, though undersized, is a very nice translation of the Castle’s 200x design. As you can probably note from the pictures, the parapets are made up of several Grayskull3different pieces, which clip into place. They were prone to fall off, which is why my set is missing a couple of them. The Castle can unfold, which reveals the interior and increases the depth of the set to 11 inches. The interior of the Castle isn’t quite as nice as the exterior, since it has to fit inside when folded. Still, there are several very nice details, including a spot for weapon storage and even a neat little computer thingy in the corner. I also love the small, easy to overlook details, like the skull and rat on the floor in the prison cell area. For some reason, in the 2000s, toy Grayskull5companies thought that the best way to sell a playset was to work in some weird battery-operated, figure prompted gimmick. Remember the ThunderLynx bit from the Tower of Omens? Well, Castle Grayskull’s got something like that. Each of the figures in the 200x Masters line (well, at least the earlier ones) had a little…thingy imbedded in their foot, which was expressly designed to work with this set. There are several spots on the set where there’s a golden footprint. When a figure’s foot was Grayskull9moved back and forth on this spot, it would release a lever on a door, revealing differing parts of the set or activating traps. Most of them are a little weird and gimmicky, but I do quite like the one on the upper level, which swings open a door revealing a special chrome version of the power sword placed on a nice little pedestal. It’s still really gimmicky, but, c’mon! Chrome! In addition to the aforementioned chrome sword, the Castle included a flag (missing Grayskull6from mine), a big cannon sort of thing, a set of shackles, bars for a cell (also missing), a giant key (because why not?), as well as a large arsenal of weapons, of which I only have the trident. Still, that was a pretty awesome selection of extras, especially given the kind of extras we see nowadays.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time of the 200x Masters line, I had aged out of playsets. Yeah, I know, it shocks me too. Aging out of toys. I was just about aged back into collecting playsets when Mattel’s collector version was released, but it was just far too hefty a price for a moderate Masters fan such as myself. Of course, this more economical set had also gone up quite a bit in price. As you might have guessed (or just have already known, for those of you who paid attention to my Teela review), the Castle was part of the big Goodwill find from several weeks back. I ended up spotting this particular set first, and upon discovering it was only $4.50, I felt like I couldn’t say no. Sure, it’s not complete, but it was also super cheap, and it’s actually a really fun set. It’s too bad I never got one when they were new!

Side Note: This set was far too large for my usual photo set-up, so this is the first item to be shot in the Auxiliary Photo Studio (aka the dining room). As it turns out, the Auxiliary Photo Studio takes two people to operate, so special thanks goes out to Super Awesome Girlfriend, who aided with most of the photos you see here!

Grayskull8

#1006: Battle Tank

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BATTLE TANK

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

BattleTank1

Masters of the Universe was one of the pinnacles of ’80s toylines.  It had all the trappings: gimmicky figures, wacky action features, play sets, and, yes, lots of vehicles for the figures to make use of.  The vehicles were a success in the ’80s, so Mattel gave them another try with the 200x relaunch.  They weren’t quite as successful that time around, but they certainly tried.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of those vehicles, the somewhat mediocre Battle Tank.  Let’s have a look at that!

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

BattleTank3The BattleTank was one of the earliest vehicles in the 200x line, released during the line’s first year.  The vehicle measures 9 ¾ inches long and 6 ½ inches tall.  The Battle Tank is somewhat oddly named.  It looks more like some sort of ramming vehicle and less like what I would think of as a tank.  Of course, I suppose that a more conventional tank might look out of place in Masters of the Universe, so there’s that.  Still, I feel like there could have been a more exciting name for this thing.  As far as the actual sculpt goes, I suppose the tank’s not bad.  It’s a bit rudimentary and clunky, but it’s serviceable.  I think the biggest issue I have with it is how it interacts with the BattleTank2figures.  Their limited articulation means that any vehicle meant for them has to do the heavy lifting in terms of helping them sit.  The tank would be difficult for even a Marvel Legend to sit on comfortably.  The MotU figures look rather uncomfortable, and they all have to do this weird sort of lounging lean.  It’s not exactly an imposing look.  The tank has a pop-out feature, which launches the head forward and flips out two little wing things at the sides, which makes it somewhat cooler looking, but also makes it even less tank-like. There’s not really any paint on the tank, but there are a lot of decals which make up for it. They’re kind of basic, but they look okay.  They stay on pretty well, which is the important part with decals.  The Battle Tank was packed with a basic He-Man, who was the same as the standard Series 1 version, which I suppose isn’t a bad thing, but a unique figure might have been a little cooler.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been much into the MotU vehicles, so I never had any of them.  This one was part of the Goodwill find from a few weeks ago.  I found this last out of the bunch, and I honestly only got it because I felt bad leaving it there by itself.  Island of Misfit toys and all that.  I can’t say it was my favorite piece of the find, but it’s enjoyable enough, and certainly worth what I paid for it.  All in all, not bad.

