Tag Archives: Masters of the Universe

#3912: Roboto

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

ROBOTO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

It’s been a year and a half since I’ve talked at all about Masters of the Universe Classics.  There’s….reasons?  I mean, the big one is that the line’s been dead for the better part of a decade, so it’s not like there’s a lot of updates.  Also, I’m only a moderate MOTU fan at best, so it’s not like I’ve even got a huge backlog of them.  And discussion of how the line was run is tricky at best, and I’ll just leave it at that.  But, I do have some parts of the franchise that I enjoy no matter the surrounding situation, and one of the core characters for that is Roboto.  He’s just so neat and nifty and retro, and that’s very fun.  So, let’s look at another one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roboto was the October release for Masters of the Universe Classics 2010 run of figures, making him the tenth standard figure of the line’s third year.  By 2010, the line was pretty much in full-swing, and they’d gotten the subscriptions set up, so Roboto was around for a leisurely 2 hours and some change before selling out, which I guess was pretty nice.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  While he loses the mid-torso joint that most figures in the line sported, he does gain an articulated jaw, so it winds up as an even trade.  Roboto’s sculpt was a mix of new and re-used, which was pretty par for the course.  Like his vintage counterpart, he shares his legs with Trap-Jaw (who also shared his legs with Optikk, all three the same year), but his upper half is all-new.  Roboto was very definitely based directly on his vintage counterpart, rather than his 200x version.  At the time, it was the most sensible choice.  There was an alternate head made available later, but that wasn’t present with the initial release.  The sculpt does a pretty respectable job of capturing that vintage look.  The head and torso are very cleanly detailed, and I love the working jaw and turning gears inside the torso.  I also really dig the little heart sculpted around the central gear, in reference to his mini comic appearance.  The arms are fine, but the elbows are notably rather restricted in their motion, which was a recurring issue for the line.  QC was unfortunately a notable issue for this guy.  Thankfully, mine isn’t plagued by the torso cracking, but there was no avoiding the reversed shoulders.  They aren’t the end of the world, but it’s pretty obvious they’re not the way they’re supposed to be.  The color work was actually pretty nice for this guy; he’s really bright and bold, so it makes him very eye-catching.  He’s also got a wash on the silver sections, to help bring out the sculpted details a little better.  Roboto was packed with his classic claw, axe, and blaster attachments, as well as a standard hand.  The weapons are a bit soft and prone to warping, but generally they look okay, and the standard hand is a nice addition.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had only *just* picked up my first MOTUC figure when Roboto dropped, and I wasn’t up on keeping current, so I missed his day-of.  I contemplated getting him a number of times early in the run, but he was always just a little over what I wanted to pay, and then I ended up sort of falling out of it all.  I’ve been keeping an eye out for a bit, though, since he was the only of my regular line-up of characters I didn’t have for Classics.  While on family vacation, Matty wanted to go to the toy store, and they just so happened to have one of this guy for for a price I was willing to pay, so, huzzah, I have one!  Admittedly, in light of the Origins and Masterverse figures, he feels kind of quaint and a little outmatched, but I’m glad to have him nevertheless, and I’ll never complain abut more Roboto figures.

#3876: Orko

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

ORKO — HEROIC COURT MAGICIAN!

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINS (MATTEL)

I am veritably swimming in Masters of the Universe reviews these days, aren’t I?  Okay, maybe not, but two of them in one month is something of a crazy step up compared to more recent set-ups.  I’m continuing to stick to my guns on only following specific characters, but Mattel keeps getting my by doing additional variants of said characters.  It’s like the *know*.  Or, you know, they’re trying to keep the line fresh.  The last couple of years, Mattel’s been revisiting a lot of the Origins figures to do more specifically Filmation-inspired takes, and the latest of those includes one of my go-to guys, Orko!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko is part of the 25th series of Masters of the Universe Origins, which is a completely Cartoon Collection-branded assortment (simply “Cartoon” since they can’t actually use “Filmation” on the packaging).  The figure is about 3 inches tall (without his flight stand) and he has 14 points of articulation.  As with all Orkos, he’s without any legs, so he doesn’t get any articulation on that front, but he’s got a decent selection of movement in the arms, and even gets an extra point of movement from the last Origins Orko, thanks to his hat being on a balljoint, so you can move it back and forth.  His sculpt is an entirely new one from the last figure.  While there was certainly a cartoon inspiration on the last one, he was also serving two masters in a sense, also replicating the vintage figure.  One of the biggest areas was actually how big he was; he was about an inch too tall for proper scaling with the other figures.  This one addresses that, so he’ll fit in better with the others.  Otherwise, his sculpt isn’t *drastically* different from the last one.  It’s more of a death by paper cuts sort of thing where the small changes all add up to a different looking figure.  In terms of color work, the two figures remain fairly consistent, however.  The one notable change is, at least on my copy, that this guy’s application is a lot cleaner.   Orko gets a pretty nice selection of extras, with a flight stand, his “Hero” medal from “Creatures From the Tar Swamp”, and an extra head and scarf so that Orko can be turned into his Uncle Mortok.  Apart from the beard not totally covering Orko’s “O”, it’s a very cool set-up, and I like getting an extra character out of it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I bought my Classics Orko, I really thought that was gonna be it.  The Origins one was cool, but I didn’t need it….until I saw it in hand and I caved, because I’m an easy mark.  I didn’t think I’d need *another* one, though, especially since he was more directly cartoon based than other Origins figures.  But, by the time this one was announced, I knew it wasn’t a battle I was going to win, so I’ve actually been rather looking forward to his release.  I think he’s really cool, and does a lot more than the last one, which makes him feel really worth it.

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.

#3864: Roboto

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

ROBOTO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

Okay, so it’s worth noting that I *have* reviewed something Masters of the Universe-related this calendar year, but its also been since all the way back in January, which is something of a gap.  It sort of happens with Masters, due to my more selective collecting.  On my short list of characters I pretty much always buy in any given style is today’s focus, Roboto.  He was added to the Masterverse line-up in 2023, while they were still pretty heavily leaning into Revelation style figures, so that was his focus.  Despite that being a generally classic take on him, he’s never the less gotten a revisit, aiming more at specificially updating the original figure, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roboto is part of Series 16 of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Masterverse line.  He’s under the “New Eternia” banner, which serves to update the classic designs more directly, and also offer up some optional “improvements.”  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like most modern Robotos, he lacks mid-torso movement, and this time around the swappable hands are worked into the standard wrist peg system, rather than adding an additional cut joint.  The mouth plate is movable, but not quite to the extent of the Revelation version, so it doesn’t really feel much like practical articulation in that sense.  Despite both being based on the original Roboto design and sharing a number of common design elements, there are not parts shared between the two Masterverse Robotos.  It’s not terribly surprising, given there’s just generally been very little crossover between the two themes.  He does, however, share his legs with the New Eternia Trap Jaw, continuing the trend of that particular re-use.  Though totally new sculpts, they’re using the same general set-up as the Revelation ones, complete with the same slightly odd layout of the kneepads relative to the articulation.  From the mid-section up, he’s an all-new sculpt.  It takes the broad strokes designs of the vintage figure and sort of does its own sort of thing with them.  He’s a bit more rounded, especially on the torso and head designs, and there are more intricate elements worked into things.  The head is more involved than we tend to see, using a three-piece assembly.  He’s got the usual mouth guard, as well as a “helmet” piece, both of which can be removed to reveal a robotic skull underneath.  The torso brings back the gear turning action feature we frequently see with this guy, which is a lot of fun.  The color work on this figure is in keeping with the generally metallic leanings of the more recent New Eternia figures, which I do rather like.  The helmet is totally clear, which makes for an iffy look in the photos, but looks really, really nice in person.  Roboto is packed with an alternate take on his mouth guard, a standard right hand, and axe, blaster, and claw attachments, which pretty much cover all of the basics.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting the Revelation Roboto, I didn’t really feel like I *needed* another version.  But, a Roboto’s a Roboto, so it’s not like I was really going to balk at buying a new one.  The pictures on this one were sort of iffy at first, so I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it, but in person he looked really good, and I have to say, he turned out really nice.  Personally, I think I still lean a bit towards the Revelation figure, but it’s cool to see a different approach to the same general design, and there’s a lot of really fun elements to this figure’s implementation.

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.

#3782: Mekaneck

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

MEKANECK

TURTLES OF GRAYSKULL (MATTEL)

“Nobody knows how truly dangerous the Snake Men are more than Mekaneck, the snake-hunting specialist able to spy on King Hiss from a distance.”