 

#1003: Battle Cat

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BATTLE CAT

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

BattleCat1

Masters of the Universe leans pretty hard on classical fantasy tropes. One of those tropes was the inclusion of steeds that were something other than a horse. The first animals inducted into the original Masters line were feline beasts, one for each side’s leader. Skeletor and the Evil Warriors got Panthor, and He-Man and the Heroic Warriors had Battle Cat, who’s the focus of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BattleCat3Battle Cat was released as a deluxe item alongside the first series of Masters of the Universe figures. He and Panthor were released at the same time. The figure stands about 3 ½ inches tall and is about 9 inches from nose to tail. The vintage Battle Cat didn’t feature any articulation, but the 2002 version changes things up a bit, giving him joints at the top of each leg and a swivel joint on the tail. There’s also a button on the figure’s back which, when pressed, swings the right front leg forward and opens the mouth. So, he’s still not super posable, but certainly an improvement over earlier figures.  Battle Cat makes use of four different add-ons for his armor. The torso piece is strapped into place, while he helmet and toe guards just snap into place. All of the pieces are very nicely sculpted, with lots of fun details that add a little bit of depth to the armor. In addition, the pieces all stay in place pretty securely, which is a definite plus. The underlying body is decently sculpted. Obviously, the areas left exposed by the armor are given the most detailing, but the face is surprisingly well detailed, despite being covered by the faceplate. The paintwork on Battle Cat is rather on the minimal size. For the most part, the colors are done via molded plastic with only the stripes and the eyes and mouth being actually painted. The stripes could possibly be a little cleaner, but other than that, the figure looks pretty good. In addition to the armor pieces, Battle Cat also included a pair of missile launching cannons, which could be attached to the shoulder armor. They were, however, not the slightest bit accurate to the show’s armor design.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never had a Battle Cat growing up. For whatever reason he was never my thing. I did want a Panthor, but never got one (I eventually got the MotUC version, so that’s a win for me). I ended up getting Battle Cat just a few weeks ago, at the same time as Teela. Mostly, I got him because he was $2, which I feel is just about always a good reason to get an action figure. Battle Cat was an improvement upon a figure than needed quite a bit of improving. That makes him a decent figure, but hardly anything stellar. Still, when paired with the He-Man from the same line, this figure does manage to look pretty darn awesome, and that’s more than worth the $2 I paid.

BattleCat2

#1001: He-Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

HE-MAN

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2002)

HeMan200x1

In this day and age, action figures are almost exclusively a licensing game. Due to rising costs and falling demand, completely original toylines just aren’t worth the risk, which is really a shame. There was a time when the big companies were known for their own properties. Hasbro had G.I. Joe (and technically Transformers, though that one’s a bit complicated) and Mattel had Barbie. Mattel had also wanted to tap into the boys market, first trying with the moderately successful Big Jim, before striking it big with Masters of the Universe. Unfortunately for Mattel, Masters didn’t really find success any time after the early-to-mid-80s. They’ve still done their best to keep the line alive. They’re second attempt at bringing it back was in 2002, which was where I came in. Today, I’ll be looking at that line’s first version of the main guy, He-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HeMan200x2He-Man was released in the first series of Mattel’s re-launched Masters of the Universe line. The prototype and early shipments of the figure sported an iron cross logo (just like the vintage He-Man had), but later figures (such as mine) had the H-style logo from the 2002 cartoon. He-Man stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. It’s worth noting that this figure was shipping at around the same time as the first series of Marvel Legends, so the articulation wasn’t the most stellar. Still, it’s better than the vintage figures had, so that’s a small win. The sculpt for He-Man (and the entire 200x MotU line) was handled by Four Horsemen Studios. The design is very angular and definitely is a product of its time, but it holds up. Despite Mattel’s penchant for re-use, He-Man’s sculpt was never used for anyone other than He-Man, and this figure was the first one to have it. It’s certainly a nice sculpt. The harness is a separate piece, which can be removed if one so chooses, so that’s cool. The paintwork on He-Man isn’t anything amazing, but it’s solid. The details are all pretty clean, and the hair even has some nice accent work. It would be nice if some of that accent work had ended up a few other spots, but it’s not horrible. He-Man included his sword of power (which could have the guard turned like on the show), a shield, and an axe. The sword can be stowed in the back of the harness, as can the axe and shield, if you’re patient.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t familiar with anything Masters of the Universe until Cartoon Network aired the first few episodes of the 2002 cartoon as a movie to kick off the series. After seeing the movie, I immediately wanted a He-Man. Unfortunately, it aired a little after the early shipments of figures had hit, which made finding a He-Man a little difficult. My Dad drove me to several different stores with no luck, but I eventually found him at a Target. I really liked the figure at the time. I don’t know that he’s one of my favorites now, but he certainly isn’t bad, and I can’t deny he’s a cool looking figure.