Hey, it’s time for more Masters of the Universe!  Not nearly as much of a break this time as the last, which isn’t so bad.  I’m actually jumping back into Turtles of Grayskull, the crossover with TMNT, but in contrast to all of my prior ToG reviews, this one’s actually of a proper Masters character.  Why’s that? Because there’s a Mekaneck, so I kind of have to, right?  It’s, like, a legal requirement, or something.  Don’t question it, just do it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mekaneck is part of Series 5 of Turtles of Grayskull.  This is the first assortment of the new year, and the first to shift into this year’s theme, which is Snake Men related.  He’s one of the two Masters characters in the set, and also one of the two “new” characters.  What’s the rationale on Mekaneck’s inclusion?  I don’t know for sure.  They’ve tied him more directly in with the Snake Men, which is fine, I suppose.  I’m not gonna question that which gives me a new Mekaneck.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  While the Masters characters don’t get quite the same sort of re-working for this line as the Turtles, they still have been getting some adjustments.  In Mekaneck’s case, he’s a lot more armored up, and actually covered head to toe.  It’s different for the sake of different, I suppose, but it better fits the slightly skewed aesthetic of ToG.  It’s got a different vibe from classic Mekaneck, but I definitely dig it, and it still feels like the character.  It’s also a sharper design, with a bit more going on, which gives his sculpt more to do.  In terms of coloring, he keeps the same general scheme, but the layout and balance is a little more tweaked.  I feel like he could use a touch more red, but otherwise, it’s not bad.  Mekaneck is packed with usual club (but now in a slightly more metallic shade of yellow), and two neck extension pieces, which are the same molds as the Origins release.  He also gets a new shield piece, which you can even put on his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, I really didn’t expect this one at all.  Like, I love the guy and all, but Mekaneck’s usually a bit of a wait even in a Masters-exclusive line, so in a cross-over line with twice as many major characters to balance, I just didn’t expect him to warrant a spot.  But, he did, and the concept got shown off first, which made me happy.  Then they showed off the prototype, and that made me happier.  And then he actually got released and that made me the happiest.  He’s a heck of a lot of fun, and I’m always happy to have another Mekanech.

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.

#3773: Orko & Gwildor

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

ORKO & GWILDOR

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

Looking back on my reviews, I haven’t just done a straight Masters of the Universe review in a fair bit.  I looked at some of the TMNT crossover figures, but I stuck to the Turtles characters, so, you know, it’s not really there.  It’s been since all the way back in March.  It was at least a Mekaneck, so that’s a good leave-off.  As always, I do tend to gravitate to a specific selection of characters in any given style.  One such character is Orko.  I’ve *technically* already got him in the Masterverse set-up, but the first one was more of an accessory than a figure himself.  But now there’s a new one, and he’s even bringing a Gwildor along for the fun!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Orko and Gwildor were released last year in the Masterverse line-up as an Amazon exclusive, though that information didn’t seem particularly well advertised….which might have contributed to the deep discounting of the set.  The pair are both based on their appearances together in Revolution.

ORKO

Hey, it’s Orko the Unnamed Power-Up!  His lack of subtitle here certainly frustrated his actor Griffin Newman, if his Dad-At-Arms interview is anything to go by (also, I really do recommend that interview if you’ve got the time; it’s quite entertaining and Newman is incredibly insightful about his character).  Maybe he’s Orko the Great?  I like that.  Seems solid.  We already got the weakened Orko from Revelation, which was okay, but not great.  This one’s more put together, in terms of both design and final product.  The figure’s about 3 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s decently posable for an Orko, and I certainly appreciate that he’s at least got elbow movement, something the last one was lacking.  The neck joint is a lot tighter this time as well, so no bobble-head Orko.  The sculpt’s a nice offering.  It’s clean and show accurate, with a good flow to the robes.  The paint work’s a little iffier on this guy.  Some of it’s pretty clean, but his notably got a lot of slop on the gold trim, especially on the hat, where it’s quite uneven.  He does get a nice selection of accessories.  He’s got a pretty sizable stand, with a larger magic effect that surrounds him, as well as a long flowing train for the robe, and two smaller magic effects to go over the hands.  It makes for a nice display, but I do sort of wish there was a smaller option on the stand.  I suppose you could always steal it from the prior one.

GWILDOR

After being sort of a shoddy replacement for Orko in the live action movie, Revolution does a pretty neat and compelling turn at weaving Gwildor into the main lore, and in fact giving him some fun interplay with Orko, making his replacement somewhat of a meta joke.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  Gwildor’s a more conventional figure for the line, just a bit shorter than usual.  The articulation works more or less the same.  Some of them are a little more limited on range, but honestly, he’s not bad considering.  The only real issue for me is the elbows.  The sculpt’s pretty decent.  There’s more going on with it than Orko, with a lot more texturing and layering.  It makes for a contrast.  The sculpt is definitely more of an animated twinge, as expected given the source, but also he should work okay with the movie He-Man too.  His color work is rather on the bright side, again matching the animation.  In general, the application is cleaner than Orko’s, which is a plus.  Gwildor is packed with the Cosmic Key, which is solid, but also does feel maybe a touch light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was all prepped to buy this set, but then they were an exclusive, and it wasn’t initially clear where, and then I didn’t wind up tracking them down after the fact.  It ended up working in my favor, because I was able to catch them on a particularly good discount.  And yes, that makes me part of the problem, and I am sorry about that.  I would not that it came in an exceptionally jacked up box, but the figures inside were fine, and given the price, I can’t really complain much.  Orko was my main reason in getting this set, but I also didn’t mind having a Gwildor, since I’m one of those people that actually kind of likes the live action movie.  Both of them are pretty solid, and I’m glad I finally managed to snag them.

#3710: April O’Neil

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

APRIL O’NEIL — SORCERESS FROM CHANNEL 6 NEWS

TURTLES OF GRAYSKULL (MATTEL)

You know, I had a pretty good run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reviews last month, but it sort of fell off for October.  It’s kind of the nature of the beast; I don’t actually buy *that* much TMNT stuff.  But, it’s okay, because I’ve got a new TMNT thing!  And it’s not *just* TMNT, either!  It’s also Masters of the Universe, because we’ve got another crossover bit up in here!  ….Sorry, that felt wrong and forced.  I promise not to do it again.  Anyway, I’m jumping back over to Turtles of Grayskull, Mattel’s TMNT/MOTU crossover line.  I looked at the Casey last month, and because I’m a guy that loves my pairings, I’m taking a look at their take on the other human ally (and honestly the more important one) April O’Neil!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

April O’Neil – Sorceress From Channel 6 News is part of the fourth assortment of the Turtles of Grayskull line.  She’s one of the two Turtles-centered characters in the set, the other being a revisit on Leonardo.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s my first direct interaction with the female Origins base body, which is a fair bit different from its male counterpart in build, of course, but not drastically so in terms of articulation set-up.  Honestly, it’s not bad.  While Casey relied more on just the TMNT side of things for his design, April is going more the Donnie route, and getting merged with a specific MOTU concept, in this case the Sorceress, as is detailed pretty well in the included mini-comic.  It’s a solid merging of the two designs, specifically calling on the ’80s incarnations of both in particular, so that it really feels like ’80s April taking on the ’80s Sorceress’s powers.  The sculpt captures the whole set-up pretty decently.  There’s certainly a degree of hokeyness to it, but that’s kind of exactly the aim with this whole bit.  I do find it generally a more refined sculpt than most of her male counterparts, which is cool.  The color work is very bright and generally clean.  The face looks to be printed.  Mine’s got a stray black mark under the eye, but that’s really my only issue.  I quite like the pattern on the tabard; that’s a lot of fun.  She’s packed with a pair of wings, done up in the colors to match the vintage Sorceress, which plug pretty securely into her collar piece.  She’s also got a big hammer-style version of the Sorceress’s scepter, which I really do love.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew once I snagged Casey, I wanted to get an April to go with.  So, when Casey arrived, I confidently grabbed the red-headed warrior woman of the assortment to go with him…before realizing I had *actually* grabbed a Teela, and that April was in the next assortment.  Fortunately, it wasn’t really a long wait.  April’s a solid addition to the concept.  She’s got a different approach to the crossover than Casey, but I definitely can dig it.

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.

#3691: Casey Jones

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

CASEY JONES — ONE-MAN WEAPONS RACK

TURTLES OF GRAYSKULL (MATTEL)

Toy crossovers are becoming a pretty common thing, and, honestly, when it comes to that sort of thing, TMNT has pretty much always been the king of that sort of thing.  At the very tail end of last year, Mattel launched a crossover between TMNT and their own in-house property, Masters of the Universe, dubbed “Turtles of Grayskull”.  I got the Donatello, of course, because that’s what I do.  The Metalhead/Roboto combo is a Build-A-Figure, so there’s a barrier for entry on that one, but that leaves me with one more TMNT character I always buy: Casey Jones!  So, let’s see how his amalgamation worked out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Casey Jones is part of the third assortment of Turtles of Grayskull figures.  He and Mikey are the two Turtles characters, and are joined by Teela and Skeletor from the Masters side. The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Donatello and the other Turtles were making use of a lot of new base parts, but Casey’s actually just using the standard Origins male buck.  It’s a little buff for Casey, I suppose, but it seems like when you travel to Eternia, you just immediately get jacked.  Donnie was specifically patterned on Man-At-Arms as his MOTU-equivalent, but Casey’s “One-Man Weapons Rack” gimmick makes him a bit more his own thing.  He’s pretty decidedly the classic Casey Jones cartoon design, but assembled using MOTU parts.  It’s honestly a pretty cool concept.  He gets a new head and a new overlay for the torso.  The head’s unmasked, and is certainly more in line with Casey’s more modern “pretty boy” interpretations.  It’s also rather unique when compared to the standard Origins heads, giving Casey a lot of character.  The new torso piece pairs up with a re-used Man-At-Arms shin guard to give him his slightly more padded appearance.  He also gets a new facemask and armored glove, patterned on Ram-Man’s headgear and the Jitsu/Fisto hands, respectively.  The glove’s a little tricky, because it feels like it *should* just slide over the hand, but because it’s an open hand, it sits way too far down.  You can remove the hand, of course, but then it feels like it sits a little too high, and it’s never totally secure.  I feel like just having it swap for the standard hand and putting a peg in place to hold it would have been the best solution.  Casey’s color scheme is his classic color lay out, with the saturation pitched up ever so slightly, and a few more metallic colors thrown in for good measure.  The paint work is minimal but generally clean, with the only notable issue on mine being some slop on the white paint for the boots.  Casey gets quite an impressive assortment of extras, with the previously mentioned mask and glove, as well as a MOTU-ified version of his usual sports bag, as well as a hockey stick, warhammer, axe, katana, and staff.  The “bag” clips securely onto the harness, and everything fits well inside it.  There’s even a special spot on the side to clip the hockey stick in place.  Obviously, the hockey stick is the classic armament here, and I love the translucent green, but I also love the warhammer so very, very much.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Donatello was fun, but as I said in that review, I didn’t see myself really jumping into this line.  Metalboto being a Build-A-Figure that I wasn’t given much of a chance to complete seemed to cement that…and then they showed off Casey.  I already have a soft spot for Casey figures, and this one also looked really, really cool.  As it turns out, he *is* really, really cool!

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.

#3569: Mekaneck

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

MEKANECK

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0048:  I’ve reviewed all of the Mekanecks in my collection, which means at this point, all I have to do is review each new one as I add it!

I’ve touched on it here on the site before, but Mekaneck has been my favorite focus in Masters of the Universe since my earliest days with the franchise.  As such, he’s my top want in any given incarnation of the franchise, and I always get excited to see him crop back up.  Classics was perhaps the longest wait for the character to join a given style, but Masterverse took a little while itself.  But he’s finally here, and I’m checking him out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mekaneck was released in Series 11 of Masters of the Universe Masterverse.  He’s under the “New Eternia” banner, alongside Tri-Klops.  As with the others in that sub-brand, he’s taking the classic look and putting a few upgrades into place.  In his most basic mode, the figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  The extended neck grants him extra height and movement, of course.  Mekaneck is actually largely new, at least to me, sculpturally.  The old “barbarian” body has been worked out with the Revolution re-launch, and this is an upgraded version.  It’s got harder angles, it’s generally smoother, and the articulation works a touch better.  He’s got an assortment of character-specific parts, which include the head, chest armor, and his left arm bracer.  The head does a nice job of capturing the vintage look, while also giving it just the slightest bit of an updated flair.  The new shaping sits a bit better with the general aesthetic of the line, and it sits much nicer on the head than the Classics version.  The new chest piece is surprising, given that they had already sculpted one for Stinkor, and the two usually share.  I do like the shaping on this one more than the Stinkor version, even if they’re ultimately very similar.  The new bracer piece gives Mekaneck an asymmetrical set-up, mirroring his vintage figure.  It’s got a peg-hole in it, for the purposes of mounting a shield, if you so choose.  Mekaneck’s color work is pretty nicely handled; it leans into metallic shades, which I really dig.  He also gets mirrored lenses for the goggles, fixing one of my biggest issues with the Classics release.  Mekaneck is packed with five segments to his extended neck, his club, two sets of hands, and a shield.  The neck segments can be swapped in and out, allowing both additional posability, and much more modulation to the length of the neck.  Further, the top of the club is now removable, and it’s on the same joint system as the neck, so you can give him an extended club as well.  Or, mount his club in place of his head, I guess.  Dealer’s choice, really.  The hands come in gripping and fists; the back of the box shows a relaxed left hand, but it’s not present in the box.  The shield is a fun piece; the front shows a graphic inspired by the Road Ripper, which Mattel seems to have decided to link to Mekaneck now, if this and the Origins figure are anything to go by.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I can’t help but love a good Mekaneck figure.  The Classics Mekaneck was just okay, never really strong.  But, between Origins and this guy, I feel like I’ve gotten some very good Mekanecks.  Honestly, this figure is everything I wanted the Classics figure to be.  He’s just so immensely fun.

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.

#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.